A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Great Salt Lake isn't too great these days. It's drying up, in part because of water diversions to farmers upstream. Environmentalists will ask a Utah court today to force mandatory water cuts. Here's NPR's Kirk Siegler.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: The largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere, the Great Salt Lake, has shrunk to half its historical size, a consequence of the West's megadrought. It's hard to overstate how alarming it looks, whether you're standing on its receding, cracked shoreline or flying over its shallow red alkaline water. Earthjustice attorney Stu Gillespie.
STU GILLESPIE: This is one of the biggest disasters in the West that we're facing.
SIEGLER: This lawsuit could have huge implications for the environment and the economy. For one, Utah ski resorts depend on lake-effect snow, and dust storms off the drying lake now blow toxins into a city where millions of people live. But Gillespie's argument in court today will be more narrow. He says a provision in Utah law called the public trust doctrine requires the state to protect crucial public resources. The thinking is evoking the lake in that doctrine would allow the state to enforce mandatory water cuts to farmers upstream of it.
GILLESPIE: And their failure to do so has led us to a crisis. It's driven this lake to the brink of collapse, and everyone's suffering as a consequence.
SIEGLER: A recent study by Utah universities concluded the lake could dry up in five years unless drastic action is taken. But the lake has rebounded some after the last two snowy winters. State attorneys are expected to argue Utah has taken a litany of actions to save it. Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox told NPR recently that saving the lake is a top priority.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
SPENCER COX: And the reason I'm less worried about it is because we have invested a billion dollars. We have a plan. We have changed more than a century's worth of law in the state around water usage and water conservation.
SIEGLER: A big part of Cox's plan relies on paying willing farmers to adopt more water-efficient irrigation. Cox says it will take time, and forcing mandatory cuts now could put a lucrative alfalfa and dairy industry out of business. The state's plan to save the lake is mapped out over 30 years. Public health leaders and environmentalists like Stu Gillespie want the courts to speed that up.
GILLESPIE: Patience is not something that we have here when we're on the brink of collapse.
SIEGLER: A ruling in the case is not expected for a couple months after today's hearing.
Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Salt Lake City. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
