Question by Barbara Larson, Washington, Utah
Increased air pollution as the lake bed dries is a top concern among people who have responded to the Great Salt Lake Collaborative’s audience survey. And it’s a subject of ongoing study by the University of Utah and Utah State University.
Kevin Perry’s team at the U. has studied dust plumes from Great Salt Lake for the past 5 years and discovered unsafe levels of arsenic in some of the exposed lake bed. This could cause health problems if we breathe dust blown from Great Salt Lake’s exposed bed on a regular basis.
As more of the lake bed becomes exposed, more dust storms will occur, said Laura Vernon, Utah’s Great Salt Lake Coordinator. In fact, USU lake researchers found last year was the dustiest yet. They’ve found various toxic pollutants in the dust, such as copper, sulfur and phosphorus.
She recently witnessed a dust storm that blew through Salt Lake City. USU is studying what’s in the dust, where it comes from and where it will go.
As many know, the Wasatch Front suffers poor air quality during the winter from inversions, and in the summer from ozone. Spring and fall dust storms could leave the area with almost constant poor air quality.
—Reported and written by McCaulee Blackburn
