SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A dust storm carrying toxic elements swept across the Salt Lake Valley last Sunday, impacting residents in some of Utah’s most densely populated areas, according to an initiative from Conserve Utah Valley, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and sustaining Utah’s land and water.

According to a Conserve Utah Valley initiative known as “Grow the Flow,” the storm originated from the Great Salt Lake near Saltair and the Kennecott Tailings site.

The plume of dust could reportedly be seen across the valley, affecting residents in Magna, Tooele County, and Salt Lake City’s west side. 

According to the initiative, the event went unrecorded by the state’s existing air quality network due to a reported lack of dust monitors along the southwest shores of the Great Salt Lake. These strong winds carry toxic contaminants like arsenic, lead, and lithium from dry sediment.

The initiative said residents’ exposure to these contaminants highlights Utah’s growing public health crisis, as dust from the Great Salt Lake is reportedly linked to increased respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, developmental defects, and cancer. 

“We often think of the impacts of Great Salt Lake dust on our public health as a far-off, distant future. The reality is that dust storms from more than one-thousand square miles of exposed lake bed are infiltrating our communities and impacting the air we breathe today,” said Jake Dreyfous, Managing Director of Grow the Flow. “We must take proactive steps as individuals and as a state to get more water to Great Salt Lake, if we hope to avoid widespread impacts to our health, economy, and ecology in Northern Utah.” 

Great Salt Lake’s South Arm elevation currently stands at 4193.4 ft above mean sea level, meaning the lake is only 40% full by volume. This reportedly leaves more than 1000 square-miles of lakebed exposed.

According to Grow the Flow, below-average runoff and a hot summer may cause the lake to recede below 4192 ft. this fall. This will exceed the Great Salt Lake Strike Team’s threshold for “Serious Adverse Effects.”

Utah lawmakers have reportedly recently approved funding to install more dust monitors around Great Salt Lake. However, of the $651,000 requested for Great Salt Lake dust monitoring and research, only $150,000 was granted.

Grow the Flow said this is enough to hire a staffer at the Division of Air Quality, but not enough to install more dust monitors or provide real-time information to impacted communities. Nonetheless, the Division of Environmental Quality is reportedly working to install more monitors with the existing funds.

“We don’t know what we don’t measure,” Utah Division of Air Quality Director Bryce Bird told lawmakers during a recent hearing.

Until Sept. 2024, the Great Salt Lake only had four PM10 dust monitors, none of which were within 10 miles of shoreline. While there are now six, there are still big gaps in the state’s ability to track toxic dust events.

“We’re deeply concerned about what the shrinking Great Salt Lake means for our families and communities. More frequent and toxic dust storms, like the one on Sunday, April 27th, are carrying dangerous pollutants from the lakebed and nearby tailings piles, putting our health at serious risk,” said Carmen Valdez, Senior Policy Associate for The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah). “Everyone deserves clean air and a safe future, and we’re committed to fighting for solutions that protect both.”