Despite 'significant strides,' Great Salt Lake ends 2025 at third-lowest level on record

When the 2025 water year ended in July, the Great Salt Lake’s water level was at its third-lowest point since 1903, when detailed lake level records were initiated. 

That’s the report lawmakers will receive when the Utah Legislature convenes this week in Salt Lake City. The report, released earlier this month and authored by the Great Salt Lake Strike Team, highlights tangible progress in 2025 toward remediating the falling levels, but underscores an urgent need for continued efforts to save the famed body of water.

“The collective efforts across our state agencies, public research universities and private partners have yielded tangible progress in stabilizing Great Salt Lake,” said Brian Steed, Great Salt Lake commissioner and executive director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air at Utah State University. “While conditions have stabilized, this report clearly shows that the journey to recovery requires sustained commitment, innovative solutions and data-driven decisions to secure a healthy future for this vital ecosystem.”

The report said the lake’s south arm concluded the 2025 water year at 4,191.1 feet, placing it within the “serious adverse effects” range. Thirty-year projections indicate that a sustained additional inflow of 800,000 acre-feet per year will be necessary to return the lake to what scientists consider a healthy level — around 4,198 feet — by 2055. Climate projections further suggest that increasing temperatures will lead to greater evaporation, potentially offsetting gains from expected higher precipitation, according to report authors.

The lake’s current surface elevation of just over 4,191 feet is “scary low,” Steed said when the level was announced last summer at the end of the water year. The current measurement is nearing levels not seen since the lake hit a historic low of 4,188.5 feet in fall 2022.

The shrinking lake adversely affects Utah’s population, damaging everything from industry to community health. As the water recedes, the lakebed is exposed, which contributes to poor air quality as storms whip up toxic, heavy metal-laden dust that spreads to population centers across the Wasatch Front. That can cause respiratory problems and other
health issues.

Declining levels can also expose microbialites, organic deposits that are a crucial part of the lake’s ecosystem. Microbialites are essential for brine fly populations, the main food source for millions of migratory birds that stop on the lake. If the microbialites are exposed for long periods of time, it can prompt a chain reaction ultimately impacting the entire ecosystem.

Less water in the lake also leads to an increase in salinity levels, which can harm the brine shrimp population. That can also have devastating impacts on the ecosystem, while hurting the million-dollar brine shrimp fishing industry.

Low water levels in the Great Salt Lake also significantly affect the mineral mining industry by forcing costly infrastructure adjustments, increasing operational expenses and threatening to make extraction unviable. While lower levels can increase brine concentration — reducing necessary evaporation time — they require mining companies to dredge, extend intake canals and move pumps into deeper water.

The lake is a major source of magnesium, sulfate of potash, salt and lithium, contributing approximately $1.9 billion annually to Utah’s economy. Nearly 2 million tons of minerals are extracted each year, primarily used for industrial applications, fertilizers and deicing. The lithium mining sector is in a strong growth curve, providing a primary component for the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries.

While the Strike Team report highlighted concerns for low water levels, it also reported progress toward returning the lake to healthy levels. Authors said between 2021 and 2025, nearly 400,000 acre-feet of water were dedicated and delivered to Great Salt Lake, an achievement made possible by an expanded toolbox of strategies. This includes growth in water leasing and conservation programs; large-scale phragmites removal projects that free water for wetlands; and an assessment of the Newfoundland Evaporation Basin, which shows potential for a modest but reliable 20,000 to 50,000 acre-feet of water annually. Salinity levels in the lake’s south arm also stabilized since 2022 because of adaptive management of the causeway berm.

There was also positive news about dust mitigation advancements. Efforts to combat dust emissions from exposed lakebed continued with the expansion of the Utah Dust Observation and Research Network (UDORN). The network enhances monitoring capacity to identify dust sources, measure their composition and assess potential public health risks. Preliminary analyses show that temporary water impoundment in Farmington Bay could significantly reduce dust by submerging 58 percent of mapped dust source hotspots if water levels are raised to 4,199 feet.

One area of concern that the study raised was the continued depletion of lake water from municipal and industrial usage. Those areas now account for approximately 26 percent of human-caused depletions, a significant increase from previous estimates. “This updated data emphasizes that all sectors — urban, agricultural and industrial — must contribute to conservation efforts,” the report concluded.

“Our report provides critical understanding of how changes in climate and land use influence the hydrology of Great Salt Lake watershed,” said Paul Brooks, professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah. “The collaboration between universities and state agencies, combined with both historical and new government investments in monitoring, has resulted in a dataset on hydrology and water supply unparalleled anywhere in the world. These data and analyses underscore the urgency of implementing comprehensive strategies that account for both natural variability and long-term trends in water supply.”