By  Carter Williams, KSL.com

 Jul 5, 2022, 4:07pm MDT

The Great Salt Lake has fallen to a new low yet again.

The lake's average daily surface water elevation dropped to 4,190.1 feet at the Saltair station, U.S. Geological Survey officials said Tuesday. That is 0.1 feet below the record set in October of last year. Lake level data dates back to 1847.

"This is not the type of record we like to break," Joel Ferry, the new executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement.

Department officials predicted that the record would be broken again this year based on low snowpack projections and other variables, including human water consumption that diverts water from entering the lake.

Experts believe that lake levels will only continue to decline in the coming months. Ryan Rowland, the USGS Utah Water Science Center's data chief, said that levels will continue to fall until the "amount of incoming water to the lake equals or exceeds evaporative losses," which likely won't happen until fall or early winter.

That happened after lake levels hit an all-time low in July last year, which snapped the previous record set in 1963. Water levels continued to fall until a series of storms in October helped bring up water levels a bit.

While it's an unwanted record, Rowland said the 175 years of lake-level data provides "invaluable" input in helping resource managers and researchers try to find solutions that help the lake's health.

Low lake levels pose a risk to humans and wildlife alike. The lakebed contains hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury and selenium as a result of industrial activities near the lake. A recent study led by Utah State University researchers found that those metals are not just in the lakebed but are moving through the lake ecosystem.

Strong winds from a storm last month carried some of the dust into communities by the lake. Zachary Frankel, the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, warned Tuesday that the drying lake increases the likelihood of toxic dust storms.

Meanwhile, lower levels also threaten the 10 million migratory birds that use the lake annually. Frankel adds that it could also result in a financial impact, especially for the businesses that use the lake for brine shrimp harvest or recreation.

Utah's drought and the lake's record low levels prompted the Utah Legislature to make a few changes to reduce water use this year. One bill directed $40 million toward projects that improve the Great Lake Watershed. State officials announced last month that the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy will oversee the program.

But water advocacy groups like Utah Rivers Council say that more needs to be done to help the drying lake before it's too late. Frankel has been a large critic of the planned Bear River Development Project, which aims to provide Utah's communities with more Bear River water in the future as the state's population grows but would divert more water from heading into the Great Salt Lake, also.

"The Utah statehouse has given us lip service and dog-and-pony shows about the Lake," he said, in a statement Tuesday. "We need to put aside 2 million acre-feet of water into the lake, anything less than that shortchanges our future."

Ferry, who was one of the many cosponsors of the bill directing $40 million toward the lake while he was in the Utah Legislature, agrees that "urgent action" is needed to help preserve the lake.

"It's clear the lake is in trouble," he said. "We recognize more action and resources are needed and we are actively working with the many stakeholders who value the lake."

Rugged terrain, water scarcity and high tourist populations fuel concerns while planning for potential wildfires.

By Jordan Miller (Salt Lake Tribune)

July 28, 2022, 6:00 a.m. | Updated: 2:41 p.m.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Park City each year, spending millions year-round in the resort town built on rugged terrain, where water can be scarce amid extreme drought.

Their dollars drive the region’s economy. But their presence presents a clear challenge for Summit County emergency managers:

If a wildfire broke out in the relatively secluded city, how effectively can first responders guide residents — and visitors — to safety?

Summit County’s wildfire risk factors

About 85 percent of Summit County is in an area considered low risk for wildfires, according to the county’s Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan. But officials still prepare for the worst.

On July 17, a fire in Wanship — located north of Rockport Reservoir — suddenly burned about 40 acres after it spread from a structure fire, prompting evacuations. And last September’s Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado showed experts that dangerous fires can happen anywhere, at any time — even in places that aren’t designated as high risk, said Thomas Cova, a University of Utah professor with expertise in wildfire emergency preparedness.

“What we learned from that fire is that if you don’t have any rain at all — I mean zero measurable precipitation — for like four to six months, and then you have a really big wind event that’s dry, and warm and strong, you can burn almost anything,” Cova said. “It means that basically any place can become a fire zone if the conditions are met.”

One of those conditions is available fuels, a top concern for Summit County Emergency Manager Kathryn McMullin. The county’s most populated town — Park City — has a host of flammable fuels, since most buildings there are wood-framed.

“Park City did burn; the entire town burned in the early 1900s,” Cova said. “A lot of those structures on Main Street are wood, so that’s the Marshall Fire equation — where you have a fire that starts off maybe in a ski resort, burns down into the community, and then goes from wood home to wood home.”

Summit County’s cheatgrass and other dry fuels aren’t unique to the area, but they can still feed wildfires that grow rapidly with a single spark — like Tooele County’s Jacob City Fire, and Millard County’s Halfway Hill Fire.

“We also have a lot of people that come up and recreate in Summit County. They camp and they enjoy it, and we’re glad that they do,” McMullin said. “But it can increase the likelihood of someone not putting out a campfire — and then when they’re up in those areas, getting water to those areas can be very difficult.”

McMullin said Summit County hasn’t yet experienced a wildfire where a lack of water impacted the firefighting response, although small ignitions in outlying areas did require outside water to be transported in to fight flames.

But in the case of a remote wildfire, Summit County maps out all available water sources so crews can be aware of what’s nearby. The county also establishes relationships with local landowners who could provide water from their property’s pond or lake if needed.

“We have relationships established where we can contact those property owners and ask permission to get water from that site,” McMullin said, “and work with them to see what’s best to getting this fire extinguished.”

“That’s a big part of being ready for the fire, because a fire can happen anywhere — and if you only know a few areas,” McMullin said, “you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Emergency planning in a tourist economy

Summit County is home to the “greatest snow on Earth,” the Sundance Film Festival and the Kimball Arts Festival — big draws, along with many others, that make tourism one of the region’s biggest industries.

Park City’s Evacuation Plan estimates that between 15,000-30,000 people populate the town during its Independence Day festivities. The plan also estimates that 30,000-35,000 people populate each resort during a peak ski day.

But the same visitors that drive area revenue typically aren’t as familiar with the region’s specific wildfire guidelines.

“If we have a large-scale fire,” McMullin said, tourists “don’t have supplies on hand; they don’t typically have preparedness kits; and they may not have backup resources of somewhere else they can go — they’ll need to be sheltered.”

Park City Emergency Manager Mike McComb said the town combats this challenge with emergency alerts. The alerts function like Amber Alerts, so emergency managers don’t have to rely on opt-in messaging for visitors who may be threatened by an approaching wildfire.

The resort town’s evacuation plan also splits the city up into zones, and details the typical populations in each area — such as hikers, visitors and work staff at local businesses. The plan then details what assistance may be needed to evacuate each of these groups, like how trail runners with dogs may need transportation in order to evacuate.

“It really takes a full community response,” McComb said.

Each Summit County community has evacuation challenges

Park City sits in a pocket surrounded by steep mountain ranges. There are a lot of people, and not a lot of places to go. How best do you evacuate it?

“I’ve lived in Utah since the late ‘90s, and every time I take that Kimball Junction exit, and I see the flow of traffic coming from Park City, I’m always stunned,” Cova said. “That four-lane road used to be a two-lane road — it was more like a rural highway. And there’s a lot of people, a lot of homes — in the trees up there and all over that valley — that didn’t used to be there 20 years ago.”

Amid the Uinta and Wasatch mountains, Summit County does have four interstates and five state highways that can provide exit routes for evacuees — although some roads like Guardsman Pass are only open seasonally.

“On the one hand, we’re well connected, and we have lots of alternate options,” McMullin said. “However, I could not even imagine to say which community would be the hardest [to evacuate]. They all have issues.”

Although Park City has grown over the years, the town has limited roads that provide exit and entrance to the area — a facet perhaps most obvious in the winter, amid an annual influx of ski traffic.

McComb said officials don’t have specific evacuation routes identified due to the unpredictable nature of wildfires, but they do have an evacuation plan in place that residents can view on the city’s emergency website.

“Our plan is designed to be flexible, scalable and adaptable,” McComb said. “We felt like getting ourselves tied into ‘Hey, this is a defined route,’ is kind of setting us up for a lot of confusion, because it may be that route is blocked or threatened by fire, and we don’t want people going that way.”

The resort town is hosting a full-scale evacuation exercise on September 28. McComb encouraged residents who want to become more familiar with the area’s emergency management plans to attend.

“We really appreciate all the preparedness efforts and outreach that happen in the county,” McMullin said, “and we look forward to just continuing that relationship with our residents and working to build a community that is resilient.”

By  Madison Selcho Sept 15, 2022, 1:00pm MDT Deseret News

While the summer rain helped Utah’s soil moisture conditions, it has not helped in the long-running drought overall, according to Utah’s water officials.

Utah collected 5.22 inches of rain in the month of August while the average of rainfall across Utah last August was 6.32 inches, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. These charts also indicate that in June and July of this year, Utah got around 3 inches of rainfall. NCEI’s Utah chart reported that the state typically averages around 5-9 inches of water during June-August since the 1980’s.

The weekly drought report administered by the Utah Division of Water Resources explained that Utah’s soil moisture levels were trending slightly above normal at the end of July.

At the end of August, the division explained that Utah’s soil moisture levels were still slightly above normal going into September. Despite this, the water has not helped with overall drought issues taking place in Utah.

How bad is the drought in Utah?

According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, 2.8 million people are affected by the drought in Utah at the moment. The map supplied by the system shows that many cities between Salt Lake City and Provo are in extreme drought conditions, which means that these areas are under certain restrictions. Due to these conditions, there is a higher likelihood of fire danger, and fire bans on public lands have been implemented in these areas.

The drought is currently affecting Utah heavily due to the inconsistent precipitation patterns statewide in the past couple of months.

The Natural Resources Conservation Services, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released a report showing the inconsistent rainfall patterns in Utah through the summer of 2022.

The Deseret News further reported that the St. George region had no rain in the month of June but had rainfall in July.

Can the Utah drought get better?

Utah’s uncertain rainfall and snow patterns could help or hurt the situation in the coming months.

“Utah’s precipitation patterns have been fascinating this year, with marked regional variations across the state,” the report from the Natural Resources Conservation Services said.

Though the unpredictable weather can be good at times, there also is no telling what the future holds.

Gov. Spencer Cox explained in a recent press release that Utah can take actions now to help slow unnecessary water flow, including rewards for water conservation, optimizing agricultural opportunities and water storage.

“We all need to be part of our water solutions. Reliable, clean water is essential to our quality of life and continued prosperity,” Cox said.

By: Ben Winslow Posted at 4:15 PM, Oct 19, 2021 and last updated 8:14 AM, Oct 21, 2021

Fox13 Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY  — A major earthquake along the Wasatch Front could kill thousands, leave tens of thousands more homeless and cause over $30 billion in economic damage to the state.

The frightening numbers came during a presentation on infrastructure and the impact a major earthquake might have. According to a projection by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's Utah chapter, a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake centered along the Wasatch Front could result in:

2,500 deaths

8,000 injured

84,000 displaced households

333,000 households will not have potable water for more than 90 days

A projected $31 billion economic impact to the state.

"Nearly 80% of Utah’s population lives within 15 miles of the Wasatch fault," said Dr. Brady Cox, a professor of civil engineering at Utah State University.

Dr. Cox was asking for the legislature to fund an earthquake engineering center at USU in Logan, which would look at building design, retrofitting existing buildings to make them more prepared to withstand an earthquake and advise the state on infrastructure improvements.

"Historically, earthquakes with magnitudes greater than seven occur between Brigham City and Nephi every 300 years," Dr. Cox testified. "And the Salt Lake City segment? The one just outside our windows here, the last time that one ruptured was about 1,400 years ago. On average, that section ruptures every 1,300. It could happen anytime, it could be a while."

Some lawmakers were left a little stunned by the presentation.

"It’s overwhelming what we need to start doing," said Sen. Chris Wilson, who chairs the legislature's Public Infrastructure and Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.

The last major earthquake in Utah was the 5.7 magnitude Magna quake on March 18, 2020 (and the thousands of aftershocks). Rep. Clare Collard, D-Magna, has been pushing for the state to spend more to prepare for an earthquake.

"In the state of Utah, we pride ourselves on being prepared, we have our 72 hour kits and all these things that help us to be prepared for any eventuality," she told FOX 13. "When it comes to earthquake preparedness? We are just vastly underprepared."

Sen. Wilson supported more spending to help Utah prepare for a big earthquake, but it could potentially cost billions.

"We need to take a look at it," he told FOX 13. "It’s overwhelming the amount of money and we don’t have that kind of money and where are you going to take that money from?"

Brian Nelson, the director of the Utah Division of Risk Management, testified that the state's insurance simply wouldn't cut it.

"Our traditional insurance program for the state has about $525 million dollars in sub-limits, meaning that’s the maximum the insurance will pay," he said, adding that the Utah State Capitol alone would cost about $500 million to rebuild in a major earthquake.

Rep. Collard said she would push for more funding for earthquake readiness.

"It really is a drop in the bucket when you begin to look at the billions of dollars in losses we’ll sustain in addition to the loss of life," she said.