House Speaker Brad Wilson said it is remarkable how much public support is now behind saving the Great Salt Lake. In a recent interview with FOX 13 News, he promised more money and bills aimed at getting water into the shrinking Great Salt Lake.
"It’s been amazing to see over the course of the last 18 months how this has become a top issue for Utahns," he said.
The Great Salt Lake is at its lowest point in recorded history, which has alarmed the public and policy makers on Utah's Capitol Hill. The lake has shrunk as a result of water diversion, drought and a changing climate. The environmental threat includes diminished snowpack, more than a billion dollars in lost economic impact, toxic dust storms and harm to public health and wildlife.
The governor has proposed increasing the amount of funding to get people to ditch lawn they don't actually use and replace it with more drought-friendly landscaping. Utah's water districts are looking to increase the amount of incentives they offer. Save Our Great Salt Lake, which is planning a Jan. 14 rally to call for the legislature to do more to help the lake, called the upcoming 2023 session an"all hands on deck moment."
"The Great Salt Lake has never actually owned any of its own water. We are changing that," he said."The Great Salt Lake will own its own water or some of it and that’s part of the water trust. And you’re actually seeing organizations donate wet water shares to the lake. So the lake has an equal seat at the table in many ways to other water owners in the state."
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