SALTAIR, Utah — Carmen ValDez was coming back from a camping trip on Sunday when she saw it.
"I saw the Saltair covered in dust and a nice, big dust storm," she said.
ValDez took out her phone and captured video and photos of a massive dust storm around Saltair and blowing into the nearby communities of Magna, West Valley City and Salt Lake City. She shared those images with FOX 13 News and described seeing dust blowing off of the Rio Tinto Kennecott tailings pile and the Great Salt Lake playa.
"To experience being caught up in a dust storm where you are almost knocked over from the wind is incredible when we should see the lake all the way up to Saltair," she said Tuesday.
Donning an N95 mask, ValDez and her partner walked out onto the exposed lake bed.
"We were walking out into the lake to see how bad it was, we got caught up in a dust storm to the point we couldn’t see the Saltair as we were walking back," she said. "It was coming off of all the exposed lake bed that you see here and continues to be exposed as the lake declines."
Great Salt Lake's dust threatens air quality in Utah cities:
Sunday's storm is one of many that has impacted the state, highlighting the problem of "dust season." Jake Dreyfous, the managing director of the environmental group Grow the Flow, also documented the dust storm on Sunday from Parleys Canyon.
"As I looked across the valley, I noticed this giant dust plume along the west side of Salt Lake City," he said.
FOX 13 News cameras have documented numerous dust events as the lake continues to shrink. A satellite even picked up a storm blowing dust into Davis County. Dust is picked up off the exposed lake bed, carrying it into nearby communities. Scientists are studying what is in the dust (arsenic and other minerals are naturally occurring in the lake bed) and how that impacts health, but regardless, dust itself can be harmful.
State officials have become more aggressive about addressing dust issues. But some complain about a lack of action from Utah's Capitol Hill.
This year, a request was made to expand dust monitoring in communities that are considered "hotspots." The Utah State Legislature was asked to fund $650,000 for it. Initially, they gave no money. After pushback from lawmakers and environmental advocates, roughly $150,000 was allocated to Utah's Department of Environmental Quality for expanded dust monitoring that will roll out soon.
Officials concerned by possible dust plumes from exposed lakebed from Great Salt Lake:
In a statement, Utah's Division of Air Quality said it understands concerns about Great Salt Lake dust, but did not see any reason to panic.
"Long term trends obtained from regulatory particulate air monitoring samples do not indicate an increase in the amount of particulate matter measured nor an increase in arsenic or other heavy metals as the Great Salt Lake water level has decreased. This is an active area of research and the division is increasing the number of air monitors and ability to analyze more samples during days with the potential for dust to be generated from the exposed lake bed," the agency said.
"The Division of Air Quality has been awarded legislative funding and federal grants to deploy additional particulate air samplers and low-cost particulate sensors closer to the exposed Great Salt Lake playa for real-time air quality communications and analysis of samples after dust events."
The agency said provides warnings for wind-blown dust events and advocates for "proactive actions to reduce the area of the dry lake bed through policies that increase the flow of water to the Great Salt Lake."
"Kennecott has a current dust management plan for all areas of the operation, which allows us to improve compliance, help meet our health, safety, and environmental goals, and ensure we are a good neighbor in the community," a Rio Tinto Kennecott spokesperson said in a statement to FOX 13 News on Tuesday. "This plan includes prioritization of areas for mitigation based on operational plans and current conditions, sprinkler systems, water trucks, use of dust suppressants, dust spotters, and an escalation process if any issues are identified."
Grow the Flow is calling attention to the recent event as evidence that more action is needed to get water into the lake, to cover the dust.
"We often like to think about the issue of Great Salt Lake dust as this distant far-off future, but in reality it’s something that’s impacting our communities today," Dreyfous told FOX 13 News. "The lake is about 40% full, more than a thousand square miles of exposed lake bed. That means dust is actively infiltrating our communities and the air we breathe."
ValDez, who happens to work for the Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah as a policy associate, said she knew Great Salt Lake dust was a problem.
"It was something we knew was happening, but to be caught up in it? Was very, very eye opening," she said.
She is urging people to support efforts to reverse the lake's declines.
"Contact your legislators, encourage them to keep taking action not only on filling the lake with water — because that’s what we need right now — but to take action on dust mitigation and dust monitors," ValDez said.
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
