Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Grants And Research topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advisory council updates grant spending and research priorities; economic-cost study updated
Summary
Angela Gong briefed the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council on plans to spend the council’s FY26 discretionary allocation of about $125,000, describing new RFPs for a saline-lakes update and a public-focused "win-win" outreach package.
Angela Gong provided the council with an update on the advisory council’s FY26 discretionary funding (about $125,000) and the status of projects the council has prioritized for outreach and research.
Gong said two scopes of work are in procurement: an update to a 2019 global-saline-lake study the council funded previously, and a package of short public-oriented materials that highlight practical "win-win" solutions and success stories. She said the council put a proposed website/clearing-house idea on hold to evaluate existing hosting options and related work underway at Utah State University.
Gong noted two recently completed projects funded by the advisory council. One, produced in partnership with SWCA, consolidated municipal and industrial water-conservation toolkits into an 18-minute video and outreach package for cities and water managers. The second updated the council’s 2019 economic-cost assessment for declining water levels on Great Salt Lake; the update reported a range of annual economic impacts roughly between $2.1 billion and $2.8 billion under a deeper-decline scenario and includes a 20-year projection.
Council members recommended the advisory council coordinate any data repository plans with Utah State University researchers already pursuing a related proposal. Members suggested adding a groundwater research component to community outreach and noted USGS and university work on groundwater exchange and shallow groundwater near the lake is forthcoming; USGS said a draft Great Salt Lake groundwater model should be available this fall.
The council did not take formal grant-approval votes in this session but asked staff to circulate the RFPs, project materials and summaries of completed work to the full council. Council staff indicated they will continue to evaluate where to host and link council products to maximize access and suggested coordinating with the new Great Salt Lake portal and other university efforts.
