Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Great Salt Lake topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Great Salt Lake commissioner: lake still below target, state pressing leases, phragmites removal and grant awards
Summary
Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed reported lake elevation (~4,191.8 ft), ongoing salinity management of the South Arm, delivery of roughly 163,000 acre‑feet to the lake this year, and review of 42 applications for a $50 million federal grant. He urged coordinated conservation, ag leasing and phragmites removal to raise lake levels.
Brian Steed, commissioner for the Great Salt Lake (first appearance SEG 2004), briefed the committee on current lake conditions and management steps the state is pursuing to stabilize and improve the lake.
Steed said the lake elevation was about 4,191.8 feet (graphic referenced two days earlier) and described exposed playa and dust risks associated with low lake levels. He noted the state has used causeway and salinity management to protect the South Arm’s salinity and ecological function and said, although the lake remains low, the state has avoided a repeat of the 2022 ecological emergency.
On supplies and measures to increase inflows, Steed said about 163,000 acre‑feet of water were delivered to the lake this year and credited Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (which contributed roughly 150,000 acre‑feet through work on Willard Bay) and other private and public partners. The commissioner described a framework for voluntary agricultural water leasing (now in a bill before the Legislature, identified in testimony as HB 410) to provide temporary leases and system conservation and said the state is reviewing 42 Bureau of Reclamation grant applications for an earmarked $50,000,000; those applications requested over $170 million in total project work.
Steed emphasized aggressive treatments to remove phragmites — a non‑native reed that may consume as much as four acre‑feet per acre per year in places — and municipal/industrial conservation measures (secondary metering, tiered rates and turf replacement) as ways to increase inflow and reduce consumption.
What this means: The state is pursuing a mix of voluntary water transactions, infrastructure projects, targeted invasive‑plant removal and conservation measures. Several committee members asked clarifying questions about how federal funds would be allocated and how private mineral transactions (a referenced US Magnesium sale) might affect lake water supplies; the commissioner said outcomes were still being determined and invited follow‑up discussions.
Provenance: Commissioner Steed’s presentation and Q&A (SEG 1996–2370) contained the data and program descriptions summarized here.
