Download our Utah Public Health Impacts Research Review here!
Air Quality
In a study by BYU, they have found that current air quality (without all the arsenic and lead) reduces the average Utahn’s live by a full year or more, with sensitive individuals losing 5 years or more. It also costs taxpayers billion of dollars annually.
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You can view their publication here.
Please click on the “Utah Public Health Crisis Fact Sheet” link above to learn more about how our air quality contributes to higher rates of miscarriage, death by suicide, infant birth defects, asthma, Alzheimer’s Disease and much more in Utah.
According to IQAir, a global air quality monitoring organization, Salt Lake City consistently ranks in the top 100 worst of all the cities in the world. During the winter months we regularly breach the top 50. This means we are close to, and sometimes worse than, places like Detroit, Los Angeles, and several cities in Russia and South Korea.
You can view their global AQI ranking page here. View their info page on SLC here.
In a study conducted by NOAA researchers and published January 25, 2023, a US Magnesium refinery has been found to be the source of 10-25% of the PM2.5 winter inversion pollution.
Read more about it here.
Arsenic & Other Heavy Metals Under Great Salt Lake
An alarming report was published on January 4th, 2023 by researchers at Brigham Young University. According to them, the situation is currently an emergency.
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In conjunction with several other academic and research institutions, they have discovered that the Great Salt Lake could be completely eradicated within 5 years if we do not take better care in our use of its natural resources.
Review this landmark study here.
From 2016-2018, Kevin Perry at the University of Utah studied collected and studied the dust that became airborne off of Great Salt Lake’s exposed lakebed. He found incredibly alarming levels of arsenic, lead, antimony, cobalt, and much more in the dust plumes. These results are discussed in pages 41-56 of his study, which can be found here.
In a New York Times article published in June of 2022, Joel Ferry (a local rancher and Republican state lawmaker) states that we are facing “… a potential environmental nuclear bomb that’s going to go off if we don’t take some pretty dramatic action.”
Read their article and interviews with experts here.
The lakebed is now known to contain high levels of highly hazardous substances. As the lake dries up we are breathing in more and more of this poison. As are our children and animals.
Water Usage
In 2015, Utah ranked second worst in the United States for domestic water use per person. Idaho was the only state in the nation that ranks worse than us. This is especially concerning given the current situation. Yet it also means that the power of the people really can make a massive difference!
Explore Utah Geological Survey’s water use break down here.
What Now?
As you review this incredibly frightening research, it may be apparent that the next few years will truly “make it or break it.” For all our sakes, please do your part to reduce your personal water use. You can learn about surprisingly easy and effective ways to do so by clicking here. Furthermore, please reach out to your local legislators and urge them to prioritize water conservation and air quality improvement measures. We’ve made it easy for you! Just click here.