Once spanning about 2,300 square miles—larger than Delaware—the Great Salt Lake near Salt Lake City is now a small remnant of its former size. Decades of intensive water use, river diversions and weak snow years have left more than a thousand square miles of exposed lakebed. Those dry flats contain salts, heavy metals and toxins such as arsenic that can become airborne dust, creating respiratory and other health risks for roughly 2.5 million people in Utah and neighboring states.
The lake supports industries and ecosystems of regional and global importance. It produces up to half of the world’s brine shrimp, a crucial feed ingredient for farmed fish and shrimp, and yields minerals including lithium and magnesium. Millions of migratory birds rely on the lake as a stopover. Declining water levels threaten bird habitat, local businesses, air quality, and agricultural and mineral supply chains tied to the lake.
Most of the lake’s inflow comes from mountain snowpack; dry winters—2026 was Utah’s worst on record—mean far less water reaches the lake. Many rivers that historically fed the lake are diverted for municipal, agricultural and industrial uses before their flows arrive. Restoring the lake to sustainable or historic levels would require an enormous increase in inflows. Ben Abbott, an ecology professor at Brigham Young University and director of the advocacy group Grow the Flow, estimates that roughly 500,000 to 800,000 acre-feet per year would halt the decline, while about one million acre-feet annually would be needed to approach historic size. Achieving that will demand bold, adaptive policy, large funding commitments and coordination across jurisdictions.
The issue reached the White House after Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox raised the lake as a priority during a governors’ meeting with President Trump. Joel Ferry, Utah’s executive director of natural resources, helped prepare the governor. What was intended as a short conversation stretched into a lengthy meeting, and Utah officials say the president committed to help “make history” on the issue. Influencers close to the president, including producer-turned-advisor Mark Burnett—who serves on Grow the Flow’s board—also pushed federal attention toward the lake.
Advocates framed the crisis in terms designed to appeal to national leaders: immediate health risks from toxic dust, threats to mineral resources and supply chains, economic impacts on local industries, and regional environmental consequences. Cox asked the federal government for $1 billion to help get water to the lake. According to Utah officials, the president did not object to the figure and has publicly and on social media reiterated a promise to address the lake’s decline.
The Trump administration’s proposed fiscal 2027 budget includes the full $1 billion request as a distinctive line item, even as it seeks cuts elsewhere. That step moves the request into the federal appropriations process, but Congress will decide whether to approve the funding.
Scientists and advocates caution that money alone will not restore the lake. Significant changes in water management, conservation, legal and policy frameworks, and coordination among state and local actors will be required to redirect sufficient water to a terminal saline lake. If successful, rebuilding a terminal lake on this scale would be unprecedented.
Timing is also a factor for Utah leaders: they want to improve the lake’s prospects well before the state hosts the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. For now, high-level attention, local lobbying and a $1 billion federal line in the president’s budget have elevated the Great Salt Lake to the national agenda. Turning commitment and funding into the large-scale water deliveries and policy changes the lake needs will require agreement among Congress, state agencies, scientists and stakeholders.