Today, conservation and community groups will argue their case in court against the state of Utah for failing to comply with its public trust obligations to ensure that enough water reaches the Great Salt Lake to prevent ecological collapse and a public health crisis. (Listen on Morning Edition.)

The Third Judicial District in Salt Lake City will hear oral arguments (case no. 230906637) beginning at 9 am MT / 11 am ET and carrying out throughout the afternoon. See the live stream for the hearing.

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and an iconic American ecosystem. It provides habitat for millions of migratory birds each year and supports a variety of industries that contribute billions of dollars to Utah’s economy. The lake has dropped 22 feet since 1986, and more than half of the total lakebed that was formerly covered are now exposed. In 2022, the lake’s elevation dropped to record low levels, threatening ecological collapse and a public health crisis.

The groups, which sued Utah last September, issued the following statements ahead of the hearing:

“We are in court today because the state denies its legal obligation to protect the waters of the Great Salt Lake, an iconic resource that the State holds in trust for the people. As trustee, the State has a duty to ensure adequate water reaches the Lake,” said Stu Gillespie, senior attorney for Earthjustice. “But it has failed to do so, allowing upstream water diversions that have reduced the lake to record low levels, threatening a public health crisis and ecological collapse. The state can no longer deny its legal duty and authority to safeguard the lake for present and future generations.”

“We don’t have to guess what will happen if we allow the Great Salt Lake to continue to shrivel up. Forty years of research has documented the severe health hazards of air pollution of all types,” said Dr. Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. “But research specific to communities exposed to dust from dried up lake beds, laced with multiple types of toxins, shows it causes all those hazards and then some.”

“Utah has caused 40 years of immense harm to the Great Salt Lake with policies which have encouraged rampant upstream water diversions and wasteful water practices” said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. “We need to stop Utah from creating further harm from its decades of neglect for the Great Salt Lake — the largest remaining wetland ecosystem in the American West.”

“The Great Salt Lake is of critical global importance for bird species as the Eared Grebe, Marbled Godwit, and Wilson’s Phalarope,” said Michael J. Parr, President of American Bird Conservancy. “We can’t afford to have this significant body of water turn into dust. Water management decisions need to prioritize both water quantity and water quality while balancing the needs of birds, people and local economies.”

“This lawsuit is meant to force the state of Utah to take urgent action to save Great Salt Lake,” said Deeda Seed, a Utah-based campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’ve had two years of significant precipitation, and the lake is still imperiled, as is all life in the region. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Tens of millions of migratory birds depend on a healthy Great Salt Lake, as do the millions of people who live in the Great Salt Lake Basin. Saving Great Salt Lake should be the number one priority.”

“The state of Utah has mismanaged our precious water resources for decades, forcing Utahans into an unprecedented environmental, economic, and public health crisis” said Maria Archibald, Lands and Water Programs Senior Coordinator with the Utah Sierra Club Chapter. “Despite severe and potentially irreversible consequences, the state continues to neglect its legal obligations to protect the Great Salt Lake.”