Utah races to save Great Salt Lake before 2034 Winter Olympics
A shrinking lake is exposing dust containing arsenic and other metals, adding urgency to efforts to get more water downstream.
Utah leaders have ambitious plans to restore the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere before the Olympics return to Salt Lake City in the year 2034.
Long before the world’s athletes return to Utah for the 2034 Winter Olympics, state leaders face a challenge with consequences far beyond the Games: getting more water into the shrinking Great Salt Lake.
The largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere supports millions of migrating birds. But as water is diverted for farms, homes and industry, stretches of exposed lakebed have become a source of windblown dust containing arsenic and other potentially harmful contaminants.
For visitors who remember a fuller lake, the transformation is striking.
Boat docks sit on dry earth at the Great Salt Lake's Antelope Island Marina on April 08, 2026 near Syracuse, Utah. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“As a kid, the lake was full, basically. I don’t remember having to walk way out at all,” Jane Evraets, visiting from North Carolina, told AccuWeather.
Now, reaching the water can mean crossing a landscape that was once underwater.
“We still have more than 800 square miles of exposed lakebed that blows when we have strong wind,” said Kevin Perry, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Utah.
Strong winds can carry that dust toward communities home to more than 2 million people. University of Utah researchers have identified arsenic and other contaminants in lakebed samples, underscoring concerns about what residents could breathe as the shoreline retreats.
The shrinking lake also threatens an ecosystem that migrating birds depend on for food, including its brine shrimp.
“Once we have no water, we’re done,” said Carla Hazzard, visiting from Delaware.
Perry said a central problem begins upstream, where water is used before it can reach the lake.
“Right now, we’re diverting 30 percent more water than what is sustainable for the lake,” he told AccuWeather.
Drought and warming compound the pressure, but reducing water consumption offers a way to address a major driver of the decline. Research has identified water diversions alongside drought and warming as factors in the lake’s retreat.
Low water levels are visible at the Great Salt Lake on April 08, 2026 near Syracuse, Utah. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Utah’s restoration efforts include agricultural irrigation improvements, water meters to help communities track consumption, removal of water-hungry invasive plants and voluntary water leasing to send more water to the lake.
State leaders signed the Great Salt Lake 2034 Charter in September 2025, announcing $200 million in private commitments and a goal of healthier lake levels by 2034.
The ambition is to raise the lake roughly 7 feet to a healthier level before the Winter Games.
“The Olympics are useful because they give us a target date,” Perry said. “The last thing anybody wants to see is global coverage about how the Great Salt Lake is an ecological disaster.”
Perry expects the broader recovery effort to cost billions of dollars and require substantial reductions in water use. He credits conservation with helping the lake and hopes Utah’s response can offer lessons for other Western communities facing water shortages.
Despite the scale of the challenge, his message remains hopeful.
“It is possible to save the lake,” Perry said.
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