Impacts of Water Development on Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch Front

Although droughts and floods produce short‐term fluctuations in the elevation of Great Salt Lake, water diversions since the arrival of 19th Century pioneers represent a persistent reduction in water supply to the lake, decreasing its elevation by 11 feet and exposing much of the lake bed. As Utah moves forward, we need to be aware of the impacts of lowered lake levels and make decisions that serve the interests of all Utahns. In particular, proposals to further develop the water supply of the Great Salt Lake should carefully consider potential impacts to the health of the lake and examine the tradeoffs. There are no water rights to protect Great Salt Lake, so water development currently focuses solely on whether there is water upstream to divert. If future water projects reduce the supply of water to the lake, its level will continue to drop.1 Although water conservation has reduced urban per capita use by 18 percent, overall municipal water use has increased by 5 percent because of our growing population.2 To significantly reduce water use, a balanced conservation ethic needs to consider all uses, including agriculture, which consumes 63 percent of the water in the Great Salt Lake Basin. Increased awareness of how water use is lowering Great Salt Lake will help us avoid the fate of other salt lakes such as the Aral Sea in Central Asia or California’s Owens Lake, both of which have been desiccated and now cause severe environmental problems. We must look beyond the next few decades and decide how we value the lake for future generations. Lower lake levels will increase dust pollution and related human health impacts, and reduce industrial and environmental function of Great Salt Lake. We must be willing to make decisions now that preserve Great Salt Lake’s benefits and mitigate its negative impacts into the coming centuries

Fatigue behavior and phase transformation in austenitic steels in the temperature range -60°C≤T≤25°C

AbstractFatigue behavior and phase transformation in the metastable austenitic steels AISI 304, 321 and 348 were investigated in the temperature range from -60°C to 25°C by means of stress-strain hysteresis, electrical resistance and magnetic measurements. The steels show differences in austenite stability, which lead to significant changes in deformation induced martensite formation and fatigue behavior in total strain controlled low cycle fatigue tests. Dependent on the type of steel and testing temperature similar values of martensite fraction but different strengths developed

Impacts of Water Development on the Great Salt Lake and Wasatch Front

Although the Great Salt Lake watershed experiences droughts and wet cycles, overall precipitation and water flow from the mountains has shown no long-term trend for the past 160 years. Consumptive uses, however, have reduced Great Salt Lake’s level by 11 feet, decreased its volume by 48%, increased lake salinity, and exposed approximately 50% of the lake bed. This has increased wind-blown dust, impaired the use of marinas, and caused costly logistical constraints for the mineral extraction industry. The shallow Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay estuaries have been particularly impacted by desiccation, thus reducing wetland habitat and their use by waterfowl and shorebirds. Additional water development in the basin, exacerbated by long-term climate variability, may further reduce the lake’s level unless conservation efforts are increased for urban, industrial, and especially agricultural uses. Utah needs to be aware of how water developments in the past, and those proposed for the future, affect the lake and the important resources it provides, as well as human health and the economic stability

Decline of the World’s Saline Lakes

Many of the world\u27s saline lakes are shrinking at alarming rates, reducing waterbird habitat and economic benefits while threatening human health. Saline lakes are long-term basin-wide integrators of climatic conditions that shrink and grow with natural climatic variation. In contrast, water withdrawals for human use exert a sustained reduction in lake inflows and levels. Quantifying the relative contributions of natural variability and human impacts to lake inflows is needed to preserve these lakes. With a credible water balance, causes of lake decline from water diversions or climate variability can be identified and the inflow needed to maintain lake health can be defined. Without a water balance, natural variability can be an excuse for inaction. Here we describe the decline of several of the world\u27s large saline lakes and use a water balance for Great Salt Lake (USA) to demonstrate that consumptive water use rather than long-term climate change has greatly reduced its size. The inflow needed to maintain bird habitat, support lake-related industries and prevent dust storms that threaten human health and agriculture can be identified and provides the information to evaluate the difficult tradeoffs between direct benefits of consumptive water use and ecosystem services provided by saline lakes