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(SALT LAKE CITY) \u2014 The Great Salt Lake has lost two-thirds of its size due to rising temperatures and scientists say this is already causing a dangerous ecological ripple effect throughout Utah.<\/p>\n
The water body, which is approximately 75 miles long and 30 miles wide, is known to be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and feeds into nearby rivers, but it\u2019s now one-third its usual size and still shrinking.<\/p>\n
Ecologists who have been watching this climate change-induced trend told ABC News that the dry-up is already affecting Utah\u2019s fauna, flora and human populations, and the problem is only going to get worse without outside help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much time we have,\u201d Joel Ferry, the director of Utah\u2019s Department of Natural Resources, told ABC News.<\/p>\n
More than 800 square miles of the river have been exposed due to the dry-up, according to experts. Ferry, a fifth-generation rancher and state representative, said he has personally been affected by the drought.<\/p>\n
Ferry\u2019s land is on the Bear River, which is the largest tributary to the Great Salt Lake, and normally the river flows enough water to rise lake levels up to 3 feet during the peak of the season.<\/p>\n
This year the water only went up 1 foot, which is problematic because the water levels usually drop 2 feet during the end of the season, according to Ferry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is a shallow lake. There are not many more feet to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kyle Stone, a wildlife biologist for the state of Utah, told ABC News that animals and plants near the lake are already bearing the burden of the dry-up.<\/p>\n
As the water goes down, its salinity goes up which kills algae, a food source for brine shrimp, he said. The shrimp is food to more than 10 million birds that depend on the lake during migrations, according to Stone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got to get from central Canada to central Argentina or southern Mexico without a stopover point,\u201d Stone told ABC News. \u201cYou just can\u2019t do it. You\u2019ve gotta refuel somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birds that do stop in the area are now prone to attacks from coyotes or other predators who have more land to traverse, according to Stone.<\/p>\n
Robert Gillies, a climatologist from Utah State University, told ABC News that the dry-up also affects people, even those who don\u2019t live near the water.<\/p>\n
When the lake dries up harmful particulates that are at the bottom of the lake, both ones that occur naturally and ones that formed from decades of mining in the area, are exposed and kicked up in the wind, according to the state\u2019s Department of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n
Gillies said arsenic is the most troubling particulate that gets airborne, particularly in the wintertime. During colder weather, particles are trapped in an inversion and, during winter storms, they are released into the air, he said.<\/p>\n
Gillies warned that this can be harmful to people\u2019s cardiovascular and respiratory systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have been compromised on any of those fronts, it\u2019s just going to be worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some Utah residents are taking some efforts to mitigate the damage.<\/p>\n
Ferry has guided farmers to install drip irrigation systems into their soil. The system pushes water in a small row directly to the plants, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a really good practice for things like lettuce and tomatoes, pumpkins, those kinds of plants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Utah state legislature also passed a $40 million plan earlier this year to create a water trust to maintain and improve waterflow to the lake and U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-UT, introduced the Great Salt Lake Recovery Act, which would \u201cstudy historic drought conditions and protect the long-term health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferry said more work needs to be done and said the federal and state governments need to make more years of investments to prevent the problem from getting worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout managing our water appropriately, life in the West doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n