New tool helps visualize water use — and what’s not reaching the Great Salt Lake

Originally Published: 22 APR 26 16:04 ET

By Nate Larsen

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    SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) -- If you haven’t been to the Great Salt Lake lately, the impact is hard to miss. Lower water levels, an expanding shoreline, and ongoing concerns about the lake’s future are all on display. Now, Salt Lake County leaders are hoping a new visualization tool will help people better understand why — and what can be done about it.

Inside the Salt Lake County Government Center, a new display uses blue marbles to represent water. Each marble equals about 10,000 acre-feet, giving a visual breakdown of where water goes across the Great Salt Lake Basin, and how much of it never makes it back to the lake.

“We believe that the more people know and understand how water works in the Great Salt Lake Basin, the better we're going to be able to figure out how do we manage our water so that we can have a healthy lake,” said Jason Brown, CEO of Envision Utah.

The display highlights a key takeaway: most water use happens outdoors.

In Salt Lake County, about 70% of water is used outside — primarily for things like lawn watering. Of that, roughly 90% is lost to evaporation and does not return to the system. Indoor water use, by comparison, is much smaller, and most of it eventually flows back into the ecosystem.

“We lose about 100 times more water outdoors than what we lose in the water we use inside,” Brown said. “The water that goes on your lawn doesn’t.”

County leaders say they are working to reduce that impact — starting with their own operations. Emily Paskett, sustainability director for Salt Lake County, says efforts include upgrading irrigation systems, fixing leaks quickly, and watering at more efficient times of day. The county is also replacing traditional grass with drought-tolerant landscaping at many of its more than 140 facilities and parks. So far, Salt Lake County has removed more than 160,000 square feet of turf, saving millions of gallons of water each year. Officials say the goal is not just to reduce government water use, but to set an example for residents across the Wasatch Front.

“So that everybody can do just a little bit to conserve a lot of water,” Paskett said.

With a record low snowpack this year, leaders say those small changes could make a meaningful difference in helping more water reach the Great Salt Lake.

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