Commentary: The Great Salt Lake — Utah’s silent health emergency

By: Elisa Nelson

Outlets: Utah News Dispatch

Published: September 3, 2026

Words: 775

Last Updated: 3 hours, 32 minutes ago

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In recent years, public discourse on air quality in Utah has rightly focused on the dangers of wildfire smoke. Wildfire events across the Western United States have degraded air quality for days and weeks at a time. Yet, while headlines chase each new plume of smoke, a slower and arguably more dangerous crisis has been allowed to develop with remarkably little urgency: the drying of the Great Salt Lake and the toxic dust it …

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