Growing up on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, I didn’t appreciate what a unique and valuable resource it is. It’s all too familiar rotten egg smell, and clouds of dust blown in by summer thunderstorms made it a nuisance—the price we put up with for living on the Wasatch Front. Fortunately, sentiments like this are drying up, but so too is the lake.
As the Great Salt Lake’s water continues to recede, the vital role it plays in our ecosystem, economy, and way of life becomes more apparent. While there are a lot of options to fill the lake, policies grounded in incentives and respecting private property rights are the most viable, fair, and flexible.
During the 2026 Utah Legislative Session, the Legislature continued its efforts to pioneer the state’s water policy, ensuring more water reaches the Great Salt Lake through the voluntary actions of water rights holders. Among this session’s most important wins was the near-unanimous passage of the bipartisan HB410 Water Leasing Amendments.
