More than half the Great Salt Lake's lakebed is now exposed, sending toxic dust toward Bountiful and Farmington. Statewide reservoir storage has dropped to 48% of capacity, down 14 percentage points from a year ago.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released its Tuesday, Sept. 1 water availability update showing the decline, ABC4 reported. Last winter's record-poor snowpack is the main driver. August monsoon rains boosted soil moisture but did little to refill reservoirs.

As of Friday, Sept. 4, the Great Salt Lake was 30.5% full, with 56.6% of its lakebed exposed. The lake would need to rise more than 8 feet to reach healthy levels.

The dust is dangerous.

University of Utah atmospheric sciences professor Kevin Perry has mapped nearly 700 dust hotspots around the lake and found that every soil sample's arsenic level exceeded the EPA's threshold for routine exposure by a factor of 10, according to PBS Utah. Perry said Farmington Bay has essentially dried up except for the Jordan River flowing through it.

Cities northeast of Farmington Bay, including Layton, Syracuse and Clearfield, face the heaviest dust exposure, according to University of Utah research. Everyone along the Wasatch Front is downwind, putting more than 2.5 million people at risk.

A 2026 study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment identified a new exposure pathway. Researchers at Utah State University and the University of Utah found that leafy vegetables exposed to Great Salt Lake dust contained elevated levels of arsenic and uranium even after thorough washing, according to the University of Utah. More than one-third of modeled child exposure scenarios surpassed levels considered potentially harmful.

Davis County is one of three heavily populated counties bordering the lake. The university identified roughly 40 community gardens, backyard gardens and small farms, and about a dozen farmers' markets in those counties where locally grown vegetables are sold.

"Dust is an acute health hazard, but rarely measured for composition or bioavailability of potentially toxic components," said Janice Brahney, an associate professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University who supervised the study. "This new research takes our understanding one step further, measuring how toxic-laden dust could infiltrate Utahns' lives in pervasive ways."

Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed acknowledged the health risk, telling PBS Utah the state knows the dust harms people.

The lake's south arm ended the 2025 water year at 4,191.1 feet, the third-lowest elevation recorded since 1903, according to the Great Salt Lake Strike Team's January 2026 report. Thirty-year projections show the lake needs a sustained additional inflow of 800,000 acre-feet per year to return to healthy levels by 2055. Preliminary analyses found that temporary impoundment in Farmington Bay could submerge 58% of mapped dust hotspots if water levels reach 4,199 feet.

The NRCS update also flagged critically low levels at individual reservoirs statewide. Sevier Bridge and Piute reservoirs sit at 2% of capacity. Lake Powell dropped to 5.14 million acre-feet, roughly 22% full.

New dust air-quality monitors are planned for west Davis County, closer to the lake, according to PBS Utah's reporting on the Utah Division of Air Quality.