Dust and arsenic from the exposed Great Salt Lake lakebed: studies by USGS, the University of Utah and Utah State University

The Salt Lake Tribune reported in January 2026 that about 800 square miles of Great Salt Lake lakebed were exposed and that it dries out and erodes into dust storms along the Wasatch Front. PBS Utah reported in September 2025 that Kevin Perry of the University of Utah had mapped nearly 700 dust hot spots. A University of Utah article of 5 September 2024 reports, according to Perry, that only 9% of the exposed lakebed, or 175 square kilometers (about 43,000 acres), is emitting dust. KSL reported that during a dust event on 8 July 2026 PM10 concentrations reached about four times the healthy level and that arsenic is one of 13 substances identified as potential concerns in sediment around the lake.

Putman and six co-authors (GeoHealth, 26 October 2022; USGS publication record) analysed dust from 18 passive samplers near the lake and in Salt Lake Valley cities. They found trace metals in Wasatch Front dust "exceeded Environmental Protection Agency screening levels", the highest dust fluxes at sites near the playa, and Wasatch Front dust more enriched in trace metals than dust beside the lake, pointing to urban and industrial sources including mining, oil refining and past pesticide use; arsenic correlated positively with neighbourhood income. University of Utah science news reported that arsenic exceeded an EPA marker for residential soil at every site and was 35 times higher at one, and quoted Putman: "How much arsenic does there have to be over a 24-hour-period for dust to cause problems — we don't know." A 2025 GeoHealth paper by Putman and colleagues (5 August 2025) estimated non-cancer hazards for six age groups, found that thallium, arsenic, lead, cobalt and chromium contributed most to the estimated hazard and that arsenic and sometimes lead are "likely derived from the Lake's playa emissions", and concluded that "suppression of dust emissions from the Lake's playa may decrease possible health risks for children in northern Utah".

Attah, Kaur, Kelly, Fernandez and Perry (Atmospheric Environment, November 2024) reported that arsenic and lithium exceed EPA soil residential regional screening levels in the lake's dust and that the dust has higher oxidative potential than dust from other regional sources; the University of Utah article gives no concentrations. Perry told PBS Utah that "Every single measurement that I took over the 800 square miles of lakebed had higher arsenic concentrations" and that the levels were "More than a factor of ten" above what the EPA considers healthy. A Utah State University study published in spring 2026 (Blakowski and Brahney) found that leafy vegetables exposed to lake dust held elevated arsenic and uranium "even after thorough washing" and that more than one-third of modelled exposure scenarios exceeded levels of concern for children; Blakowski said, according to the USU release, that the playa sediments have been contaminated by a century of mining, waste disposal, oil refining and other human activities, and that the dropping level of the lake has exacerbated the problem; TownLift's account of the same release adds natural processes among the factors that shaped the sediments.

The complaint in the 2023 public-trust lawsuit alleges that exposed sediments consist of fine dust containing arsenic, mercury, nickel, lead and other pollutants. PBS Utah reported that the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's Office is helping finance an expansion of dust monitoring by the Utah Division of Air Quality and that California spent more than $2.5 billion mitigating dust at Owens Lake. KSL reported in July 2026 that the Division of Air Quality was installing new monitoring equipment and that Perry considered raising the lake's water level the most effective long-term solution.