Salt Lake City (ABC4)-Prah’s storm carrying toxic elements passes through the valley of Salt Lake last Sunday, affecting the inhabitants in some of the most populated areas of Utah, according to the initiative of the Valley of Utah, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and maintenance of the Earth and Water.
According to an initiative to protect the Utah Valley, known as the “growing of the stream”, the storm comes from the large salt lake near Saltair and the place of the queues of Kenkot.
The dust gateway is reported to be seen in the valley, affecting the residents of Magna, Tull County and the west side of Salt Lake City.
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With the kind assistance of Carmen Valdes,
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With the kind assistance of Carmen Valdes
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With the kind assistance of Carmen Valdes
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Jake Dreyfus’s courtesy
According to the initiative, the event remained unlisted by the existing air quality network in the state due to the reported lack of dust monitors along the southwestern shores of the large salt lake. These strong winds carry toxic pollutants such as arsenic, lead and lithium from dry sediment.
The initiative said that the exposure to the residents of these pollutants emphasizes the growing crisis of public health on Utah, as it has been reported that dust from the large salt lake is associated with elevated respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, defects in development and cancer.
“We are often thinking of the impact of Great Salt Lake Dust on our public health as a distant, distant future. The reality is that the dust storms of more than a thousand square miles of the lake bed are penetrating our communities and affect the air we breathe today,” said Jake Dreyfus. “We need to take proactive steps as individuals and as a condition to get more water to the large salt lake, if we hope to avoid widely impact on our health, economy and ecology in northern Jute.”
Great Salt Lake’s southern hand elevation is currently 4193.4 feet above average sea level, which means that the lake is only 40% full in volume. It is reported that this leaves more than 1000 square miles from the lake.
According to Grow the Flow, the outflow below the average and the hot summer can lead to the lake of the lake below 4192 feet this fall. This will exceed the threshold of the Big Salt Lake team for “serious adverse effects”.
Utah legislators have been reported to have approved funding to install more dust monitors around Great Salt Lake. Of the $ 651,000 dollars requested for monitoring and research by Great Salt Lake Dust, only $ 150,000 were provided.
Grow the Flow said this is enough to hire an employee in the division of air quality, but it is not enough to install more dust monitors or to provide real -time information to the affected communities. Nevertheless, it reports that the division of environmental quality works to install more monitors with existing means.
“We do not know what we are not measured,” Bryce Bird told the air quality department to legislators during a recent hearing.
By September 2024, the large salt lake had only four PM10 powder monitors, none of which were within 10 miles from the coastline. Although there are now six, there are still big gaps in the state’s ability to track the events of toxic dust.
“We are deeply concerned about what the shrinking of the large salt lake for our families and communities means. More frequent and toxic dust storms, such as the one on Sunday, April 27, carry dangerous pollutants from the lake and the nearby hoods, exposing our health at a serious risk,” says Karmen Valdez. “Everyone deserves the fresh air and a safe future, and we are committed to fighting for solutions that protect both.”
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