Utah's Great Salt Lake Running Out Of Water

It is saddening that the planet's natural resources are affected by human's actions. After years of drought associated with over-irrigation, it has caused Utah's Great Salt Lake to shrink at an alarming rate, recent satellite photos show.

According to Fox News, among the Great Lakes, Utah's Great Salt Lake is known as the largest body of water (by area) within the United States back in the middle of the 19th century; once pioneers first arrived in the area, the lake unfold across roughly 1,600 sq. miles. Now, the lake covers a district of area with a 1050 square miles in area. New satellite photos from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have confirmed this. In October, the Great Salt Lake reached its lowest level in recorded history, at 4,191 feet deep.

All the shrinking and lowering of water levels are due to people's actions, there is no one to blame but them, specifically the diversion of river water, which usually fill the lake, for agriculture and industry sector, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By estimate of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the river waters are diverted from the lake by 40 percent. These activities, together with continuos drought in the West, have drained the historic lake. Here are the pictures as shown by a Live Science report.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pictures show changes within the Farmington Bay basin of Great Salt Lake, a district that is home to several wildlife, as well as migratory birds. Decreasing water levels within the Bay not solely have an effect on the ecology of the said area; however, it might divert the bird populations to migrate to the basin for food.

Wayne Wurtsbaugh, a watershed sciences researcher at Utah State University, said in a statement that Farmington Bay has been nearly desiccated because of the combined effects of drought and water withdrawals from the rivers feeding the lake.