A new study shows drying lake beds are increasing air pollution — and that this pollution is affecting people of color significantly.
The study, called “Harmful dust from drying lakes”, was conducted by the University of Utah and published in the journal One Earth. It focused on the correlation between decreasing water levels and an increase in harmful air particles.
Researcher Sara Grineski says while the study focused on the Great Salt Lake, it's an issue playing out at most major lakes.
With new technology, Grineski and her team conducted dust modeling and studied wind directions as well as census data. They concluded this specific climate development – lowering lake levels, disproportionately affects communities of color, who tend to live closer to these bodies of water.
Receding lake levels affect people because the lower water levels expose more sand and dirt, and winds can carry these particles into neighborhoods. This increases air pollution and can affect people with existing respiratory conditions as well.
“Hispanic/Latinx people, Pacific Islanders as well as people without a high school diploma. Those disparities actually narrow if we're able to bring the lake up to a healthy level,” said Grineski.
“It was really a hopeful finding that if we can actually raise the lake, then at least based on our models, we predict that disparity between groups – that this would actually decrease.”
But Grineski said, if water levels continue to decline further, those disparities become even more pronounced.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
