[scythe]

> The toxic lake bed will get exposed one way or the other, if not through the actions of men then through natural fluctuations. Given that the lakebed is already contaminated and there's no way to fix that, the best solution is to live someplace else.

> https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/46447

That's not what Figure 3 says. The low point on the graph shows a lake level decline of about 120 centimeters (in 1581), but the average depth of the lake is 490 centimeters (Wikipedia). So the natural drying of the lakebed does not seem to be expected on a timeline of centuries.

[LarryMullins]

The chart shows year-to-year change, not lake level. It shows many periods in which the lake level drops year after year.

In any case, even temporary drops of a meter or less will expose some lakebed and contaminate the entire area. And that contamination sticks around. The area doesn't get much rain to wash it away, so the region will be progressively poisoned as time goes on. Short of large-scale geo-engineering projects, the SLC area seems doomed. Not a good place to set root and raise a family.

[scythe]

>The chart shows year-to-year change, not lake level.

Did you read the caption?

>Figure 3. Reconstructed Great Salt Lake water year level

The y-axis says "elevation change", which may be confusing, but it most likely means the difference from baseline. If the authors had uncovered evidence that the basin were completely dry, they would say that. It would be an interesting discovery: scientists want to highlight the interesting things they learned.

>The area doesn't get much rain to wash it away

Salt Lake City gets 95 days of precipitation per year, though the total is only 15 inches.

>Short of large-scale geo-engineering projects, the SLC area seems doomed. Not a good place to set root and raise a family.

This is completely unjustified by the evidence you've presented. If an area is definitely at imminent risk of catastrophe then scientists who study the region will be clear about that. See, for example, the Cascadia subduction zone, South Florida, the Salton Sea, and so forth.