[Mistletoe]

The Great Salt Lake remains for my brothers and I one of the vilest places we have ever visited on Earth. The smell of rotting flies we will never forget. An ecosystem of filth and putrification. If you’ve never been there, you can’t imagine what a place worse than Mordor would be like. I assume it wasn’t always like this? It would be great if they reversed the water loss, but I’m not optimistic. I assume it will eventually just be a toxic dust plain where the lake used to be, an Aral Sea for America as a reminder that we didn’t do a single fruitful thing about climate change.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

[rayiner]

No, it was always like that. It's an Endorheic lake that formed 16,800 years ago and has been evaporating ever since. The water was not usable for anything when the Mormons arrived in 1847, which is why no meaningful settlements ever arose around the lake.

The loss of lake level isn't caused by climate change, though it is caused by people. The lake hit a record high as recently as 1987. But the problem is increasing diversion of the rivers that feed the lake as Utah develops. Utah's population has doubled since 1987, and it's one of the fastest growing states in the country.

[Mistletoe]

Surely that can’t be true though? I see this-

> Saltair Resort: Built in 1893, Saltair was a massive, Moorish-style pavilion built directly over the water. It featured a massive dance floor, roller coasters, and thousands of tourists who came to experience "America's Dead Sea" by floating effortlessly in the water.

I cannot imagine any sane person dancing and doing roller coasters over the current shrine to decay that is the Great Salt Lake.

[rayiner]

I swam in the lake with my family (including a baby) just a few years ago. Once you got used to the fly larvae (“brine shrimp”) it was fine.

People swim at coney island and smelly little southern creeks. It’s no big deal.