My Realization

My girlfriend and I were driving back to her apartment when we noticed the Great Salt Lake was extremely dry. She explained that the water levels have been decreasing over the years, which could have serious consequences. If the water keeps getting lower, it could expose toxins from the lake bed. Last summer, the lake reached its lowest point on record, and it's expected to drop even further this year. The lake has shrunk from 3,300 square miles to less than 1,000 square miles. This decline in water has made me consider leaving Utah to avoid environmental issues, but the lake is a natural beauty that is now at risk. My girlfriend, Abby, had just been over for the weekend in Logan, and we were on our way back to her apartment in Tooele. It was later in the day, and the sun was beginning to set. We were listening to a new song that we had just discovered that we thought was perfect for the scenery and mood of the drive. The final rays of sunlight were just peeking over the mountains, and we were admiring the view. I then turned my attention to the large, open area otherwise known as the Great Salt Lake, and that was when I noticed the lack of water. I started to realize how vividly dry the lake had become. At first, I thought that it was no big deal, but I started to think about it more and realized that the water level looked awfully low, so I turned to my girlfriend and asked, She doesn't the lake have more water than that? It seems so low right now. I said, hoping she would maybe have some type of an answer. Oh, I have been reading a lot about this, she said, excited to tell me what she had learned. Unfortunately, it has gotten super dry over the past few years, and the water levels have gotten lower. I didn't think much of it at first, but the more I looked at the oasis that was once a natural, eco-friendly part of the earth, I began to realize how big of an issue this can become. As the sun continued to drop behind the distant mountains, the sky became darker, and the question popped into my head. If the water keeps getting lower, how will that affect the land surrounding the Great Salt Lake? She didn't respond right away, but then she remembered something. I was reading an article I found online the other week. It said that the main fear is after the water fully dries up, we will be exposed to the toxins from the bottom of the lake. The rest of the drive I was pondering the idea of how much the water of the lake had really dropped, so I decided to do some research. According to the New York Times, last summer, the water level in the Great Salt Lake reached its lowest point on record, and it's likely to fall further this year. The lake's surface area, which covered about 3,300 square miles in the late 1980s, has since shrunk to less than 1,000 square miles. A lake that once seemed like one of the wonders of the world, reduced to nothing more than an exaggerated pond, I began to feel a sense of urgency with the decline in water and rapid exposure of the lake bed. It has had me consider at times the possibility of leaving Utah within the next few years to avoid the environmental repercussions, but this lake is more than just a body of water. It is a natural beauty that has stood the test of time, which now has become its rival.