In September, 2025, Gov. Spencer Cox and other state leaders publicly committed to restore the Great Salt Lake to a “healthy” elevation by the 2034 Winter Olympics. I pledge to support both this commitment and a concrete plan to achieve it, as outlined below.

I acknowledge that:

1. The Great Salt Lake’s minimum healthy elevation is 4,198 feet (which corresponds to a surface area of approximately 924,415 acres).
2. Human water use is responsible for 67-73% of the Great Salt Lake’s decline. Upstream water diversions currently consume 2.1 million acre-feet per year that would otherwise flow to the Great Salt Lake.
3. 1.5 million acre-feet of water currently flow into the Great Salt Lake annually. In addition to maintaining these existing inflows, the lake needs approximately one million acre-feet of additional water annually to reach 4,198 feet by 2034. After reaching that elevation, it will need approximately 850,000 acre-feet of additional water annually to maintain a healthy elevation.
4. It is impossible to save the Great Salt Lake while increasing water depletion in the Great Salt Lake basin.
5. Saving the Great Salt Lake by 2034 will require the modification of existing upstream water diversions.

I pledge to:

1. Oppose all new appropriations that would deplete water otherwise bound for the Great Salt Lake.
2. Oppose all efforts to advance the Bear River Development project.
3. Support the modification of existing water diversions as needed to (1) dedicate and deliver approximately one million additional acre-feet to the Great Salt Lake annually until the lake reaches a healthy level, and (2) thereafter, dedicate and deliver approximately 850,000 additional acre-feet annually and in perpetuity to maintain a healthy lake level.
4. Support policies that allow members of the public to permanently dedicate their water rights to remain in the rivers that flow into the Great Salt Lake.
5. Oppose the use of additional berms, dikes, impoundments, and other measures that would sacrifice part of the Great Salt Lake’s total surface area.

I make this pledge publicly and without reservation, as a statement of my values, my responsibility, and my commitment to the people I represent and/or serve.

Signed,

The People’s Great Salt Lake Charter is endorsed by: UYES, Sierra Club Utah Chapter, Utah Rivers Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Great Basin Water Network, Save Our Great Salt Lake, Great Salt Lake Audubon, HEAL Utah, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, River Writing Collective, Making Waves Artist Collaborative, First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, and Footprints.