[0:01] I think we're ready to start. I know
[0:03] there will be a slow trickle in of other
[0:05] folks
[0:10] to the Great Salt Lake Tech team um tech
[0:14] team meeting. This is about a a
[0:15] quarterly meeting where we um have
[0:18] researchers come together and share um
[0:21] ongoing work about Great Salt Lake. Um
[0:24] and we have a special contingent here
[0:25] who has never been here before. So, um,
[0:28] we usually go start by going around and
[0:29] doing introductions. Um, but be before
[0:32] we do that, can we have someone like a
[0:34] spokesperson for this group talk about
[0:37] who's here who's not usually here and
[0:39] why
[0:45] » Okay. All right, that works. Um, so my
[0:50] name is Scott Henick and I work for the
[0:53] USGS, Utah Water Science Center.
[0:56] um
[0:58] regularly attend tech team meetings, but
[1:00] I brought a uh contingent with me today.
[1:05] Uh so we have some delegations from
[1:08] Argentina and Bolivia, people that we've
[1:12] been working with for a while um that
[1:15] are um visiting and they've they come to
[1:20] Salt Lake periodically a and the purpose
[1:23] of of this trip is to understand about
[1:26] mineral resources, on Great Salt Lake
[1:31] regulation,
[1:33] environmental assessment,
[1:35] um and with special focus on the
[1:38] proposed
[1:40] uh
[1:42] facility on the north arm for direct
[1:45] extraction of lithium DLE. Um so yeah,
[1:49] we'll be going out there tomorrow to
[1:51] meet with Waterleaf, Lilac, and um yeah,
[1:56] so this is kind of an ongoing
[1:59] collaboration. We have some legal folks
[2:03] from the Commerce Department who who
[2:05] typically join us and the Department of
[2:07] the Interior. Um, and yeah, I don't I
[2:12] don't know what else to say. We're we're
[2:14] here to uh not be a circus, but to to
[2:17] just see how you guys do business,
[2:20] Angela.
[2:21] >> Great. Um, well, welcome. We're gonna kick this off. Um, Bonnie,
[2:26] you want to start with just your name
[2:28] and affiliation?
[2:30] Bonnie Baxter, Great Salt Lake
[2:31] Institute, Westminster University.
[2:34] >> I'm Angela Gong, Division of Forestry,
[2:36] Fire and State Lands. Oh, you have your
[2:38] own mic.
[2:40] >> I'm John Luft. I'm the Great Salt Lake
[2:42] Ecosystem Program Coordinator with the
[2:45] Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
[2:50] » Elliot, you want to go next?
[2:53] >> Elliot Jagki with Utah Geological
[2:56] Survey.
[3:00] Okay, Christine Ramsey, hydraologist
[3:02] with the USGS Utah Water Science Center.
[3:06] >> Good morning. Uh, my name is France
[3:08] Culp. I am the director of uh of the
[3:12] center of international business and
[3:14] diplomacy in the state of Utah
[3:16] governor's office of economic
[3:17] opportunity.
[3:19] One of our purpose is to promote trade,
[3:23] international trade. We hosted a
[3:25] delegation from Argentina a couple of uh
[3:28] weeks ago and we are very grateful for
[3:31] our collaboration with the beautiful
[3:32] country of Argentina.
[3:35] I um I'm originally from Austria and I
[3:38] just would like to let our guests know
[3:40] that Austria is going to play Argentina
[3:44] in soccer here in the next couple of
[3:46] weeks and uh it's it's like the dwarf
[3:50] against the giant. So that's all I can
[3:52] say. So, [laughter] so, so, uh, uh, I,
[3:56] um, but we, we are very grateful, uh,
[3:58] to, uh, I', I've been in my position for
[4:01] over 30 years. Um, and I, uh, we are
[4:04] looking forward to potentially have a
[4:06] delegation go down in go down to Buenos
[4:09] Cyrus and to Argentina in August. And
[4:12] so, I want to wish you a very warm
[4:15] welcome uh, here. And if there's
[4:17] anything that uh we can do uh we are
[4:20] grateful to the department of natural
[4:21] resources and all my colleagues here
[4:23] with the state. Uh so uh welcome.
[4:29] » My name is Anna Maiden. I work with Fron
[4:31] Co at the governor's office of economic
[4:33] development and um we were so thrilled
[4:36] as Fron said to welcome uh an
[4:39] Argentinian delegation uh just a little
[4:41] while ago. We're very excited to have
[4:43] you back in the state. It's so great to
[4:45] see all of you and thank you so much for
[4:47] our colleagues at DNR um hosting this
[4:50] amazing delegation. Um it's really nice
[4:52] to meet all of you. Thank you.
[4:55] >> I'm Dana Dean. I'm the deputy director
[4:57] of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and
[4:58] Mining over mining and um that includes
[5:01] brine production.
[5:05] >> Great. Let's come back here.
[5:06] >> Uh Jim Harris with the Division of Water
[5:08] Quality. I'm the water quality
[5:10] coordinator for the Great Salt Lake.
[5:13] >> Uh Burke Riggs. I'm a professor of law
[5:15] at Washurn University School of Law in
[5:16] Kansas. I specialize in water. So I'm
[5:19] with Scott and the CLLDP group.
[5:23] >> Good morning. I'm Emma Whitaker. I'm
[5:25] with the Division of Forestry, Fire, and
[5:27] State Lands, and I'm the lands
[5:28] operations manager.
[5:31] >> I'm Jake Alexander. I'm with the
[5:32] Division of Forestry, Fire, and State
[5:33] Lands, and I'm the minerals operations
[5:35] manager um managing minerals on the
[5:37] Great Salt Lake.
[5:43] Federico Martinez.
[6:11] Hi, I'm Georgie Corkery. I'm with Great
[6:13] Salt Lake Institute at Westminster
[6:15] University.
[6:18] » Hi, Mike Pectal, uh, US Army Corps of
[6:20] Engineers.
[6:23] >> Hi, my name is Aspen Johnston. I'm with
[6:25] the Office of the Great Salt Lake
[6:26] Commissioner as the strategic
[6:27] coordinator.
[6:30] » Hi, I'm Ted Balling. I'm with Forestry,
[6:33] Fire, and State Lands. I'm a waterate
[6:35] specialist.
[6:47] Hello, I am Marcelo Claros. I am from
[6:50] Argentina.
[7:21] Good morning. I alvarez and I'm from the
[7:24] geological and mining survey of
[7:26] Argentina.
[8:01] Sanchez.
[8:12] » Brian over here.
[8:14] >> Hi, I'm Brian Rue. I'm a permit lead
[8:17] with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and
[8:19] Mining.
[8:23] Hi everyone. Thanks so much for having
[8:25] us today. My name is Carol Molnar and
[8:27] I'm with the commercial law development
[8:28] program of the US Department of
[8:30] Commerce.
[8:32] Thank you. Likewise, I want to express
[8:34] my gratitude for welcoming our group. My
[8:35] name is Olivia Sierra. I'm a senior
[8:37] project manager with the US Department
[8:39] of the Interior. Thank you.
[8:43] >> We've got some amazing translation
[8:45] happening back here.
[8:48] >> Do you want to introduce yourself?
[8:52] Rosemary,
[8:53] sorry, [snorts] Rosemary Garcia PTO,
[8:56] interpreter for this delegation.
[8:59] >> And Cases, also interpreter.
[9:02] >> Did we miss anyone?
[9:05] Great.
[9:07] Okay. Well, welcome everyone. This is a special meeting. Thank you for
[9:12] being here. Um, a couple of
[9:16] um announcements or updates to kick us
[9:19] off. Um the first update I want to share
[9:21] is is that working? Can you hear me? Um
[9:24] the first update I want to share is um
[9:27] several months ago uh we awarded the the
[9:30] tech team grants. Um however and I think
[9:34] we sent out a public notice but we
[9:36] didn't post it to our website. So some
[9:38] of you all may not know.
[9:42] So I just wanted to share um the
[9:44] grantees
[9:47] that were awarded for the fiscal year 27
[9:49] and some of them are two-year so also
[9:51] fiscal year 28 grants.
[10:00] Um so here are the grantees for fiscal
[10:02] year 27 and then two of them are two
[10:05] years. Um so Sageeland Collaborative is
[10:08] continuing um their amazing work with uh
[10:11] the Inter Mountain Shorebird
[10:13] uh survey. Um we the the team thought
[10:18] this was a really important continuous
[10:20] data set and wanted to continue to
[10:23] support that. Um Christine Rumsy who's
[10:25] here with us today um and her advisor
[10:28] Brenda Bowen at the U um are refining
[10:30] seasonal predictions for uh salinity in
[10:33] the south arm um and salt mass and that
[10:36] that's pretty relevant to what we're
[10:38] looking at today as well. So we might
[10:39] hear a little bit about that. Um
[10:42] Danielle Aziz and his team um head is
[10:45] heading a multi- agency effort to look
[10:48] at um lake evaporation and refine that
[10:50] modeling. um it's one of the biggest
[10:52] question marks in how water is moving in
[10:55] and out of uh Great Salt Lake. So, we're
[10:57] excited to get um
[11:00] uh more refined data on that. And then
[11:02] Caron Cat Ring at USU um is taking about
[11:05] the last 10-15 years of work that she's
[11:08] done um with reveation of Great Salt
[11:11] Lake wetlands and making it so it's much
[11:14] more accessible for um decision makers
[11:17] around the lake, wetland managers, uh
[11:19] private land owners upland who are
[11:21] trying to figure out after frag what
[11:23] next. Um so so some tools to help um
[11:27] people look at that. If you take a look
[11:30] at the total funding, we awarded about
[11:33] $370,000.
[11:35] Um, usually we award about we award
[11:38] $500,000. So, I just wanted to to take a
[11:41] moment to explain this. You remember
[11:43] that last year we started accepting both
[11:46] one and two-year projects. And so, this
[11:49] is the end of the first
[11:52] of year one of the first time we've done
[11:55] two-year projects. Um, so at our meeting
[11:57] in September, I'd like to spend do spend
[11:59] a little time doing a little bit of a
[12:01] post-mortem. How did that go? What do we
[12:03] need to adjust something? Um,
[12:06] and uh, you know, so hearing about that.
[12:09] So, usually it's 500,000, but what we've
[12:12] done the past two years is split it
[12:14] across two years. So, we've awarded um
[12:16] $250,000
[12:18] of this year and then we awarded
[12:22] $250,000 of next year's funds. And then
[12:24] it layered on. So this year we had the
[12:27] other 250,000 to award for this coming
[12:29] fiscal year and then 200 for the 250 for
[12:33] the year after that. What happened with
[12:35] this was it was kind of interesting just
[12:37] the way the projects fell out. Um we
[12:40] awarded all 250 for fiscal year 27. We
[12:43] maxed out the funding for this coming
[12:45] year, but just the way the funding was
[12:47] spread across these projects for year
[12:49] one and year two. um we only awarded I
[12:52] mean whatever the rest of it is $119,000
[12:55] for fiscal year 28. Um so what it looks
[12:58] like is I mean what we did is we ended
[13:00] up awarding less money than normal
[13:03] because there was more money left in
[13:05] year two in fiscal year 28
[13:08] um than we you know had thought there
[13:11] might be. So the bad news is you know it
[13:13] looks like a lower amount this year. The
[13:14] good news is next year when we open the
[13:17] grant process, which will be this fall,
[13:20] um for fiscal year 28 projects,
[13:23] uh 27 28. Wait, I'm losing track of my
[13:25] years. 28. Um
[13:28] we will be able to award more money than
[13:30] normal um because we'll have extra money
[13:33] in next year's pot, if that makes sense.
[13:35] If you have questions about that, let me
[13:37] know.
[13:39] A couple other updates. Um,
[13:45] for me, Great Salt Lake Advisory
[13:48] Council, um, is having its I'm not sure
[13:52] what the official term for this is, but
[13:54] it in its statute, it has, um, a sunset
[13:59] that um, unless it's renewed, it will
[14:02] sunset. So, it's having its sunset
[14:04] hearing at the natural resources
[14:07] um intram subcommittee meeting in May.
[14:11] So, if you're interested in that, you
[14:12] can talk to me about more details. Um I
[14:15] would and um there, you know, they're
[14:18] just hearing about what the work that
[14:19] it's done and thinking about how it
[14:21] looks going forward.
[14:23] Um one other update, the Solinity
[14:24] Advisory Council, we bumped the meeting
[14:26] from this Thursday to the 27th. It's a
[14:29] Wednesday at the end of the month and
[14:32] we're going to be looking at actually um
[14:35] it'll be a continuation of the
[14:37] conversation that we'll be having today
[14:39] with Christine and Gary um which is a
[14:42] really important look at uh how
[14:45] nutrients are moving in the lake. So
[14:47] this is sort of an emerging issue that um we're I mean most of us are new
[14:53] to. So, we're we're diving to that um in
[14:56] the salinity advisory council meeting
[14:58] and really thinking um about
[15:01] implications for the burm this year. So,
[15:05] come to that. That's going to be a winner.
[15:09] Um are there any other updates that
[15:11] anyone would like to share before we
[15:13] dive into today's presentations?
[15:20] Okay, great. Did I stop sharing?
[15:26] Okay. On our agenda today, we've got um
[15:29] two folks. If you came to the Great Salt
[15:31] Lake issues uh forum last week, you got
[15:35] sort of a a teaser for this. Um so today
[15:38] Gary Bolovski from University of Notre
[15:40] Dame and Christine Ramsey from USGS are
[15:43] talking to us in more detail about um
[15:46] what they're what they've been seeing
[15:48] and calculating um with nutrient
[15:52] um flows in Great Salt Lake. So Gary
[15:55] should be online
[15:59] and
[16:03] if you are Gary can you hear us? Can we
[16:05] hear you?
[16:16] Nope.
[16:27] Yeah,
[16:31] » Gary, if it's okay with you, we will
[16:35] Hey, now we see you.
[16:38] I mean, we can see your screen.
[16:45] » Can you hear me now?
[16:47] >> Yes.
[16:48] >> Okay. Uh the the link you sent me only
[16:51] allowed me to um
[16:54] uh to listen.
[16:57] So
[17:00] >> great. Now we've now we've got you on so
[17:02] we can hear you and I will
[17:04] >> share your slides that I've got here.
[17:13] » Where are they?
[17:27] Do you want me to share my screen?
[17:29] >> Uh, see if that's easier. It's just
[17:31] being quite slow for me.
[17:43] » Can you see that?
[17:48] Nope,
[17:49] it's not coming through.
[18:01] Nope. Let's see.
[18:10] There we go.
[18:16] How about
[18:16] >> Okay.
[18:17] >> How about that? Can you see mine?
[18:18] >> That's That's fine. I can see yours now.
[18:21] >> Great. Okay. Now,
[18:28] here we go. Okay.
[18:30] >> Okay. So, you're going to control it.
[18:32] [snorts]
[18:34] >> Yes.
[18:35] >> Right.
[18:36] >> Okay.
[18:39] » All right. Can we have the next slide?
[18:42] >> Yes. Although it's not showing the right
[18:44] one.
[18:46] Hold please. [sighs]
[18:49] >> Technology.
[18:52] All right. Um, so over the last three
[18:55] years, we've uh conducted uh experiments
[18:59] to be able to do nutrient budgets within
[19:02] the south arm of the lake. And these
[19:04] experiments have dealt with um looking
[19:08] at the decomposition rate, the fall rate
[19:11] through the water column and how um and
[19:15] the chemical composition of various uh
[19:18] biological materials in the lake. And
[19:21] with this, we've been able to put
[19:23] together um nutrient budgets for the
[19:26] south arm of the lake. and a lot a lot
[19:30] of the material ends up in the in the
[19:33] benthic zone and um
[19:38] that that poses problems in terms of the
[19:40] release of that from the benthic zone
[19:43] into the water column. However, after
[19:47] doing all of the calculations and
[19:49] everything, next slide,
[19:55] uh the results are very promising. Uh
[19:59] first, the budgets um in the pelagic
[20:02] zone and the benthic zones are nearly
[20:05] balanced, which is what you'd expect. In
[20:07] other words, the ecosystem is in some
[20:10] sort of I don't want to say equilibrium,
[20:13] but at least on the short term, on an
[20:15] annual basis, it seems that you're
[20:18] releasing certain amounts of nutrients
[20:20] at the same rate that they're that
[20:24] they're being used up within the lake.
[20:26] Now, the most important nutrient, let me
[20:28] point out right now, is nitrogen.
[20:31] appears to be the limiting
[20:34] nutrient for phytolanton production.
[20:37] and for the production of the the
[20:39] photosynthesis in the microbialite uh uh community. Now this could change over
[20:48] time with phosphorus becoming a limiting
[20:51] nutrient or both of them working in uh
[20:54] coordination to limit uh production but
[20:57] at least at present it seems nitrogen is
[21:00] the limiting nutrient. Next.
[21:04] Okay, we can test these results and
[21:07] Christine I'm sure may be talking a
[21:09] little more about this, but if we look
[21:12] at from her experiments the
[21:14] sedimentation in traps that she's put
[21:17] out in the lake for June and July,
[21:20] um the amount of total dissolved
[21:22] nitrogen or no, the mass that appears in
[21:25] the sediment traps that she's measuring
[21:28] is
[21:29] about 2.3 g per meter squared per day.
[21:34] And just based on the uh fecal pellet
[21:37] snowfall from shrimp uh artmia in the
[21:41] lake, we calculate 1.9 grams per meter
[21:44] squared per day. And that term snowfall
[21:47] is from marine studies uh where they
[21:50] measure uh it's the term they use for
[21:52] the uh sinking of fecal pellets from uh
[21:57] zoplankton in the water column. Next,
[22:02] when we observed the observed total
[22:04] dissolved nitrogen that Christine
[22:07] probably will be talking about today is
[22:10] 4.21
[22:12] mg per liter and the total dissolved
[22:16] nitrogen that the um budget comes up
[22:19] with is 4.15
[22:22] mg per liter. So we're getting similar
[22:25] results between what's being measured by
[22:28] US Geological Survey and what the budget
[22:32] excuse me uh is uh estimating next
[22:37] and the same thing can be observed for
[22:40] phosphorus dissolved phosphorus and we
[22:43] um the observation from USGS is 2.295
[22:47] 295 mg per liter and the budget that we
[22:51] get is 26 millgrams per liter. So we
[22:55] were very pleased with these results.
[22:58] Next slide.
[23:00] Except one thing that we hadn't
[23:02] considered was because we thought that
[23:05] the south arm of the lake was basically
[23:08] a single was a unit independent of the
[23:11] north arm of the lake. We did did not
[23:14] include the transport of material
[23:17] between the south arm to the north arm
[23:20] and return of material from the north
[23:22] arm to the south arm. So this became a
[23:27] concern to us when we started thinking
[23:30] about the burm that had been con uh
[23:33] constructed that restricted the movement
[23:37] of water from the south arm to the north
[23:40] arm and particularly restricted the
[23:43] movement of water from the north arm to
[23:45] the south arm.
[23:47] Next slide.
[23:51] So this burm was constructed and we can
[23:53] see that if we look at the ratio of the
[23:56] flow between north to south and south to
[23:59] north on the y ais and we look at
[24:02] measurements over time of that ratio
[24:05] where we have complete annual
[24:08] measurements monthly measurements of the
[24:10] flow. We can see that before the burm
[24:13] was constructed and took effect in 2023
[24:18] that there was considerable flow
[24:20] exchanged between the two arms of the
[24:22] lake. After the construction of that
[24:25] burm in 2022 and essentially its impact
[24:29] starting in 2023,
[24:31] the return flow from the north arm to
[24:35] the south arm was drastically reduced.
[24:38] Next slide.
[24:42] Well, looking at these data over time or
[24:45] looking at data from the south arm of
[24:47] the lake over time, we we were uh
[24:51] surprised in seeing that in 2024 to
[24:55] 2025, we got a dramatic decline in the
[24:59] annual chlorophyll a measurements for
[25:02] the lake. Prior to that time, you can
[25:05] see the green bars, we had higher
[25:08] chlorophyll A and 2024 and 2025, we
[25:12] started to see a decrease in the
[25:15] chlorophyll a comp uh produced in the
[25:18] south arm of the lake. And this was
[25:20] bothersome. It's because this
[25:22] phytolanton chlorophyll a in the south
[25:25] arm is what is controlling driving the
[25:30] whole production within the pelagic
[25:33] stone. If we look at the chlorophyll a
[25:37] per cell in the phytolanton
[25:40] the green line shows by month what the
[25:44] chlorophyll content is of the
[25:45] phytolanton cells. The brown line below
[25:49] points out what is the chlorophyll a per
[25:52] cell after the berm was constructed and
[25:56] went into started to change the flow
[26:00] rates.
[26:01] You can see that the cell chlorophyll a
[26:05] component is considerably reduced after
[26:09] the burm was put in place. Now this burm
[26:12] was placed there to try to control the
[26:15] salinity in the south arm of the lake
[26:18] which was getting too high under the
[26:20] current drought conditions and this was
[26:22] important to maintain the productivity
[26:25] of that south arm ecosystem.
[26:28] However, the un the unanticipated
[26:31] consequence of this berm controlling
[26:34] salinity was to change the productivity
[26:38] in the south arm by returning the amount
[26:42] of nitrogen from the north arm to the
[26:45] south arm.
[26:48] Next slide.
[26:52] So constructing a simple
[26:55] back of the envelope calculations of
[26:57] flow of water between the south to the
[27:00] north arm, the green arrow and the
[27:03] return from the north arm to the south
[27:06] arm
[27:07] about
[27:09] for the period without the burm and then
[27:12] solving that we saw that the equilibrium
[27:15] that was obtained in the south arm in
[27:18] terms of nitrogen per liter was matched
[27:22] up with what was predicted in the budget
[27:25] and very similar to what USGS was
[27:27] predicting or measuring in the south arm
[27:31] and that's 4.15 mg per liter.
[27:36] However, if you look at the north arm,
[27:38] the nitrogen content in the north arm is
[27:41] 9.96 mg per liter. And USGS, and I'm
[27:47] sure Christine will be talking about
[27:48] this, USGS measurements come up with a
[27:52] value between two to three times greater
[27:55] nitrogen content in the north arm.
[27:59] Our estimate here on these back of the
[28:01] envelope calculations is about 2.4 times
[28:04] greater nitrogen content at 9.96
[28:08] milligrams per liter.
[1:01:02] set at the new breach. So this is again
[1:01:05] where that exchange is happening where
[1:01:07] USGS heavily instruments uh this area to
[1:01:10] monitor both the discharge and
[1:01:12] concentrations of constituents so we can
[1:01:14] uh estimate the fluxes happening here.
[1:01:16] Um this is analysis done by Scott. So
[1:01:19] thank you for sharing your work here. Um
[1:01:21] these are total dissolved nitrogen
[1:01:23] concentrations. This is a plot of that.
[1:01:25] And the red dots indicate north to south
[1:01:28] concentrations from about 2017 to
[1:01:30] present. The green dots indicate south
[1:01:33] to north. And this is really just to
[1:01:34] illustrate the magnitude differences in
[1:01:36] concentrations between each of these
[1:01:38] arms of the lake. So in the south arm on
[1:01:40] average we have about 4.3 milligram per
[1:01:43] liter nitrogen. In the north arm what's
[1:01:45] coming to the south it's about 6.9
[1:01:47] milligrams per liter. So about one and a
[1:01:49] half times greater um concentrations uh
[1:01:52] in the north arm coming back to the
[1:01:53] south than in what is leaving. So that
[1:01:55] north arm really packs a punch. It's
[1:01:57] more concentrated than the south arm
[1:01:58] water.
[1:02:00] And if we look at loads, so pairing
[1:02:02] those concentrations with a discharge
[1:02:04] estimate to get a mass flux. Uh we can
[1:02:07] see kind of just compare the pre and
[1:02:10] postm modification time period. So prior
[1:02:13] to burm modification um which is right
[1:02:15] about here in 2020 summer of 2022 you
[1:02:18] can see um how north to south and south
[1:02:22] to north fluxes tended to be um a bit
[1:02:26] more uh in sync or a a bit more equal
[1:02:29] after burm modification when we really
[1:02:31] cut off that northarm arm flow. You can
[1:02:33] just see those go to zero. Essentially
[1:02:35] there was no flow nothing coming in. So
[1:02:37] we just see a really stark reduction in
[1:02:40] the the flux um at the new breach as you
[1:02:42] might expect. So the pre-burner
[1:02:44] modification fluxes were on the order of
[1:02:46] six tons per day. After that we're
[1:02:48] looking at less than one ton per day.
[1:02:50] And if we extrapolate those values on an
[1:02:52] annual basis, we're approaching about
[1:02:54] 2,000 u ton per year reduction in
[1:02:56] nitrogen coming back into the south arm.
[1:03:00] If we do a similar exercise for total
[1:03:02] dissolved phosphorus, we can see that um
[1:03:05] concentrations for total dissolved
[1:03:06] phosphorus in the north arm are higher
[1:03:09] than in the south like you might expect.
[1:03:10] Very similar for nitrogen. And pairing
[1:03:13] those with fluxes, we can see how prior
[1:03:15] to the bur modification when we had
[1:03:17] birectional exchange, um we were getting
[1:03:19] about 3 million or sorry.3 tons per day
[1:03:23] uh coming from north to south in
[1:03:25] phosphorus and then after that it really
[1:03:27] tapered off to almost nothing.
[1:03:31] And then looking at this a slightly
[1:03:33] different way, if we just look at the
[1:03:34] nut net nutrient flux. So comparing both
[1:03:37] what's going out and what's coming in,
[1:03:39] um we can see after burn modification
[1:03:41] shown in this salmon color, we had a
[1:03:44] higher great uh a greater nitrogen loss.
[1:03:46] That's kind of what that shift upward in
[1:03:48] the box plot indicates. We had more
[1:03:50] nitrogen loss to the north arm as you
[1:03:52] might expect because the fluxes coming
[1:03:53] back in were shut off and we continue to
[1:03:55] export to the south. And if we kind of
[1:03:57] take an annual estimate of what that
[1:03:59] nitrogen reduction is over a period of
[1:04:02] well I'll do it in on an annual basis
[1:04:04] and and compare that to the mass in the
[1:04:07] south arm. So we're considering the
[1:04:10] resident nitrogen mass in the south arm
[1:04:12] as well as the volume that we get about
[1:04:14] we estimate that we get about a 0.1 to 2
[1:04:17] milligram per liter nitrogen decrease in
[1:04:20] the south arm. So essentially
[1:04:21] extrapolating what's that flux at the at
[1:04:24] the breach to the entire south arm what
[1:04:26] that would do to the resident salt mass
[1:04:28] um is is kind of what you get a 0.1 to
[1:04:30] point 2 milligram per liter decrease in
[1:04:32] south arm nitrogen extrapolated over
[1:04:35] multiple years because the effect of
[1:04:36] this is cumulative it's about a.5
[1:04:38] milligram per liter nitrogen decrease
[1:04:40] over um kind of the last three years
[1:04:43] which is in line with kind of what Gary
[1:04:45] had estimated and also what we we we
[1:04:47] observed in the change in um total
[1:04:50] dissolved nit rogen concentration after
[1:04:52] the berm was modified. So I'll just
[1:04:55] summarize kind of these exercises by
[1:04:56] saying we we used two independent data
[1:04:59] sets. The first uh using our nutrient
[1:05:01] data collected in the south arm to show
[1:05:04] or to estimate that there has been a
[1:05:06] statistically significant decrease in
[1:05:08] the nitrogen mass in the south arm after
[1:05:10] the burm was modified. And similarly if
[1:05:13] we look at fluxes happening at the
[1:05:14] brereech we kind of we measure
[1:05:16] [clears throat] that there has just been
[1:05:17] a decrease in flux or decrease in import
[1:05:20] of nitrogen coming in from uh the north
[1:05:22] arm
[1:05:24] and moving forward as as Angela
[1:05:26] mentioned this will be a topic of
[1:05:28] conversation in the solen next salinity
[1:05:30] advisory committee um what we've done
[1:05:32] for salinity to help us track salinity
[1:05:35] salt mass and volume and kind of
[1:05:36] integrate those variables is to come up
[1:05:38] with a plot like this which we call an
[1:05:40] isomass plot
[1:05:42] um where south arm elevation is shown on
[1:05:43] the y- axis and we have a volume
[1:05:45] weighted salinity estimate on the x-
[1:05:47] axis. And this kind of allows us to
[1:05:49] triangulate at any given time when we
[1:05:51] have most you know more recent
[1:05:53] measurements and say okay here's our
[1:05:54] salinity at a given time here's our
[1:05:56] elevation and here's our mass. Putting
[1:05:58] that in the context of targets that have
[1:06:00] been identified currently we're in a
[1:06:02] pretty good shape. um you know one with
[1:06:05] the target our optimal range identified
[1:06:07] as 90 to 160 grams per liter and we're
[1:06:09] sitting at about 120. So this framework
[1:06:13] um allows us to kind of know where we
[1:06:15] are. It also helps us to uh predict
[1:06:17] where we might go because as elevations
[1:06:20] go up for a given salt mass, we predict
[1:06:22] salinities will decrease as we move to
[1:06:24] the left on that y- axis and vice versa.
[1:06:26] If we're entering more of an evaporative
[1:06:28] season and we elevations go down, we can
[1:06:30] predict where we might end up in terms
[1:06:32] of salinity. So that this framework has
[1:06:34] been useful for salt and it was
[1:06:36] requested by solinity advisory committee
[1:06:38] that we kind of build something like
[1:06:40] this for nutrients and so I just here's
[1:06:42] the first cut at that um is trying to
[1:06:45] get at our ISOs plot for nutrients and
[1:06:47] exploring whether this framework is also
[1:06:49] useful for something like nutrients or
[1:06:51] any constituent that that the state or others identify as important for
[1:06:55] trying to track and understand um
[1:06:57] constituent fluxes and the status of
[1:06:59] mass in the south arm. So similarly
[1:07:01] we've got south arm elevation on the y-
[1:07:03] axis and a volume weighted in this case
[1:07:06] totals dissolved nitrogen uh
[1:07:08] concentration on the x axis and so the
[1:07:11] most recent data we have is from
[1:07:12] November 4th. So we can integrate where
[1:07:14] we were in terms of elevation where we
[1:07:16] were in terms of the um nitrogen
[1:07:19] concentration and the mass. So
[1:07:21] integrating kind of these three
[1:07:22] variables that have been helpful for the
[1:07:25] solenity advisory committee and division
[1:07:26] of forestry fine state lands as they try
[1:07:28] to manage the exchange the mass fluxes
[1:07:31] of various constituents in the south
[1:07:33] arm. Um and so as a first cut looking at
[1:07:36] this for nutrients um where we currently
[1:07:38] sit is kind of in the middle of the
[1:07:40] range of total dissolved nitrogen
[1:07:42] concentrations. And so this is actually
[1:07:43] something that I would love to explore
[1:07:45] with Gary or others who are interested
[1:07:47] is that um we've been here before. These
[1:07:49] total dissolved nitrogen concentrations
[1:07:51] are not anomalously low. They're kind of
[1:07:54] middle of the road. And so in the past
[1:07:56] where we've had similar nit total
[1:07:58] dissolved nitrogen concentrations, what
[1:07:59] has been the effect on the biota? Um
[1:08:02] because we're not we're kind of from
[1:08:03] what I can tell not at an extremely low
[1:08:06] nitrogen concentration relative to what
[1:08:08] we've measured in the past.
[1:08:10] In terms of mass in the South Arm, we do
[1:08:12] it does seem to me like we're kind of in
[1:08:14] the lower end of that distribution. If
[1:08:16] we sort of look at where we've been in
[1:08:17] the past around 30 to 35,000 tons, now
[1:08:20] we're sitting at around 30,000. So that
[1:08:22] does does look different and you know
[1:08:24] statistically is significantly lower.
[1:08:27] And then of course we are at the low end
[1:08:29] of a distribution in terms of lake
[1:08:30] elevation. So, um, this is just an
[1:08:32] initial framework to help us wrap our
[1:08:35] brain around this new constituent
[1:08:37] extending management considerations to
[1:08:39] more than just salt. Um, not sure if
[1:08:41] this will be useful yet, but it's a
[1:08:43] first stab at something that might be.
[1:08:44] So, with that, I will I'm happy to take
[1:08:46] any questions or clarify anything that
[1:08:49] might have been confusing.
[1:08:55] » Thank you, Christine. Questions?
[1:09:06] I got one.
[1:09:08] Um, so we've I think arrived at for
[1:09:12] salt. If you were to take one annual
[1:09:16] observation that you were going to use
[1:09:18] for long-term trends that you would use
[1:09:21] October, November to look at the total
[1:09:24] dissolved salt mass because it would
[1:09:25] incorporate the cumulative effects of
[1:09:28] runoff and then strong evaporation.
[1:09:32] Uh I'm wondering if there I if there is
[1:09:36] a time of the year given that nitrogen
[1:09:39] is so reactive salt the salt is too in
[1:09:43] this system I guess but um is there a
[1:09:45] time of if there was one sample a year
[1:09:48] that you could use to to look at
[1:09:50] long-term trends would it be the same or
[1:09:53] different?
[1:09:54] >> Good question. Um I guess I'll just
[1:09:56] start by saying and you know look
[1:09:58] working with these data they are much
[1:09:59] noisier than a salt concentration or a
[1:10:02] salt mass estimate. So that's for
[1:10:04] starters the data set is more variable
[1:10:06] and as you mentioned it's more reactive.
[1:10:08] So inorganic nitrogen is exchanging with
[1:10:11] the biota um decomposition is happening
[1:10:13] things are changing deep brine layer
[1:10:15] affects these things. Um I don't know
[1:10:18] yet. I think that it would be similar
[1:10:21] probably fall just because you remove
[1:10:23] hydraological variables that variance
[1:10:24] there. But I think we need to work with
[1:10:26] Gary and other biologists to really uh
[1:10:29] kind of home in on a time of year where
[1:10:31] we we would think those would be more
[1:10:33] stable. I will also say this initial
[1:10:35] framework that I have shared with you
[1:10:38] today is integrating the entire water
[1:10:40] column. So this volume weighted um
[1:10:43] concentration that I share is is uh is really including anything that might
[1:10:49] have historically been sequestered in
[1:10:50] the deep brine layer. And perhaps a more
[1:10:52] relevant uh framework would actually o
[1:10:55] be only looking at the concentration in
[1:10:57] the upper brine layer and how that
[1:10:58] changes through time and that's
[1:11:00] something we can easily do but I didn't
[1:11:01] have a chance to do that. Um, so there's
[1:11:03] I guess I'll just answer by saying I
[1:11:04] don't know. And there's additional uh
[1:11:06] considerations that we haven't really
[1:11:08] had to dive into for salt that we will
[1:11:11] for nutrients and I think we should do
[1:11:12] that pretty carefully.
[1:11:18] » Quick question out of curiosity. Do we
[1:11:20] know the nitrogen coming out of West
[1:11:23] Davis water treatment?
[1:11:25] >> I believe they're measuring it, but we
[1:11:27] have not analyzed those data. And in
[1:11:29] fact, it might it perhaps would be a
[1:11:31] worthwhile while well exercise for us to
[1:11:33] update the kind of mass balance that
[1:11:35] Hannah did and include that outflow. Um,
[1:11:38] but no, we haven't looked at that yet.
[1:11:43] » We have a couple of questions online.
[1:11:44] Alex,
[1:11:48] » hey Christine, Alex of Duke University.
[1:11:51] Um, really fascinating results. I'm
[1:11:53] really interested to see how this uh
[1:11:55] progresses. Um I'm curious if these
[1:11:59] uh nitrogen concentration data are
[1:12:01] available through from like the whole
[1:12:05] time range like through 2025 up on USGS
[1:12:09] website. Right now
[1:12:10] >> they're [snorts] not. Um so a
[1:12:12] complicating factor in this has been
[1:12:13] that we we switched labs because the
[1:12:17] USGS laboratory decided no longer to
[1:12:20] analyze hyperscaling nutrients. So in
[1:12:22] about 2023, sorry a long story, but they
[1:12:24] um essentially we've been in the middle
[1:12:26] of a transition into using a new
[1:12:29] laboratory which is not an insignificant
[1:12:32] task because we're dealing with hypers
[1:12:34] saline water as you know and so we have
[1:12:36] been doing a pretty rigorous an um
[1:12:39] evaluation of this new laboratory. We've
[1:12:41] been doing a number of comparisons and
[1:12:43] doing a lot of additional um analytical
[1:12:46] requests in terms of spike recoveries
[1:12:48] and everything. And so I say that all to
[1:12:50] say we have not published it publicly
[1:12:52] because we're we've been really busy
[1:12:53] trying to verify this new data set.
[1:12:55] We're close to doing that. We're close
[1:12:57] to wrapping that up and we hope that by
[1:12:58] the end of the summer we will load all
[1:13:01] of our data into um water quality portal
[1:13:04] so that it will be available to
[1:13:05] everyone. [snorts]
[1:13:07] >> Fantastic. And then um you already
[1:13:09] touched on uh this I think but I just
[1:13:11] wanted to double check because I'm not
[1:13:12] as used to thinking about dissolved
[1:13:14] nutrient species but um this is
[1:13:17] measuring just like dissolved uh nitrate
[1:13:20] nitrite and ammonia and it does not
[1:13:22] count things that are like currently
[1:13:24] locked up inside biomolelecules. Uh
[1:13:27] correct.
[1:13:28] >> This would so this total dissolved
[1:13:30] nitrogen uh metric does include organic
[1:13:33] and inorganic forms of phosphor or sorry
[1:13:35] nitrogen
[1:13:37] >> and phosphorus.
[1:13:38] >> Uh we do have phosphorus. Yes. Two also.
[1:13:41] Okay.
[1:13:41] >> Mhm.
[1:13:42] >> Yeah.
[1:13:42] >> Wonderful. Thank you.
[1:13:44] >> Yeah. Um and the dissolved fraction is
[1:13:46] 045 microns.
[1:13:50] 045. Yeah.
[1:13:51] >> Gary, you had your hand raised.
[1:13:55] >> Yeah. Uh just Scott's question about
[1:13:58] picking a time of the year that is uh
[1:14:02] most uh instructive in terms of the uh
[1:14:05] nitrogen value. I think uh couple
[1:14:09] cautions here. [snorts] Um one is
[1:14:12] because of the problems of measuring
[1:14:15] nitrogen in the hypersailing water. um
[1:14:18] we're talking about total dissolved
[1:14:20] nitrogen and biologically the most
[1:14:24] important is the inorganic nitrogen
[1:14:27] and um that those measurements are uh
[1:14:33] not as uh good because of the uh
[1:14:38] oftentimes they come in beyond detect
[1:14:41] they can't be detected they're below the
[1:14:43] uh criteria for detection and so total
[1:14:47] dissolve nitrogen is being used because
[1:14:49] that is easil more easily measured.
[1:14:53] Second of all, the problem that you face
[1:14:56] um with a time of the year is that the
[1:14:59] phytolanton are very productive in the
[1:15:02] wintertime often before uh without
[1:15:06] grazing by the the shri the shrimp. And
[1:15:09] as a result, that's critical and that
[1:15:12] helps to go into how much you're going
[1:15:14] to have into the spring and early summer
[1:15:17] as the shrimp population starts to grow.
[1:15:20] But that also you need to know the
[1:15:22] nitrogen at other months um because
[1:15:25] that's when the uh phytolankton is
[1:15:28] recovering from being fed upon. So
[1:15:31] trying to pick a particular time that's
[1:15:33] most important I think is much more
[1:15:36] difficult than the salinity question.
[1:15:43] I'll just add that um in the winter
[1:15:46] months there there's a lot of
[1:15:47] chlorophyll but when we measure carbon
[1:15:50] assimilation it's very low. So um
[1:15:53] photosynthesis like most biochemistry
[1:15:56] works very slowly when it's cold. So um
[1:16:00] that we shouldn't equate presence of
[1:16:02] chlorophyll with actual metabolism.
[1:16:08] Let me just point out the metabolism
[1:16:10] isn't the necessarily the key. It's the
[1:16:13] population that is the food resource for
[1:16:16] the grazer. So, you know,
[1:16:19] >> that's absolutely. Yeah, I agree.
[1:16:28] » Other questions?
[1:16:32] Okay. Well, thank thank you both um for
[1:16:35] these sort of different perspectives on
[1:16:38] the same
[1:16:40] uh the same issue that that we're
[1:16:43] looking at. This is really interesting
[1:16:45] but a helpful conversation. Come back to
[1:16:46] the salinity advisory committee meeting for more at the end of
[1:16:50] the month. Um Ben made the joke that
[1:16:52] we're considering calling it the
[1:16:54] salinity and nutrient advisory committee
[1:16:56] which is snack
[1:17:00] » um for snacks.
[1:17:01] >> Yeah.
[1:17:02] Thank you so much everyone. Um I know that for our um visitors here
[1:17:10] today the specific content might not
[1:17:12] have been exactly relevant to to the
[1:17:15] problems you're working on, but are
[1:17:16] there any questions about the tech team
[1:17:18] in general or about the lake um more
[1:17:21] broadly that anyone in this room might
[1:17:23] speak to?
[1:17:29] So, one thing that that so you guys
[1:17:32] please this would be an opportunity to
[1:17:34] speak with people. Um, and I believe the
[1:17:38] plan is still to stay in here and
[1:17:39] continue some conversations, but I'm not
[1:17:41] sure Angela, but um, so one of the
[1:17:44] things that I wanted everyone to
[1:17:46] understand is this is a public meeting
[1:17:47] and this is how discussions and
[1:17:49] management of this resource sort of
[1:17:51] evolve. This is one of them. So, just
[1:17:54] consider that. Um, and then I'd also
[1:17:56] like to point out Bonnie over here who's
[1:17:59] done a lot of work. You you can tell the
[1:18:01] people who are actively engaged in the
[1:18:04] science here. Um, and so she's at a
[1:18:07] university in town. Gary's at a
[1:18:09] university someplace else. And it's also
[1:18:12] just really I think really important to
[1:18:14] understand the number of different
[1:18:16] entities that that share a common
[1:18:19] interest and and and how science and
[1:18:22] management advances in this system. Um,
[1:18:25] so
[1:18:27] anyway, have at it please if if you have
[1:18:30] some thoughts or or or anything about
[1:18:34] this system or or the governance you're
[1:18:36] kind of observing.
[1:18:45] » Okay, great. Well, no pressure right
[1:18:47] now, but it but you know, as the meeting
[1:18:49] wraps up, you can stay and and chat with
[1:18:51] any individuals that you you'd like to.
[1:18:54] Um and I also and I also neglected um at
[1:18:56] the beginning of the meeting to
[1:18:57] acknowledge that we have a lot of folks
[1:18:59] online um who are listening in and and
[1:19:02] can participate. Um
[1:19:07] I always feel self-conscious reading
[1:19:08] people's names but there's Alex P. Um
[1:19:11] Gary of course is remote mano mason.
[1:19:15] Uh Sarah Null,
[1:19:18] um
[1:19:20] Andrew Upky, Ben Starman, Joe Havsy,
[1:19:26] Heidi Hovind. Oh, I think these people
[1:19:28] actually are online. Anyway, so we have
[1:19:30] some folks online who are here. Um last
[1:19:34] thing before we wrap up. Um I reached my
[1:19:38] year and a half mark in my position this
[1:19:41] week. Um and so thank you. Thank you.
[1:19:44] And so one of the things I wanted to do
[1:19:45] is um this has been a long-standing
[1:19:48] meeting series um that has been going on
[1:19:50] I mean far longer than I was here and I
[1:19:53] think even before my my immediate
[1:19:55] predecessor was here. And one thing we I
[1:19:57] just want to do is do a pulse check on how this meeting is being useful for
[1:20:01] folks. Um so I'm going to drop into the
[1:20:06] well hang on a second. I'm going to
[1:20:08] share my screen.
[1:20:13] Um, and then also drop into the chat um
[1:20:16] a tiny URL or um
[1:20:19] what's that thing called? A QR code um
[1:20:23] to a short survey that just has it has
[1:20:26] about 10 15 questions about what what
[1:20:29] you think the purpose of tech team is,
[1:20:32] what the purpose is for you, and then
[1:20:34] just some questions about the content,
[1:20:37] about the format, and about the
[1:20:38] takeaways um that might make this
[1:20:40] meeting more useful to you in general.
[1:20:42] So, um, if you if this is your first and
[1:20:45] only time here, you don't have to worry
[1:20:47] about filling this out. Um, but I'll
[1:20:50] also send this out in the in the email,
[1:20:53] uh, so that folks can, um,
[1:20:57] can fill this out. Um, and and what I'd
[1:21:00] like to do is just get some feedback
[1:21:01] about what's working, what's not
[1:21:03] working, what could we tweak to make
[1:21:04] this more useful um, or a better meeting
[1:21:06] for you.
[1:21:10] So, what I'd like you to do right now is
[1:21:13] » [clears throat]
[1:21:13] >> um whether you're online or in person, I
[1:21:17] want you to open this um because what
[1:21:21] will happen is if we don't do it right
[1:21:22] now, I know what will happen is what
[1:21:24] happens to me when people ask me to fill
[1:21:26] out surveys, which is I forget about it.
[1:21:28] So, go ahead and open it. I'm going to
[1:21:30] give you like two or three minutes to
[1:21:32] start it. If you don't finish, that's
[1:21:34] fine. But at least then it's started and
[1:21:36] then the next time you open your phone
[1:21:38] it'll be there. I just also dropped it
[1:21:40] into the chat for the
[1:21:42] um
[1:21:44] for the Google Meet. So take about two
[1:21:46] three minutes to to go through as much
[1:21:48] as you can of it.
[1:21:52] Play soft lobby music.
[1:23:02] This is also anonymous. So if you have
[1:23:06] mean things to say about it, I won't
[1:23:07] know it's you.
[1:23:51] Bless you.
[1:24:14] » [clears throat]
[1:25:00] » Okay, the responses are starting to come
[1:25:02] in. I know many of you are not done. Um,
[1:25:05] but as you finish up, I will um just
[1:25:09] open the meeting up for any public um
[1:25:13] public comment that anyone in the room
[1:25:15] or online would like to make. Anyone?
[1:25:19] This is usually where Lynn stands up and
[1:25:21] announces the public the issues forum.
[1:25:25] [laughter]
[1:25:28] » Thank you.
[1:25:30] very much. Um I want to thank
[1:25:32] all of you uh for coming to the great
[1:25:34] Salt Lake issues forum last week and the
[1:25:37] entire 3-day program has been recorded.
[1:25:40] Uh, and that video of all of the
[1:25:43] presentations will be posted on the
[1:25:45] forum website probably within the next
[1:25:47] week or 10 days at the most. So, um, if
[1:25:51] you missed something or you'd like to
[1:25:53] revisit a particular presentation, it'll
[1:25:56] be there for you. Um, so, thank you so
[1:25:58] much. I do have cookies.
[1:26:01] There you go.
[1:26:03] That was a great [applause]
[1:26:09] » Anyone else have a public comment?
[1:26:11] Anyone online? I didn't hear any hands
[1:26:14] up.
[1:26:17] Okay, great. With that, we are a wrap
[1:26:22] today. Our next tech team meeting is on
[1:26:26] uh September 8th. So, end of summer,
[1:26:29] beginning of fall. Thank you so much.
[1:26:30] Feel free to stay and and chat and
[1:26:32] mingle.