New Water Flows to Great Salt Lake’s Willard Spur Improve Habitat and Help Prevent Bird Botulism and Other Diseases
The Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust (the Trust), managed by the National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (District), the state of Utah and Ogden City have partnered to achieve a multi-day, managed water release into the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Willard Spur Waterfowl Management Area. The combined efforts will amplify and maximize the timing of the flows to benefit the Willard Spur habitat and migratory birds to help reduce the risk of avian botulism outbreaks.
As part of a $10 million appropriation from the state of Utah to help fund replacement of Ogden’s main water pipeline, Ogden City agreed to provide 1,500 acre feet of water per year for 15 years to be released into the Willard Spur and the Great Salt Lake. The Trust, established to retain and enhance water flows to Great Salt Lake relying on voluntary water transactions, leased additional water to augment Willard Spur flows to approximately 4,200 acre feet of water into Willard Spur Waterfowl Management Area.
Avian botulism is a disease that occurs when warming, stagnant water becomes oxygen deprived, allowing bacteria to grow. The bacteria are ingested by invertebrates, which birds then feed on, resulting in paralysis that eventually leads to bird deaths. Botulism impacts Great Salt Lake each year, though severe outbreaks are usually seen when dry years are followed by years with good runoff, due to the potential to reactive pockets of dormant botulism bacteria. This occurred in 2023, when Great Salt Lake saw an estimated 30,000 duck deaths from botulism. A multi-day, low-flow release of water in late summer will help to freshen Willard Spur, breathing oxygen into the still water, while not inundating mud flats that are currently dry and creating new pools of water that could grow botulism bacteria, reducing the spread of botulism.
In general, new water flows provide additional benefits to Great Salt Lake including improved capacity to control phragmites, improved air and environmental quality, increased habitat for ducks, shorebirds and other species, and more.
Voluntary water sharing arrangements such as these are important tools in helping retain existing flows and distribute new water flows to the lake.