TL;DR
A Grow the Flow billboard showing Great Salt Lake's water level is back on I-15 and I-215, now reading 29.7% full.
The lake has dropped from 37.5% full since the nonprofit first ran the billboard in early 2025.
More than 57% of the lakebed, or 1,227.5 square miles, is exposed, according to the group.
Drivers on Interstates 15 and 215 can once again check Great Salt Lake's condition from the road, as the nonprofit Grow the Flow brings back its lake-level billboard with the lake now at 29.7% full.
What we know: Grow the Flow, a nonprofit working to restore Great Salt Lake, first put up the tracker billboard in early 2025. It read 37.5% full at the time, according to the group's Oct. 6 announcement.
The billboard updates as lake conditions change. It rotates among billboard locations along I-15 and I-215, stretching from Lehi to North Salt Lake.
The percentage compares the lake's current volume with its natural volume at an elevation of 4,207 feet, Grow the Flow says.
White Rock Bay Exposed Lakebed
Photo credit: Grow the Flow
By the numbers: Here's where the lake stands and what restoring it could take, according to Grow the Flow:
29.7%: How full the lake is, down from 37.5% in early 2025
1,227.5 square miles: Exposed lakebed, more than 57% of the total
26%: Share of the lake's natural area within the healthy salinity range for its ecosystem
2.5 million: Utahns living downwind of toxic dust from the drying lakebed
1 million acre-feet: Additional water needed each year for a 70% chance of reaching a healthy level by 2054, according to the Great Salt Lake Strike Team
$2 billion to $10 billion: Economists' estimated cost to restore the lake
What they're saying: "Now is the time to harness the years of legislative preparation and intense public concern about the lake," said Ben Abbott, executive director of Grow the Flow and an ecologist at Brigham Young University. "The next several months will be critical in determining its future."
Samantha Hawkins, the group's communications director, says the billboard is meant to keep the issue in front of the public.
"This lake tracker puts the reality of Great Salt Lake's decline in front of thousands of Utahns every day," Hawkins said. "That kind of visibility helps build the public support needed to advance practical solutions and make Great Salt Lake a priority for our state leaders."
Why you should care: If you live along the Wasatch Front, the shrinking lake can affect the air you breathe. Grow the Flow says dust blowing off the exposed lakebed puts 2.5 million Utahns at risk.
The group also points to losses in wildlife habitat and less lake-effect snow for Utah ski resorts. Continued decline could hurt property values and public health and cost the state billions of dollars, according to the release.
What's next: Gov. Spencer Cox set a goal in September 2025 to bring the lake back to a healthy range by the 2034 Olympic Games. Since then, the state dedicates new water to the lake and creates new tools to secure more flows, but Grow the Flow says those efforts fall well short of what the lake needs.
The Great Salt Lake Strike Team's 1 million acre-foot estimate targets a healthy lake by 2054, 20 years after the governor's deadline. Abbott says the coming months matter because a single good snow year won't reverse the long-term decline.
More information on the tracker is available at GrowTheFlowUtah.org.