SALT LAKE CITY — There's winter inversion, summer ozone and now spring and fall "dust season" in Utah.
"We have bad flavors of air quality all through the year here in our region," said Dr. Molly Blakowski of Utah State University's Department of Watershed Sciences, who researches dust events.
Utah is currently in the thick of it, with winds blowing in dust from the West Desert, the shrinking Great Salt Lake and even smaller sources like gravel pits. On Facebook, FOX 13 News asked people how they're feeling and heard from quite a few people who said they were not enjoying this time of year.
"It's HORRIBLE, can barely even walk without triggering an attack," replied Lillian Gomez.
Victoria Morales Chandler wrote that her asthma was so bad, "my inhaler is empty." Kathleen Tsimbas wrote that she's coughing all day long.
"This is horrible. It's hard to even speak," Tsimbas wrote.
See how Great Salt Lake's dust threatens air quality in Utah cities:
Dr. Blakowski said while Utah has good systems for monitoring air pollution, the state lacks the same thing for dust.
"PM10 and coarser particles are not incorporated into the AQI [air quality index] calculation," she said Monday. "So what I tell my friends is to check the weather in the morning."
Looking at the weather forecast is the easiest thing, Dr. Blakowski said. If you have asthma or are sensitive to particulates? It might be best to re-think your activities if they're outdoors.
"If you look out to the mountains and you can barely see them and it’s feeling sort of like a wildfire smoke event then the chances are that was dust," she said. "I hear a lot of people say, 'Oh it’s just cloudy, I’m going to go outside.' But if you are checking the weather in the morning, that’s a really good tool for you to decide, 'Hey, that might be dust.'"
Dust is getting more attention lately, especially if it blows off of the Great Salt Lake and into nearby communities. Earlier this month, FOX 13 News cameras captured dust events in the Farmington and Kaysville area. What is in that dust is of concern as the lake continues to shrink (arsenic is among the minerals in lake bed — though research is still being conducted on how much exposure can cause problems for people).
Regardless of what's in the lake bed, Dr. Blakowski said, particulates are not good to breathe in.
"Exposure to high levels of fine particulates is an acute health hazard regardless of the composition of those particles," she told FOX 13 News. "But then yeah, some of our dust sources like Great Salt Lake contains metals and other types of contaminants, so that adds another level of concern."
This year, the legislature appropriated about $50,000 for dust monitoring around the Great Salt Lake. Utah's Department of Environmental Quality is also investing in it — bringing the level of funding to $150,000. Dr. Blakowski said it will help.
"I wish that we had a better tool available," she said. "And the hope is that in our region, we can develop a dust alert system so people can make informed decisions."
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
