The Church Continues Partnership to Deliver More Water to Great Salt Lake

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is part of a new water release from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake.

Ten thousand new acre-feet of water, or 3.26 billion gallons, will come from the Jordan River and upstream storage in Utah Lake. It will flow through the Jordan River to the Great Salt Lake’s Farmington and Gilbert bays. The Church is providing a long-term lease of between 4,000 and 7,433 additional acre-feet of water each year.

The water comes from leases by the Church and Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District through a partnership that also involves the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. The National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy co-manage the trust. This group also released water last year from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes we all have a role to play in caring for our natural environment here in Utah, including the Great Salt Lake,” said Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. “This water lease is one of several projects underway that we hope reflects our commitment to wise stewardship.”

In 2023, the Church made a donation of more than 20,000 acre-feet of water to the Great Salt Lake, to be delivered annually on a perpetual basis — the largest single water donation in the history of Utah.

Continued drought and declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake have brought more attention to the crucial, ongoing challenges facing the lake. This water delivery is another step in achieving the goals shared by all involved organizations: to conserve water, improve water levels and focus on the overall health of the Great Salt Lake and its ecosystem.

Read more about the Church’s actions to conserve water and how people can help.