Editing Great Salt Lake (section)

===West Desert Pumping Project===
Record high water levels in the 1980s caused a large amount of property damage for owners on the eastern side of the Great Salt Lake, and the water started to erode the base of [[Interstate 80 in Utah|Interstate 80]]. In response, the [[State of Utah]] built the West Desert Pumping Project on the western side of the lake. It began operation on April 10, 1987. This project consists of a pumping station <sup>({{coord|41|15|9.28|N|113|4|53.31|W|region:US-UT_type:landmark_scale:5000|display=inline}})</sup> at [[Hogup Mountains|Hogup Ridge]], containing three pumps with a combined capacity of moving {{convert|1500000|USgal/min|m3/s}}, an inlet canal, and an outlet canal. Also, there are {{convert|25|mi|km}} of [[Levee|dikes]] and a {{convert|10|mi|km|adj=on}} access road between the town of Lakeside and the pumping station.<ref name="Hassible & Keck, p.22">{{harvp|Hassible|Keck|1993|p= 22}}.</ref>

This pumping project was designed to increase the surface area of the Great Salt Lake and thus increase the rate of water evaporation. The pumps drove some of the water of the Great Salt Lake into the {{convert|320,000|acre|km2}} [[Newfoundland Evaporation Basin]] in the desert west of the lake. A weir in the dike at the southern end of the Newfoundland Mountains regulated the level of water in the basin and it sometimes returned salty water from the evaporation basin into the main body of the Great Salt Lake.<ref name="Hassible & Keck, p.22"/>

At the end of their first year of operation, the pumps had removed about {{convert|500000|acre.ft|m3|lk=in}} of water from the Great Salt Lake. The project was shut down in June 1989, as the level of the lake had dropped by nearly {{convert|6|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=in}} since reaching its peak levels during June 1986 and March 1987. The Utah Division of Water Resources credits the project with "over one-third of that decline".<ref name="Hassible & Keck, p.22"/> In total, the pumps removed {{convert|2730000|acre.ft|km3}} of water while they operated.<ref name="pumping fact sheet">{{cite web|url = http://www.water.utah.gov/construction/gsl/fact_sheet.htm|title = Fact Sheet: West Desert Pumping Project |publisher = Utah Division of Water Resources |access-date = August 23, 2006 |archive-date = August 27, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130827221947/http://www.water.utah.gov/construction/gsl/fact_sheet.htm |url-status = live}}</ref>

Although the pumps are no longer in use, they have been kept in place in case the level of the Great Salt Lake ever rises that high again.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.water.utah.gov/construction/gsl/gslpage.htm |title = Great Salt Lake Pumping Project |publisher = Utah Division of Water Resources |access-date = August 9, 2006 |archive-date = August 27, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130827163800/http://www.water.utah.gov/construction/gsl/gslpage.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>