Name: 美國迫在眉睫的最大災難？！ (America’s Biggest Looming Catastrophe)
Uploaded: 2025-11-18T17:38:18.000Z
Duration: 30 min 6 s

In early January of 2023, a group of researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah published a report with an ominous warning.

在 2023 年初，一群來自猶他州楊百翰大學的研究人員發表了一份帶有不祥警告的報告。

程度副詞

If nothing was done soon, they cautioned, the Great Salt Lake, the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere directly adjacent to Salt Lake City, was on track to completely disappear within only the next five years by 2028.

他們警告說，如果沒有立即採取行動，位於鹽湖城旁、西半球最大的鹹水湖大鹽湖，將在短短五年內，也就是 2028 年前完全消失。

For the past three decades before that warning, the Great Salt Lake had already been experiencing a nearly constant pace of decline.

在那次警告發布前的過去三十年裡，大鹽湖的面積已經持續不斷地縮減。

Back in 1987, when the lake reached its historical high point, it spanned across an area of roughly 3,300 square miles larger than the US state of Delaware.

回溯到 1987 年，當時湖泊達到了歷史最高點，其面積約為 3,300 平方英里，比美國德拉瓦州還要大。

From there up until early 2023, when Brigham Young University released its warning, however, the lake's size had already dramatically decreased by more than 71% to just 950 square miles still remaining, leaving behind an area of dry, exposed lake bed larger than the island of Maui.

然而，從那時到 2023 年初楊百翰大學發布警告為止，湖泊的面積已經大幅減少了 71% 以上，僅剩下 950 平方英里，留下了比毛伊島還大的乾涸湖床。

And hence the dire fear at the time that the rest of the lake could be totally gone within just the next five years.

是以當時人們非常擔心，湖泊的剩餘部分可能在短短五年內就完全消失。

But thanks to record high snowfall that came almost immediately afterwards, over the next two winters, the Great Salt Lake has modestly recovered some of its size since then.

但由於隨後而來的創紀錄降雪，在大鹽湖接下來的兩個冬天裡，其面積已經稍微恢復了一些。

But many scientists still warn that without massive human intervention, the lake's long term decline is still all but a certainty in a world that is still warming and in a state that is still living far beyond its means when it comes to water resources.

不過，許多科學家仍然警告說，如果沒有大規模的人為幹預，在這個持續暖化且水資源消耗遠超負荷的世界裡，湖泊的長期乾涸幾乎是必然的。

While it might not happen by 2028, like the Brigham Young University researchers initially warned in 2023, the great salt Lake still remains at a very high risk of completely vanishing within our lifetime soon.

雖然大鹽湖可能不會像楊百翰大學研究人員在 2023 年初警告的那樣在 2028 年消失，但它仍然面臨著在我們有生之年很快完全消失的高風險。

And it will do much, much more than just alter the map of North America if it happens.

如果真的發生，它對北美洲地圖的改變將遠不止於此。

Considered by some researchers to be a ticking environmental nuclear bomb, the complete collapse of the Great Salt Lake stands to become the greatest environmental disaster that the United States will likely experience during the entire 21st century.

有些研究人員認為，大鹽湖的徹底乾涸將成為美國整個21世紀最嚴重的環境災難，就像一顆正在倒數計時的環境核彈。

It stands to render much of Utah, including Salt Lake City, increasingly uninhabitable as huge amounts of arsenic laced toxic dust will increasingly billow up from the dried up former lakebed.

這將導致猶他州大部分地區，包括鹽湖城，變得越來越不適合居住，因為乾涸的湖床上將會揚起大量含有毒砷的塵埃。

It stands to irreparably damage Utah's real estate, ski, tourism and mining industries.

這將對猶他州的房地產、滑雪、旅遊和礦業造成無法挽回的損害。

It stands to completely collapse one of the most important ecosystems in North America that supports millions of migrating birds.

這將徹底摧毀北美洲最重要的生態系統之一，該系統支撐著數百萬遷徙的鳥類。

It risks undermining the entire global food industry.

這可能會危及整個全球的食品產業。

And it risks toxic dust blowing from well beyond Utah zone borders and surrounding states like Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona as well.

而且，有毒的塵埃不僅會從猶他州邊界飄散，還會擴散到內華達州、愛達荷州、懷俄明州、科羅拉多州和亞利桑那州等周邊州。

It is a massive disaster in waiting that is currently not being taken as seriously as it should be by most.

這是一場即將到來的巨大災難，但目前大多數人並未認真看待。

So let's figure out how we got to this point and what we can actually do to save the lake.

所以，讓我們來看看我們是怎麼走到這一步的，以及我們實際上能做些什麼來拯救這座湖。

The modern Great Salt Lake is the successor to the historical Lake Bonneville, a massive inland body of water that used to exist during the last ice age, when the climate had higher precipitation levels and cooler temperatures that reduced evaporation rates.

現代的大鹽湖是歷史上邦內維爾湖的延續，邦內維爾湖是冰河時期存在的一個巨大內陸水體，當時的氣候降雨量較多，溫度較低，蒸發率也較低。

Lake Bonneville used to be nearly 51,000 square kilometers in surface area and more than 300 meters deep about 17,000 years ago, which made it roughly equivalent in size to modern day Lake Michigan and made it function as more of an inland sea rather than just a mere lake.

大約在一萬七千年前，邦內維爾湖的表面積曾接近五萬一千平方公里，深度超過三百公尺，這使得它的大小與現代的密西根湖大致相當，並且更像一個內陸海，而不僅僅是一個湖泊。

As the last ice age came to a close and the climate warmed and precipitation decreased, the lake dramatically shrank in size and left behind a series of smaller successor lakes in the region than we know today, like Sevier Lake, Utah Lake, and

隨著最後一個冰河時期結束，氣候變暖，降雨量減少，湖泊的面積急劇縮小，並在該地區留下了一系列比我們今天所知的更小的後續湖泊，例如塞維爾湖、猶他湖，以及

the largest among them, the Great Salt Lake, still the third largest lake by surface area contained fully within the United States today, after Lake Michigan and the Iliamna Lake in Alaska.

其中最大的就是大鹽湖，至今仍是美國境內面積第三大的湖泊，僅次於密西根湖和阿拉斯加的伊利亞姆納湖。

Today, the existence of these successor lakes here create one of the largest oases of life cradled within the Great North American Desert.

如今，這些後續湖泊的存在，造就了北美大沙漠中最大的生命綠洲之一。

Some if you begin at the edge of the Pacific coast in the west and you draw a line running east, you would see that quickly after crossing over Northern California and over the Cascade and Klamath Mountains, you would enter into the vast desert of the Great Basin that takes up most of Nevada, one of the driest and least hospitable regions that can be found in North America.

如果你從西邊的太平洋海岸開始，畫一條向東延伸的線，你會發現，在穿越北加州以及喀斯喀特山脈和喀拉馬斯山脈後不久，你就會進入廣闊的大盆地沙漠，這片沙漠佔據了內華達州的大部分地區，是北美最乾燥、最不適合居住的地區之一。

And it's only a part of the Greater North American Deserts, a series of ecologically distinct deserts spanning across the western side of the continent, including the Northern Basin, the Wyoming Basin, the Colorado Plateau, the Arizona New Mexico Plateau, and

這還只是大北美沙漠的一部分，這是一系列生態獨特的沙漠，橫跨大陸的西部地區，包括北部盆地、懷俄明盆地、科羅拉多高原、亞利桑那新墨西哥高原，以及

But in between all of these deserts, hundreds of miles away from the lush areas of Northern California, spans a huge green oasis a hundred miles north to south, cradled between the Lake Bonneville's successor lakes in the west and the Wasatch Mountains in the east, where abundant life and civilization once again becomes possible.

但在所有這些沙漠之間，距離北加州肥沃地區數百英里之外，綿延著一個巨大的綠色綠洲，南北長達一百英里，位於西邊邦內維爾湖的後續湖泊和東邊的瓦薩奇山脈之間，生命和文明再次變得可能。

Today, this oasis contains a densely populated, continuous metropolis of cities and people, an island of urban density surrounded by hundreds of miles of empty deserts in every direction.

如今，這個綠洲 contains 著一個人口稠密、連續的城市和人群大都會，一個被四面八方數百英里空曠沙漠環繞的城市密集島嶼。

Running north to south within this oasis are the continuous modern metropolitan areas of Ogden, Clearfield, Salt Lake City and Provo Orem, collectively home to more than 2.8 million people.

在這個綠洲中，南北貫穿的是奧格登、克利爾菲爾德、鹽湖城和普羅沃奧勒姆等連續的現代都會區，總計居住著超過 280 萬人口。

Now on what is most often referred to as the Wasatch Front, home to more than 80% of Utah's entire statewide population, the Wasatch Front is the core of the whole state.

現在，在最常被稱為瓦薩奇前沿的地方，居住著猶他州總人口的 80% 以上，瓦薩奇前沿是整個州的中心。

And for years, it's also been one of the fastest growing regions in all of America due to its spectacular and accessible natural beauty and its relatively modest cost of living compared to alternatives in California and the Northeast.

而且多年來，由於其壯觀且易於親近的自然美景，以及與加州和東北部相比相對適中的生活成本，這裡也一直是全美國成長最快的地區之一。

The median priced home in Salt Lake City is still about a third less than it is in Los Angeles, and

鹽湖城 median priced home 的價格仍比洛杉磯低約三分之一，

it's more than 40% less than it is in San Diego.

而且比聖地牙哥便宜 40% 以上。

The Wasatch Front first began receiving significant European settlement in 1847 with the arrival of the Mormon pioneers.

瓦薩奇前沿在 1847 年，隨著摩門教先驅的到來，首次開始了大規模的歐洲人定居。

Over a span of about 20 years, roughly 70,000 of them trekked out on their wagons from the American Midwest across across the continent to eventually settle in the Wasash Front following the killing of the Mormon's first leader and prophet, Joseph Smith by a mob in Illinois in 1844.

在大約 20 年的時間裡，約有七萬名摩門教徒在 1844 年，他們的領袖兼先知約瑟夫·史密斯在伊利諾州被暴民殺害後，乘坐馬車從美國中西部橫跨大陸，最終定居在瓦薩奇前沿。

The Mormon pioneer settled and founded Salt Lake City on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in 1847 and made it the global headquarters of the Mormon Church, which it continues to remain today, and

摩門教先驅於 1847 年在大鹽湖邊緣定居並建立了鹽湖城，並使其成為摩門教的全球總部，至今依然如此，

which has always given Salt Lake City a degree of religious significance and appeal.

這也一直賦予鹽湖城一種宗教上的重要性和吸引力。

Today, the Mormon Church claims a membership of more than 17.5 million people all across the world, although probably only around a third of those people are actually active, participating members of the church, implying that in reality, there's probably more like between 5 and 6 million truly practicing Mormons today who look at Salt Lake City as the spiritual headquarters of their faith.

如今，摩門教聲稱在全球擁有超過 1750 萬名教友，儘管其中可能只有約三分之一是真正活躍、參與教會活動的成員，這意味著實際上，今天可能只有五到六百萬真正信奉摩門教的人，他們將鹽湖城視為其信仰的精神中心。

For nearly a century after the founding of Salt Lake City, however, the population found within the Wasatch Front continued to remain modest and within the bounds of what could naturally be supported a century later.

然而，在鹽湖城建立後的將近一個世紀裡，瓦薩奇前沿的人口仍然不多，並且在一個世紀後，仍處於自然能夠支持的範圍內。

By 1950, the population all across the Wasatch Front had only increased to around 500,000 people, 85 to 90% of whom at the time were estimated to be entirely members of the Mormon Church.

到了 1950 年，瓦薩奇前沿的總人口僅增加到約 50 萬人，當時估計其中有 85% 到 90% 完全是摩門教教會的成員。

But from there, across the 1950s and beyond, the population in the Wasatch Front would begin exploding due to a combination of factors.

但從那時起，到了 1950 年代及之後，由於多種因素的結合，瓦薩奇前沿的人口開始爆炸性成長。

Following the post war boom that followed the Second World War.

緊接著第二次世界大戰後的戰後繁榮。

Within only 30 years, by 1980, the population within the Wasatch Front doubled to roughly 1 million people.

僅僅 30 年後，到了 1980 年，瓦薩奇前沿的人口翻倍，達到約 100 萬人。

And then in just a little over 20 more years, at some point in the 2000s, it doubled again to roughly 2 million people.

然後在短短的 20 多年後，到了 2000 年代的某個時候，人口又翻倍，達到約 200 萬人。

Now, in 2025, the Wasash Front is home to more than 2.8 million people.

現在，到了 2025 年，瓦薩奇前沿已成為超過 280 萬人的家園。

Nearly six times as many people who lived within this oasis environment just 75 years ago, back in 1950.

這是在 75 年前，也就是 1950 年，居住在這個綠洲環境中的人數的近六倍。

The population growth across the Wasash Front has been so great recently that it's made the whole state of Utah among the fastest growing states in the whole country across the 2020 Since 2020 alone, Utah's population has grown by more than 7%, making it the fourth highest growth state in America this decade, behind only Florida, Idaho, and

瓦薩奇前沿的人口近期增長如此之大，使得整個猶他州成為全國增長最快的州之一，僅在 2020 年以來，猶他州的人口就增長了 7% 以上，使其成為本世紀美國增長率第四高的州，僅次於佛羅裡達州、愛達荷州和

To accommodate all of this rapid growth, Utah is also currently experiencing the fourth highest amount of new home construction in the country as well, contributing to a booming economy that is greatly financially benefiting the elected members of the Utah State Legislature, since around a third of them are estimated to have ties to the state's booming real estate industry, according to a recent investigation by the New York Times.

為了應對所有這些快速增長，猶他州目前也是全國新屋建設量第四高的州，這有助於經濟蓬勃發展，為猶他州州議會的民選議員帶來了巨大的經濟利益，因為據《紐約時報》最近的一項調查顯示，其中約有三分之一的人估計與該州的房地產行業蓬勃發展有關。

Historically, all of this growth in people within the Wasatch Front has been fueled by the region's unique hydrology that makes it all possible and which also makes the Great Salt Lake possible.

歷史上，瓦薩奇前沿所有這些人口的增長，都歸功於該地區獨特的が水文條件，這使得一切成為可能，也使得大鹽湖成為可能。

Heavy snow falls during the winter months on the Wasatch Mountains that tower above the Oasis to the east, and

瓦薩奇山脈在冬季會降下大雪，這些山脈聳立在東邊的綠洲之上，

then during the spring months that snow snow will melt which feeds the region's three great the Bear, Weber, and

然後在春季，這些積雪會融化，滋養了該地區的三條大河：熊河、韋伯河和

Jordan Rivers, which all empty out into the Great Salt Lake and provide it with virtually all of its water.

約旦河，這三條河都匯入大鹽湖，並為其提供了幾乎所有的水源。

The Great Salt Lake itself is a terminal, endorheic saline lake with no natural outlet, meaning that the only way that water leaves from the lake naturally is through evaporation.

大鹽湖本身是一個內流鹽湖，沒有天然出口，這意味著水從湖中自然流失的唯一途徑是蒸發。

Before the era of modern, extensive human settlement in the Wasatch Front, this hydrological system here existed within a fragile and easily disturbable balanced during the warm summer season, the natural evaporation rate would cause the Great Salt Lake to lose about 2ft worth of its water levels, which would then be replaced during the following spring when the snow melt up in the mountains fed down into the rivers that fed back down into the lake.

在瓦薩奇前沿現代、廣泛的人類定居時代之前，這裡的水文系統在夏季的脆弱平衡中存在，自然蒸發率會導致大鹽湖的水位下降約 2 英尺，然後在接下來的春天，當山上的積雪融化流入河流，再流入湖中時，水位會得到補充。

The rivers also carried minerals down into the lake from the mountains, too, but without any natural outlet.

河流也從山上攜帶礦物質流入湖中，但沒有天然出口。

The water that always left every summer through evaporation always kept leaving behind all of the minerals in the lake, which caused the lake to grow saltier than the ocean and which gave it its name, the Great Salt Lake.

每年夏天通過蒸發離開的水總是將所有的礦物質留在湖中，這使得湖水的鹽度比海水還高，這也為它贏得了「大鹽湖」的名字。

Now, however, two major factors are driving a disruption in this historical balance that is causing the Great Salt Lake's dramatic shrinkage the explosive population growth in the Wasatch Front that is increasing the region's water demands and needs and climate change that's increasing temperatures and increasing the lake's evaporation rates further beyond its historical norms.

然而，現在有兩個主要因素正在打破這種歷史平衡，導致大鹽湖急劇縮小：瓦薩奇前沿爆炸性的人口增長增加了該地區的水需求，以及氣候變化導致溫度升高，進一步增加了湖泊的蒸發量，超出了歷史常態。

Beginning in the 1900s, federal and state construction of various dams, canals, and

從 20 世紀初開始，聯邦和州政府建造了各種水壩、運河和

pipelines along the three major rivers that feed the lake enabled for more of the water in the rivers to be diverted for other purposes, like for agriculture, industries and municipal water Use in the growing cities, which began depriving the Great Salt Lake of much of its ability to replenish itself naturally.

沿著注入湖泊的三條主要河流建造的各種水壩、運河和管線，讓更多河水可以被用於其他用途，像是農業、工業和日益增長的城市用水，這開始剝奪了大鹽湖自然補充自身的能力。

The human consumption of water from these rivers in the Wasatch Front reached unsustainable levels for the Great Salt Lake's long term stability quickly by the 1960s.

到了 1960 年代，瓦薩奇前沿地區對這些河流的水資源消耗，已經達到了對大鹽湖長期穩定性來說無法持續的程度。

And so the lake began declining in size then.

是以，湖泊的面積便開始縮小了。

Luckily, an extraordinarily rare wet period for the Wasatch front in the 1980s managed to briefly replenish what the lake had lost in the 1960s and 70s.

幸運的是，1980 年代瓦薩奇前沿地區出現了異常罕見的濕潤時期，成功地在短時間內補充了湖泊在 60 年代和 70 年代流失的水量。

But after that climatic period ended and the lake peaked in size in 1987, it's been in nearly continuous decline again ever since.

但在那段氣候時期結束，湖泊在 1987 年達到最大面積後，之後就幾乎持續地縮小了。

Notably, between 2020 and 2023, the Great Salt Lake was receding less than one third of the amount of water through the three rivers that it naturally did historically, before the mass settlement of humans in the region, resulting in the lake's ability to replenish its natural losses through evaporation becoming crippled.

值得注意的是，在 2020 年到 2023 年間，大鹽湖透過注入的三條河流獲得的水量，比人類大規模定居於該地區之前的歷史自然蒸發量，還少了三分之一以上，這導致湖泊透過蒸發自然流失的水量，其補充能力嚴重受損。

Great Salt Lake naturally receives about 3.1 million acre feet of water per year through the rivers that feed into the lake.

大鹽湖每年透過注入的河流，自然接收約 310 萬英畝英尺的水量。

It receives about another 600,000 acre feet of water per year through direct precipitation, while about 2.6 million acre feet of water per year leaves the lake through evaporation.

每年約有 60 萬英畝英尺的水量來自直接降雨，而每年約有 260 萬英畝英尺的水量透過蒸發離開湖泊。

Meaning that, in theory, the sustainable level of human water consumption from the system would be around 1.1 million acre feet of water per year.

這意味著，理論上，該系統可持續的人類用水量約為每年 110 萬英畝英尺。

In order to keep the Great Salt Lake stable, however, the current rate of human water consumption in the system catastrophically exceeds this.

然而，為了維持大鹽湖的穩定，目前該系統的人類用水量遠遠超過了這個數字。

Humans are withdrawing about 2.1 million acre feet of water per year from the rivers upstream that feed into the lake, While mineral extraction operations at the lake withdraw another 200,000 acre feet of water more per year as well.

人類每年從注入大鹽湖的上游河流中抽取約 210 萬英畝英尺的水，而湖中的礦物開採作業每年也額外抽取 20 萬英畝英尺的水。

Meaning that the Great Salt Lake has been experiencing an annual water deficit of 1.2 million acre feet of water for years now.

這意味著，大鹽湖多年來每年都面臨著 120 萬英畝英尺的水量赤字。

Which, of course, is primarily what's driving the lake's shrinkage.

當然，這也是導致湖泊縮小的主要原因。

In order to fully restabilize the Great Salt Lake and save it now, the millions of people living within the Wasatch Front will need to collectively cut their current water consumption rate by more than half, which is a massive obstacle to do in the face of the region's ingrained industries and interests.

為了完全穩定大鹽湖並拯救它，居住在沃沙奇前沿的數百萬居民需要將目前的水消耗率集體削減一半以上，這在該地區根深蒂固的產業和利益面前是一個巨大的挑戰。

And Utah's dreams of even further growth and expansion beyond their already deeply strained water resources.

以及猶他州對其已經嚴重緊張的水資源進行進一步成長和擴張的夢想。

Currently, the cities and industries within the Wasatch Front only use about 9% of the water that's being pulled from the rivers.

目前，沃沙奇前沿的城市和產業僅使用了從河流中抽取的水量的約 9%。

But an astonishing 90% of that usage is being dedicated exclusively to outdoor water use.

但令人驚訝的是，其中 90% 的用水量完全用於戶外用水。

With a per person daily water consumption rate of 96 gallons in 2021, Salt Lake City residents also just consume a lot more water than the residents of other desert cities in the United States do, like Tucson or Los Angeles, where Residents consume only 78 and 77 gallons of water per day, respectively.

2021 年，鹽湖城居民每人每天的用水量為 96 加侖，比美國其他沙漠城市（如圖森或洛杉磯，居民每天僅消耗 78 加侖和 77 加侖）的居民用水量還要多。

Extracting minerals from the Great Salt Lake itself, like salt sulfate, potash, fertilizer, and

從大鹽湖本身提取礦物質，例如硫酸鹽、鉀肥、肥料，以及

Magnesium consumes another 9% of the water use, while water losses through leaks and inefficiencies in reservoirs consume another 8%.

鎂則佔了另外 9% 的用水量，而水庫因滲漏和效率低落造成的損失則佔了 8%。

By far and away, though, the largest use of water in the Wasatch Front is all dedicated to agriculture, which consumes a whopping 74% of all the water that's currently being pulled from the system.

不過，沃沙奇前沿最大的用水量，卻是全部用於農業，佔了目前從系統中抽取的所有水量驚人的 74%。

Agriculture in Utah is naturally challenging since the state is dry and mostly covered by deserts and mountain valleys.

猶他州的農業本來就充滿挑戰，因為該州乾燥，大部分地區被沙漠和山谷覆蓋。

Farmers who acquired water rights in the state found early on in Utah's history that alfalfa was one of the few economically viable crops that could be grown there that help adapt them to arid environments and the fact that it can be harvested multiple times a year, which is another big local industry found in Utah as well.

在猶他州早期歷史中，獲得水權的農民發現，苜蓿是少數能在當地經濟上可行種植的作物之一，有助於他們適應乾旱環境，而且一年可以收割好幾次，這也是猶他州另一項重要的在地產業。

But alfalfa also requires a lot of water to grow and sustain, so much so that out of the 74% of all the water in the Great Salt Lake Basin that's dedicated to agriculture right now, three fourths is all entirely dedicated to just growing alfalfa.

但苜蓿的生長和維持也需要大量的水，多到目前大鹽湖盆地 74% 用於農業的水中，有四分之三完全是為了種植苜蓿。

While alfalfa is a staple of Utah's rural economy, it's an extremely minor component of the state's overall economy, accounting for less than 1% of the state's total GDP, despite how much of the state's water it consumes.

雖然苜蓿是猶他州鄉村經濟的支柱，但它在該州整體經濟中所佔的比例極小，僅佔該州總 GDP 的不到 1%，儘管它消耗了該州大量的水。

Despite this, Utah's Republican dominated government that bristles at even the thought of regulation has been reluctant to constrain the alfalfa industry's water consumption in the state, since it's a major component of the rural Utah economy that heavily leans Republican, and

儘管如此，由共和黨主導、甚至連想到監管都會感到不適的猶他州政府，一直不願限制苜蓿產業在該州的用水量，因為它是共和黨佔多數的猶他州鄉村經濟的重要組成部分，而且

since it's also a basis for the state's dairy and beef industries, which are also big in the rural parts of the state that lean Republican.

它也是該州乳製品和牛肉產業的基礎，這些產業在共和黨佔多數的鄉村地區也很盛行。

So far, the Utah state government has done virtually nothing to curb the overuse of water in the state.

到目前為止，猶他州政府幾乎沒有採取任何措施來遏制該州的水資源過度使用。

And doing what's necessary to really stabilize the Great Salt Lake by cutting their water consumption in half is politically dangerous, since doing so would inevitably harm the influential farmers and ranchers in the rural parts of the state.

而為了真正穩定大鹽湖而將用水量減半，在政治上是危險的，因為這麼做不可避免地會損害該州鄉村地區有影響力的農民和牧民。

And at the same time, Utah's made no plans to halt the development of the suburban sprawl radiating throughout the Wasatch Front either.

同時，猶他州也沒打算要停止瓦薩奇走廊（Wasatch Front）的郊區擴張。

Despite the Wasatch Front already living far beyond their natural means in regards to water consumption, the Salt Lake City metropolitan area is currently projected by the state to add another 600,000 more additional residents by 2060.

儘管瓦薩奇走廊在用水量上早已超出自然負荷，但根據州政府預測，到 2060 年，鹽湖城都會區預計將再增加 60 萬居民。

In order to meet the increased demand for all these new people, the region will have to either divert even more water from the rivers and streams that feed the Great Salt Lake, recycle more of their own wastewater, or pull more groundwater from wells, all of which will further decrease the amount of water entering into the Great Salt Lake even further.

為了滿足這些新增人口的所有需求，該地區必須從注入大鹽湖的河流和溪流中引更多水，回收更多自身的廢水，或從井裡抽取更多地下水，而這些都會進一步減少流入大鹽湖的水量。

And of course, just as humans are pulling even more water from the Great Salt Lake system than they ever have before, climate change is increasing what used to be the lake's natural rate of evaporation as well.

當然，就在人類從大鹽湖系統抽取比以往更多的水時，氣候變遷也正在增加過去曾是湖泊自然蒸發率的蒸發量。

The researchers involved with a 2023 Brigham Young University study estimated that human greenhouse gas emissions have caused a warming of around 4 degrees Fahrenheit in northern Utah around the lake since the start of the 20th century, increasing the pace of evaporation in the Great Salt Lake.

楊百翰大學一項 2023 年的研究人員估計，自 20 世紀初以來，人類的溫室氣體排放已導致湖泊周邊北猶他州氣溫升高約 4 華氏度，加速了大鹽湖的蒸發速度。

That has accounted for roughly 9% of the lake's decline since the late 1980s, while the vast majority of the rest of the decline has come from all of the diversions to the lake's rivers and streams that are primarily being used for agriculture and alfalfa harvesting.

這約佔該湖自 1980 年代後期以來乾涸量的 9%，而其餘大部分乾涸則來自主要用於農業和苜蓿收割的河流與溪流的引水。

These are all of the reasons why the Great Salt Lake has crashed so much in size since 1987, plummeting by more than 71% in overall surface area from then by early 2023, luckily, shortly after the Brigham Young University team published their research and warning in early January of 2023, the Wasatch Front experienced one of the highest levels of snowfall it's ever experienced across the rest of the winter that season.

這就是大鹽湖自 1987 年以來規模大幅縮小的所有原因，到 2023 年初，其總表面積減少了 71% 以上。幸運的是，就在楊百翰大學團隊於 2023 年初發表他們的研究和警告後不久，瓦薩奇走廊在該季冬季的其餘時間經歷了有史以來最高的降雪量之一。

That made it the highest snowfall winter in the region since the winter in 1992-93 that enabled the Great Salt Lake to modestly recover from some of its all time low.

那年冬季成為該地區自 1992-93 年冬季以來降雪量最高的冬季，該冬季讓大鹽湖從歷史最低點略有恢復。

But it also, troublingly had absolutely nothing to do with human intervention to save the lake.

但令人擔憂的是，這與人類拯救湖泊的幹預措施完全無關。

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美國迫在眉睫的最大災難？！ (America’s Biggest Looming Catastrophe)

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