Hydrologic and Surface State Consequences of Berming Farmington Bay: A Quantitative Assessment

This document evaluates the hydrologic and surface‑state consequences of installing a berm to block flows from Farmington Bay to the main body of Great Salt Lake as a dust‑mitigation strategy. The analysis demonstrates that, in the absence of quantified dust flux or mineralogical evidence, the proposed intervention would create a new anthropogenic surface state that increases evaporation, suppresses inflow to the main lake, alters salinity trajectories, and ultimately expands dust‑prone surfaces elsewhere in the basin. The berm does not mitigate dust; it creates a new upstream evaporation surface that suppresses inflow to Great Salt Lake, lowers lake elevation, and expands dust‑prone surfaces elsewhere.