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Protecting Yourself from Great Salt Lake Dust

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by
Lauren Steinbrecher
• Published on
Utah Insight

When winds kick up dust from the lakebed of the Great Salt Lake and blow it into nearby communities, what can Utahns do to brace against it? One Utah organization is teaching people how they can protect their homes and health, using everyday household items. 

‘I’m worried’

Inside Salt Lake City’s Glendale Branch library one evening, Val Paloutzian sat at a table with people she had never met.

The groups around the room largely didn’t know each other, but they knew they all shared the same concern: The dying Great Salt Lake, and its impact on the community.

“I live downtown. I don't have a way to move, and I need to plan,” Paloutzian explained. “How can I still stay healthy while I live here?”

The lake has been shrinking over the course of 30 years, and researchers at the University of Utah have found that the exposed lakebed is leading to dust storms that blow into the Wasatch Front.

Local nonprofit HEAL Utah teamed up with Utah State University researcher Dr. Stacia Ryder and State University of New York to host the evening library event as both a research project exercise and DIY air filter workshop.

Groups including the one Paloutzian sat in first spent time talking about which specific issues they found most important surrounding the shrinking lake.

“I'm worried about the physical health of me and my dog,” Paloutzian expressed. “He's a 13-year-old Chihuahua and he has breathing problems… on bad air days, he can’t like… he struggles. He gets affected really easily.”

Her concerns stretch to others, too.

“I’m worried about how many people die, and they’re just a number,” she said. Paloutzian also expressed hope that, “there can be some sort of change to save Utah.”
 

Watch: Nonprofit Heal Utah teamed up with a Utah State University researcher to teach people how they can protect their homes and health.

Taking DIY action

After talking about problems like dust blowing off the Great Salt Lake, as well as helpful community actions, the groups then took an immediate safety step—building a DIY air purifier from scratch.

“A lot of people don't recognize that the air that's outside will seep into your home,” said Carmen Valdez, senior policy associate at HEAL Utah. 

She explained that air “can oftentimes get trapped from outside, inside. And it's not getting circulated and can become a worse for your health as it sits there.”

A stack of air filters was distributed around the room, along with box fans, duct tape, and large pieces of cardboard.

Dr. Ryder then began guiding them on how to create the clean air contraption, demonstrating each step:

  1. Standing up the four filters on the table and configuring them into a square, then using the duct tape to secure the square together, with the “air flow” arrows pointing inward into the square
  2. Cutting a piece of cardboard into the size of the open square, and duct taping it to one side of the square to create a bottom for the air purifier
  3. Placing the box fan on top of the open square facing up, then duct taping it to the four filters and sealing any cracks


“It’s going to suck the air in, the air filters will trap the particles, and then it’ll blow cleaner air out,” Ryder explained.

While the DIY filter is slightly large and boxy, Valdez explained that conventional air purifiers can be expensive and HEAL Utah wanted to offer an affordable alternative.

“We're giving really tangible tools that are portable, accessible,” She said. “Everyone can have access to them.”

Valdez also hoped the workshop allowed people to, “feel that they have control, and some sort of say in what’s happening in our everyday world.”

Purifying and unifying

Concentrating on her large square, Paloutzian worked with another woman to get the duct tape to cooperate, sometimes a little unsuccessfully, with both of them laughing at the learning curve.

“The process is the fun part, Paloutzian said, with a smile.

They both finished their air filters, and Paloutzian said she planned to put it in her main living space.

“I’m excited that I’ll be able to have peace of mind,” she said. “I’m glad that my home can be better to breathe.”

She expressed coming away from the event also having built a sense of community, in a way that helps fight both dust and fear.

“The most important thing was collaboratively discussing what problems people find important… and what we can do as community actions,” Paloutzian said. “It's nice to feel like everyone is on the same page, and makes everyone feel more united.”
 

MORE: Addressing Utah’s Looming Emergency Over Dust Storms, Health Risks, and a dying Great Salt Lake