Utah
Lakebed dust is a worry in Utah. For California’s Salton Sea, it’s a full-blown problem
Editor’s note: This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake — and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
MECCA, Calif —Sitting on the couch next to his mom inside their mobile home in Mecca, California, 5-year-old Ruben Mandujano lets out a gurgled cough while playing on a tablet. The phlegm stuck in his throat is noticeable. But the constant cough is something he’s used to.
Ruben Mandujano, who has asthma and is autistic, uses a nebulizer with albuterol at his home near the Salton Sea and Mecca, California, on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. Ruben, 5, doesn’t like the nebulizer, as it often makes him throw up, but knows it is necessary when he is sick. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
His mother, Rosa Mandujano said he came down with some kind of illness about “eight out of the 12 months of the year” when he was younger. Now, after various surgeries, an asthma diagnosis, medications and a nebulizer, Mandujano estimates her son is sick “five months out of the 12.”
The family has grown accustomed to the frequent infections. Both of their children suffer from asthma. A cupboard in their kitchen is dedicated to dozens of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
Mandujano said her son’s problems get worse when the air quality is awful – another common issue for Coachella and Imperial Valley residents. Mecca, where the Mandujano family lives, is enveloped by agricultural fields and a short distance from the north shore of the declining Salton Sea, a saline lake facing similar turmoil as Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
Dust storms have become the norm being so close to agricultural fields and the Salton Sea, she said. Winds reaching 75 miles per hour whip through predominantly low-income and immigrant communities. The dust gets so bad, Mandujano said, that “you can’t see what’s in front of you.”
Dust lingers after OHVs drove by in West Shores, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
With the exposed Salton Sea lakebed and the loose dirt and pesticides from the surrounding fields, Mandujano said it’s rare to find a Coachella Valley resident who doesn’t suffer from allergies or asthma. But the impact of the bad air quality and dust storms is worse for some, like Ruben.
“His asthma and his allergies combine, it’s a ticking bomb for him,” Mandujano said. “He says that everything hurts. His ears hurt, his eyes hurt, his nose hurts. He doesn’t even want to get touched.”
When the phlegm won’t leave his throat, Ruben has to use a nebulizer, which circulates well-known asthma medications like Albuterol or Pulmicort through a mask. Mandujano said she hooks her son up to the nebulizer about 121 times a year.
“He hates it because it makes him throw up because it gathers all of the phlegm,” Mandujano said. “He knows he’s going to start throwing up. So he just says, ‘Mommy, I don’t like this,’ and keeps trying to take it off.”
While Rosa Mandujano fights to keep her family healthy, California state leaders, scientists and community advocates are trying to identify solutions to clean up the air, especially as it pertains to the dust accumulated from the Salton Sea. Like Great Salt Lake, there are toxins in the sediment of the exposed lake bed.
Charlie Diamond, University of California, Riverside, Earth and Planetary Sciences Department academic coordinator, talks about the Salton Sea during an interview in front of hay bales used for dust mitigation by Bombay Beach, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Scattered near the roughly 27,000 acres of exposed Salton Sea playa are lines of hay bales.
Charlie Diamond, a researcher with the Salton Sea Task Force at the University of California Riverside, said it’s a “dust suppression project” aimed to “break up the flow of air right at the ground level.” The goal, Diamond said, is for the hay bales to “suppress the dust production or emission.”
During high wind events, Diamond said toxins and other sediments like gypsum and salt get “blown around in the surrounding communities, [and] causes a lot of problems with respiratory health, especially in young folks.”
Usually, Diamond said, the hay bales are planted with native vegetation, which the shoreline severely lacks. That acts as another dust suppressant. But “these projects are really contingent on some external source of freshwater,” Diamond added, and that’s the crux of the issue – in the arid climate, there isn’t enough fresh water making its way to the Salton Sea to begin with.
With an exorbitant amount of dried lakebed, it’s unlikely hay bales will prevent all the dust from pummeling community members.
“That’s not a solution, it’s a band-aid,” Diamond said.
Local officials are working on other remedies. The Imperial Irrigation District, which oversees the hay bale projects, is also planting and germinating natural vegetation near the shoreline. Environmental specialist Ross Wilson said the district is using groundwater to hydrate the plants.
Hay bales used for dust mitigation in a Salton Sea Management Program project are pictured on approximately 68 acres near Bombay Beach, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Some corresponding seeding to establish vegetation was attempted during last year’s rains, but further planting is on hold until a water source is confirmed. Wilson said there isn’t a way to “necessarily make less dust,” the hope is the natural vegetation “catches the dust” like the hay bales and results in better air quality.
The agency also uses a Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Lab, also known as a PI-SWERL, to figure out what exactly is in the dust. The device, which resembles an industrial floor polisher, replicates wind speeds and collects air quality measurements. Wilson added it also tracks which areas produce the most emissions.
“No one has the money to just mitigate the entire sea. So if we can dial down which areas actually are emissive and which areas are the problem, then we can really nail down our resources to those specific areas,” he said.
If more water isn’t funneled into the Salton Sea, the Imperial Irrigation District predicts upward of 70,000 acres of bare lakebed within the next 10 years.
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is up against the same fate as the Salton Sea when it comes to dust.
Ross Wilson, Imperial Irrigation District environmental specialist, poses for a portrait with a PI-SWERL, which stands for Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Lab, in Salton City, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed noted in the state’s first Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan that the lake’s low water levels are increasing dust emissions. He added the accumulation from the estimated 800 square miles of the exposed lake bed poses a public health risk and is causing snow to melt approximately 17 days sooner than normal.
Steed told KUER’s RadioWest that he believes dust from Great Salt Lake is “going to be the hardest one [problem] to solve.”
“When you have an exposed lake bed that weathers over time, which has happened over years, you see additional dust days and problems with PM 2.5 and PM 10,” he said. “And we know that we’ve had a problem [with air quality] along the Wasatch Front especially.”
The Utah Office of Legislative Auditor General highlighted in the Great Salt Lake Strategic Plan that it would cost a minimum of $1.5 billion to keep the lake’s dust at bay, along with $15 million each year for ongoing maintenance.
Steed recognizes the price tag associated with dust mitigation. In an ideal world, “the lowest cost alternative” is lifting Great Salt Lake’s water levels so the crust “keeps that dust in place.”
Rosa Mandujano shows a cupboard full of medicine related to her two children’s asthma at their home near the Salton Sea and Mecca, California, on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Utah is just beginning to grapple with its looming dust problem, but for Rosa Mandujano in California, the dust is enough to make her contemplate if it’s worth staying in her hometown. Her two kids love to be outdoors, but the air quality often triggers adverse reactions, especially for Ruben, forcing them to remain inside.
“I’ve talked to my husband and said if we get a good job opportunity and we would have to move out of the state, I mean, let’s go,” Mandujano said. “I know it’s scary because my family’s here. All his family’s here, but I’ve seen friends done it. It’s nothing out of the world. You have to start somewhere.”
KSLTV5’s Alex Cabrero contributed to this report
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Leaders in the Utah Jewish community have prepared security measures ahead of their Festival of Lights celebration, following a deadly attack at a similar holiday event in Australia.
At least 11 people were killed, and 29 were injured after two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on a beach in Sydney. Government officials called the shooting an act of antisemitism and terrorism.
Officials with the United Jewish Federation of Utah released a statement Sunday echoing this sentiment, saying they are “heartbroken and outraged by the antisemitic terrorist attack.”
“Once again, Jews were targeted simply for being Jewish and for celebrating our traditions and our right to religious freedom. We must not ignore efforts to normalize hatred or to cloak antisemitism in political rhetoric,” the statement read.
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The Jewish community in Utah plans to gather for a Hanukkah celebration at the Capitol Sunday evening, a similar event to the one attacked in Sydney.
Officials said they are working closely with law enforcement and security partners to protect the attendees of the Festival of Lights celebration.
“Chanukah marks the Jewish people’s fight to live openly as Jews – and to bring light into dark times. That message is painfully relevant today. Those who sought to extinguish that light will not succeed,” the statement read.
The statement closed by saying the Utah Jewish community will “stand in solidarity” with communities across the world as they mourn those killed in the attack.
“We mourn the victims, pray for the recovery of the injured, and recommit ourselves to ensuring that the lights of Chanukah continue to shine,” it said.
Read the full statement below:
United Jewish Federation of Utah is heartbroken and outraged by the antisemitic terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community in Sydney, Australia, during a first night-of-Chanukah gathering. According to reports, at least eleven people were killed, with many more injured, as families came together to celebrate the Festival of Lights. As details continue to emerge, we mourn every life lost and hold the victims, the injured, and their loved ones in our hearts.
This was a deliberate act of violence against Jews gathered openly to practice their faith. It must be named clearly: this was antisemitism. Once again, Jews were targeted simply for being Jewish and for celebrating our traditions and our right to religious freedom. We must not ignore efforts to normalize hatred or to cloak antisemitism in political rhetoric.
Chanukah marks the Jewish people’s fight to live openly as Jews – and to bring light into dark times. That message is painfully relevant today. Those who sought to extinguish that light will not succeed. The Jewish people will not retreat from Jewish life in the face of hatred.
As Jewish communities in Utah prepare to gather for Chanukah, we do so with vigilance and resolve. The United Jewish Federation of Utah is in close coordination with local law enforcement and community security partners to help ensure celebrations across our state are safe and secure.
We are grateful for the support of Utah’s elected officials and civic leaders and call on leaders everywhere to speak out clearly and forcefully. This attack must be condemned for what it is: a blatant act of antisemitic terror. Words matter – and so do actions. Strong public safety commitments and an unwavering refusal to normalize antisemitism are essential.
We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community of Sydney and with Jewish communities around the world. We mourn the victims, pray for the recovery of the injured, and recommit ourselves to ensuring that the lights of Chanukah continue to shine.
___
Game Notes
Quick Hits
1) Today, Pittsburgh concludes its fifth set of back-to-back games. So far, the Penguins are 2-3-4 in back-to-backs (2-1-2 on the first night and 0-2-2 on the second night).
2) The Penguins enter today’s game ranked first in the NHL in power-play percentage (32.9%) and fifth in penalty kill success rate (84.3%).
3) Yesterday, Sidney Crosby notched two power-play points (1G-1A), making him the 12th player in NHL history to record 600 or more power-play points.
4) Sidney Crosby’s next even-strength goal will surpass Phil Esposito (448) for sole possession of the ninth-most even-strength goals in NHL history.
5) Goaltender Stuart Skinner is 2-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in two career games versus Utah. Only Darcy Kuemper (4), Sergei Bobrovsky (3) and Lukas Dostal (3) have more wins against the Mammoth in NHL history.
FRANCHISE ICON
Sidney Crosby enters tonight’s game riding a four-game point streak (1G-4A) and has points in seven of his last eight games (6G-5A). Crosby, who has notched 1,711 points (644G-1,077A) in his career, sits just two points shy of tying Mario Lemieux’s franchise record of 1,723 points.
When Crosby ties Lemieux, only two players in NHL history will have recorded more points with one franchise: Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.
The captain enters tonight’s game with six goals over his last eight games (6G-5A), and is tied for fourth in the NHL in goals.
HOME COOKIN’
Forward Bryan Rust recorded three points (1G-2A) yesterday against San Jose, giving him five points (2G-3A) over his last two games, both of which have come at home. This season, only Sidney Crosby has more points than Rust at PPG Paints Arena.
DECEMBER LEADERS
Forward Anthony Mantha notched a season-high three points (1G-2A) yesterday against San Jose, giving him six points (2G-4A) over his last six games. Since the calendar flipped to December, only three players on Pittsburgh have more points than him (Bryan Rust, Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson).
POINT PRODUCIN’
Defenseman Kris Letang enters tonight’s game one point shy of surpassing Hall-of-Famer Borje Salming for the 21st most points by a defenseman in NHL history.
PENS ACQUIRE SKINNER AND KULAK
On Friday, the Penguins acquired goaltender Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak and the Edmonton Oilers 2029 second-round draft pick in exchange for goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Sam Poulin.
Skinner, 27, has appeared in 23 games this season for the Oilers where he’s gone 11-8-4 with a 2.83 goals-against average and two shutouts. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound goaltender has spent his entire professional career with Edmonton, appearing in 197 career regular-season games going 109-62-18 with a 2.74 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage and nine shutouts. Skinner’s 109 regular-season wins rank fifth in Oilers franchise history while his nine shutouts are tied for fourth.
The native of Edmonton, Alberta also has 50 games of Stanley Cup Playoff experience, going 26-22 with a 2.88 goals-against average. Skinner most recently helped the Oilers reach back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, and only eight active goaltenders have more postseason wins than his 26.
Kulak, 31, is a veteran of 611 NHL games split between Edmonton, Montreal and Calgary since 2014. The defenseman is coming off of a career year, where he tallied career highs across the board with seven goals, 18 assists and 25 points in 82 games in 2024-25. This season, he has recorded two assists through 31 games.
Throughout parts of 12 seasons in the league, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound defenseman has registered 28 goals, 99 assists and 127 points. Kulak has added three goals, 21 assists and 24 points through 98 career playoff games, including a combined 13 points (2G-11A) in 47 games over the past two years en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals.
The acquisition of Edmonton’s 2029 second-round draft pick gives Pittsburgh eight selections in the 2029 NHL Draft – their original seven selections plus the Oiler’s second-round pick.
It looks like we might have a general ballpark of what type of contract extension numbers Walker Kessler was seeking from the Utah Jazz before the 2025-26 NBA season when negotiations were ongoing.
According to a batch of NBA rumors from Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal, Kessler was said to have desired upwards of $120 million in total value for his next contract, a price that Utah was seemingly unwilling to match.
“In contract discussions with the Jazz, Kessler sought upwards of $120 million in total compensation for a long-term contract extension, sources told , but Utah was unwilling to commit to that price range,” Afseth wrote. “There was a clear gap in talks between Kessler and Utah,’ one source said.”
It’s an interesting nugget thrown into the situation is Kessler’s pending new contract, offering a bit of insight into what exactly was expected from Kessler’s camp in the negotiations for a second deal with the Jazz.
Kessler Was Searching for $120M From Utah Jazz
Earlier this summer, it initially seemed as if the expected outcome would be for the Jazz and Kessler to hammer out a new rookie extension to ink him on for the next four-to-five years.
But instead, Utah wanted to prioritize having that cap flexibility until next summer rolled around; ultimately leaving their fourth-year big man to play out the final year of his deal, then hit restricted free agency in 2026.
That’s exactly what would transpire, but it wouldn’t take long for Kessler’s fourth season in the mix to be quickly derailed, as he would go down with season-ending shoulder surgery just five games into the year, now leaving him to prepare for the 2026-27 campaign, and cutting a pivotal contract year short.
Before getting injured this season to be sidelined for the entire year, Kessler played five games where he averaged a career-best 14.4 points a game, along with 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.8 block in just over 30 minutes a night.
It’s not exactly concrete of exactly what Kessler was searching on that new contract, but a $150 million value over the next five years would place him into the top-12 highest paid centers in the NBA per AAV.
That’s a hefty price to pay, no doubt. But for one of the more appealing young rim protectors around the league who’s gotten better every season, that might be a deal one team may be willing to pay him on the restricted free agency market, which would then force the Jazz to match that $30 million annually to keep him on their own roster.
Inevitably, the Jazz and Kessler will hit the negotiation table once again this summer as the two sides try to remain paired together for the long haul. Then, time will tell if they’ll be able to come to that long-awaited agreement to lock him into a fresh contract for what could be the next half-decade.
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