I'm worried about the Great Salt Lake.

• Author: Griffin, Elle
• Position: EDITOR'S LETTER

THE FOREBODING NEW YORK TIMES REPORT published in June was yet another reminder that the Great Salt Lake is drying up--and that letting it do so is not an option. By exposing hazardous levels of arsenic to the sky, we're looking at a catastrophe the Times compares to a nuclear bomb. It's not the first time such comparisons have been made.

We're doing this to ourselves. We're diverting water upstream so we can build, build, build--and I'm guilty of roofing for that growth. With growth comes a more metropolitan city, bringing more jobs and opportunities. I want that, but not at the expense of being forced to leave because the air is poisonous. Not at the expense of letting our city become a ghost town.

The fix is simple: We need to increase the cost of...