Air quality is a major issue in Salt Lake Valley. It can affect our health and well-being. What I didn’t expect is that it can even contribute to causing drought.
I read an article published in KSL about how poor air quality can actually affect the watershed in Utah. (https://nowcomment.com/documents/261876). Particulate in the air can be trapped in a snowfall. This darkened snow melts much quicker than clean snow, which means that not enough water makes it into reservoirs.
There are many causes to this air pollution. The article addressed that this affect of poor air quality is mostly caused by dust blown from across the west, though soot in the air is also a contributing factor.
I would like to know what can be done to prepare for this. It seems that much of the air pollution in this specific case is natural, so perhaps there is something we can do to mitigate the effects rather than stop the cause. What’s more, we should probably eliminate what air pollution is not natural in this issue.
