Since the mid 1980s, human activity reduced the size of the lake by two-thirds. The remainder will be gone within the next five years. As the water recedes, the lakebed, which contains arsenic, antimony, copper, zirconium and other dangerous heavy metals, dries out and gets blown across Salt Lake City by the wind. Without the water, ecosystems, agriculture, industry, and the ways of living around the lake will collapse.
