A group of runners led by ultramarathoner Dakota Jones set out from the Utah State Capitol on Tuesday to begin a nearly 260-mile relay circling the Great Salt Lake, a five-day community effort scheduled to wrap back at the Capitol on October 17. The run follows stretches of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, tracing terrain where water once stood roughly 30,000 years ago, before looping the full perimeter of the shrinking lake.
The event, called Where the Water Was, is organized by Footprints, a climate action project incubator co-founded by Jones. As reported by FOX 13 News Utah, Jones said the lake has receded so much that runners along parts of the route may not actually see water at all. According to the Kilian Jornet Foundation, the relay partners with Grow the Flow, the Utah Rivers Council, Utah Youth Environmental Solutions, and Sierra Club Utah to raise funds and mobilize civic action around the lake's decline.
Jones, an experienced ultrarunner, said the relay remains a serious physical test even for someone with years of endurance training, per the FOX 13 report. He reshaped what was originally conceived as a solo endurance attempt into a community relay instead, emphasizing collective participation over individual achievement, according to an Instagram post from the verified NNormal account
. Organizers describe it not as a race but as a community-focused gathering, inviting people to join along the route or at events throughout the week.
A Petition Aimed at the Statehouse
Beyond the miles logged, organizers are using the relay to collect signatures for what they call the People's Charter for the Great Salt Lake. FOX 13 reports the charter was created by high school and college students and calls for specific actions to protect the lake. The event organizers describe the document, drafted by Utah Youth Environmental Solutions and environmental partners, as asking legislative candidates and elected officials to pledge against new upstream water diversions that further deplete the lake.
Jones has urged community members to support the charter and to participate in the upcoming election, saying that civic engagement helps ensure people's voices get heard, according to FOX 13. The relay's fundraiser benefits the Utah Rivers Council and Grow the Flow, two organizations working directly on Great Salt Lake issues, and Jones has encouraged donations to support their work.
How Close the Lake Is to Record Lows
The timing underscores just how precarious conditions remain. As of October 2026, Great Salt Lake water levels stood at roughly 4,189.7 feet above sea level, according to data tracked by Great Salt Lake Hydromap, just 1.2 feet above the lake's all-time record low of 4,188.5 feet set in November 2022. More than half of the lakebed now sits exposed.
Restoring the lake to a minimum healthy elevation of 4,198 feet by 2034 would require delivering an additional 800,000 to 1 million acre-feet of water every year, according to 2026 estimates from the Great Salt Lake Strike Team cited by Grow the Flow. Current conservation efforts yield only 50,000 to 80,000 acre-feet of new annual inflow, a gap that advocacy groups argue state action has yet to close.
Economic Stakes and a Deeper History
A September 2026 economic study highlighted by Grow the Flow found that each additional acre-foot of water delivered to the lake yields $600 to $1,800 in public health savings from reduced airborne dust, outweighing the estimated $432 to $975 per acre-foot cost of acquiring that water from agricultural users. The lake itself contributes an estimated $1.32 billion annually to Utah's economy through mineral extraction, brine shrimp harvesting, and recreation, while supporting more than 10 million migratory birds and roughly 250–330 species each year.
Records from the Utah Geological Survey show that prehistoric Lake Bonneville once covered roughly 20,000 square miles across Utah between 17,000 and 30,000 years ago. Lake Bonneville reached an elevation of about 5,100 feet and left terrace shorelines.
State Action and a Widening Gap
In September 2025, Governor Spencer Cox launched the GSL 2034 initiative, backed by $200 million in philanthropic pledges, including $100 million from Ducks Unlimited and $100 million from Great Salt Lake Rising, aiming to help restore the lake ahead of the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, according to KSL.com. Conservation leaders have emphasized that current state actions fall far short of the volume needed to stabilize the shoreline.
Exposed lakebed sediments contain elevated arsenic and lead, and airborne dust has prompted public health concerns.
For now, the relay continues through October 17, with Jones and fellow runners making their way around the lake's perimeter one leg at a time. Organizers say the week is designed to stay accessible, with community members invited to join in person or support the cause from home as the petition drive and fundraiser run alongside the miles.
