The availability of clean water to sustain life and human societies is perhaps the most recurrent constraint in human history and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

In the U.S. nowhere is this more evident than in the arid west, where rapid population growth and limited water resources converge to reach near-crisis level during periods of drought.

Located in one of the fastest-growing areas in the U.S., the Great Salt Lake Basin provides the opportunity to observe climate and human-induced land-surface changes affecting water availability, water quality, and water use.

These attributes reflect the changing relationship between people and water across the globe and make the Great Salt Lake Basin a microcosm of contemporary water resource issues and an excellent site to pursue interdisciplinary and integrated hydrologic science.