Water the Lake · in formation

One gift. Two ways to water the Great Salt Lake.

Every gift splits in half: 50% buys water for the lake now, and 50% seeds a 0%-interest loan that helps a Utah farmer convert crops and irrigation — then comes back to fund the next farm. Give once, work twice.

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Preview a gift

Donations open soon — here's how a gift will work. Drag a preset to see the impact.

$
$5$2,500
← more to the fundmore to the lake →
Your impact
$100 to the lake
$100 to the fund
give once, work twice
Water to the lake — now
65,170
gallons · 0.20 acre-feet
Into the 0% farmer fund
$100
recycles ~6× over 5 yrs to convert farms
The lake half alone fills about 3 backyard pools — and the fund half keeps working long after.
How we calculate this

Your gift splits 50/50. The lake half buys water at current Utah lease rates (~$350/acre-foot) plus measurement and delivery — a conservative all-in rate you can adjust. The fund half is shown in dollars, not gallons: it bridges a conversion the cost-share mostly pays for, then is repaid and re-lent (~1.3×/yr). One acre-foot = 325,851 gallons.

Illustrative planning figures, not a guarantee of a specific volume.

For Utah farmers

Farm the land? See how much you could save.

Estimate your water savings, win AWOP & EQIP cost-share, and get a 0%-interest transition loan — with no upfront cost. That's BasinWard, our program for farmers.

Where your gift goes

Half works today, half works for years. Water the Lake doesn't own the water or write the law — we fund farmers through BasinWard, get the water freed, and prove where every drop went.

1

Your gift splits in two

Fifty cents on the dollar goes straight to the lake. The other fifty seeds a revolving 0%-interest loan fund for farmers — capital that comes back and gets used again.

2

Half buys water — now

The lake half leases water from willing farmers and dedicates it to the Great Salt Lake through Utah's shepherding programs. Telemetry and water accounting confirm the gallons.

3

Half converts a farm — for good

The fund half is a 0% loan that helps a farm switch crops or irrigation. The farm repays when its cost-share lands, and your dollars roll on to the next farm — freeing more water every year.

Honest status: Water the Lake is in formation. This page illustrates the model and the math — it is not yet collecting donations or offering tax-deductible receipts. Want to help build it, fund the first cohort, or partner? Add your name below and we'll be in touch first.
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Join the founding supporters

Farmers, funders, water nerds, and lake lovers — tell us how you'd like to be part of returning water to the Great Salt Lake.

No payment is taken here. We'll only use your email to update you about the Fund.