Saline lakes are declining worldwide on every continent except Antarctica, mainly due to human causes, such as damming, diversions, and withdrawals. One of the largest factors causing this decline is agricultural irrigation. Among the most commonly cited examples is the Aral Sea, which has shrunk 90% in volume and 74% in area, which is mainly because of irrigation.
Another anthropogenic threat is climate change. Human-caused climate change is increasing temperature in many arid regions, drying soil, increasing evaporation, and reducing inflows to saline lakes.
Decline of saline lakes leads to many environmental problems, including human problems, such as toxic dust storms and air pollution, disrupted local water cycles, economic losses, loss of ecosystems, and more. It can even be more costly. For example, in the case of the decline of Owens Lake, dust stirred up from the dry lakebed has led to air quality higher than allowed by US-air quality standards. This has resulted in the city of Los Angeles spending $3.6 billion over the next 25 years to mitigate dust from the desiccated lakebed, which is more than the value of the diverted water.
Solutions to the decline of saline lakes can be multifaceted, and include water conservation and water budgeting, and mitigating climate change.