“God has commanded us over and over again,” says BYU ecologist, “to care for his creation.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Water levels continue to drop at The Great Salt Lake, shown Oct. 1, 2025.
Orem • Water is sacred to Latter-day Saints. They immerse themselves in it at baptism. They sip it for their sacrament. They read about it in scripture.
As such, they should do more to conserve it and, in doing so, act as saviors for the Great Salt Lake.
So argued three experts — all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — at a community forum on Wednesday evening at Orem’s Utah Valley University.
“Water reminds us of nature’s capacity to renew itself,” said George Handley, an environmental humanities professor at church-owned Brigham Young University. “Water washes and renews us. We cannot live without it.”
Handley, who also serves on the Provo City Council, grew up in Connecticut, where water was abundant, with numerous lakes, rivers, ponds and access to the ocean. He said it wasn’t until he moved to Utah that he fully understood the flow and scarcity of this precious resource.
Jesus even refers to himself as the living water in the Bible, Handley said, so fellow Latter-day Saints need to appreciate its sacred nature and take action.
Hosted by Grow the Flow, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to water conservation for the Great Salt Lake, the gathering focused on the critically low water levels that threaten the Salt Lake Valley’s geologic namesake and the role faith can play in preserving it.
(Kim Raff | for The New York Times) BYU ecology professor Ben Abbott sees saving the Great Salt Lake as a religious duty.
“The reason why I believe God has commanded us over and over again to care for his creation,” BYU ecologist Ben Abbott said, “is because his children depend on it.”
Abbott, who also is executive director of Grow the Flow, emphasized that the issue is not purely political or scientific but deeply religious as well, with Earth stewardship at its core.
Any drop of water saved is progress toward making the lake healthy again, said Abbott, encouraging attendees to volunteer for Grow the Flow and to conserve water in agriculture, landscaping and general use.
Jenica Sedgwick, sustainability manager for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pointed to efforts the Utah-based faith is making to mitigate water loss.
As one of the state’s most influential water rights owners, the church has donated more than 20,000 acre-feet of water to the lake, experimented with drought-resistant foliage outside its chapels, and installed “smart controller” irrigation systems that adjust water output based on weather conditions.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church Sustainability Manager Jenica Sedgwick, speaking at a conference in Brazil in October 2023, points to efforts by the Utah-based faith to conserve water.
“This is a big cultural shift for the church that is relatively recent,” Sedgwick said, “and is something that is guiding our operational decisions.”
She echoed the counsel of various church leaders about the sacred nature of Earth stewardship.
Sedgwick quoted Gérald Caussé, the church’s presiding bishop, from a 2022 General Conference address on protecting the planet’s resources.
“The care of the Earth and of our natural environment is a sacred responsibility entrusted to us by God, which should fill us with a deep sense of duty and humility,” Caussé said. “It is also an integral component of our discipleship. How can we honor and love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ without honoring and loving their creations?”
Sedgwick explained that to be devoted disciples, Latter-day Saints must become better stewards over the land and resources they have been given — and that includes the Great Salt Lake.
Note to readers • Dylan Eubank is a Report for America corps member covering faith in Utah County for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories.