Utah has successfully bid to seize control of the defunct US Magnesium plant, and it plans to donate the massive volume of water it evaporated each year to benefit the Great Salt Lake. The company declared bankruptcy in September following years of insolvency, a catastrophic equipment failure in 2021 and after it fell short on an environmental cleanup contract with federal regulators. State regulators, meanwhile, denied the company’s attempts to extend intake canals in 2022 and continue siphoning away the Great Salt Lake’s record-low water. … US Magnesium pumped more than 52,000 acre-feet of lake brine and groundwater in 2024, according to state information. 

Other industrial water impact news:

• CalMatters (Sacramento, Calif.): Residents of a polluted California town pinned hopes on new state rules. They’re still waiting
• Environment America: Blog: How logging and mining can threaten clean water