Gov. Spencer Cox returned from Washington, D.C., this week with a commitment from Trump to help restore the lake, he said, and the two talked about a possible $1 billion in federal funding.

Nothing’s been signed, and it will take the state months to put together a proposal, Cox said Monday. Lawmakers point out the state has already invested more than $1 billion into shoring up water resources since the lake hit a record low in 2022.

But legislative leaders said the new flood of federal cash would buoy ideas they’ve been talking about for some time, such as paying California to build desalination equipment turning ocean water into fresh water, in exchange for shares of river water now flowing downstream from Utah.

“It gives credibility to desalination,” Senate President Stuart Adams said of Trump’s support Monday. Such a move would have bipartisan support.

Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, said it’s a good long-term solution.

“That could help,” Owens told Utah News Dispatch Tuesday. “I would think there’d probably be lower hanging fruit for that money, but every idea should be on the table.”

Owens, a perennial sponsor of legislation to conserve water, noted the lake’s health has implications for wildlife and air quality beyond Utah’s borders. He said he’s glad Trump spoke up.

“This is the American Dead Sea, and we need to take care of it,” Owens said.

House Speaker Mike Schultz referenced another idea that would involve making a deal with Canada to bring water from the Columbia River to the Beehive State.

“We’re going to have to think out of the box to help solve this problem,” Schultz told reporters.

Schultz and Adams have said the lake’s well-being is a priority this session and they support multiple bills to help track and conserve water. Some advocates want to keep the focus there.

Jake Dreyfous, managing director of Grow the Flow, said the most productive solutions would help Utahns use less water, like further growing a state pot of money paying farmers to leave some fields unwatered and unplanted for a time. The state could also beef up incentives for homeowners to redo their lawns with more water-efficient landscaping.

“President Trump’s demonstration of support and interest in this issue is an indication to our Legislature that they can and should be doing more,” Dreyfous said.

Dreyfous told Utah News Dispatch that lawmakers this year are taking significant steps toward restoring the lake. But he said the effort will need sustained attention from elected leaders at every level, from tiny Utah towns to Washington, D.C.

Lexi Tuddenham, executive director of HEAL Utah, sees a disconnect between Trump’s promise on the lake and his administration’s moves to roll back environmental and clean-air rules.

“It’s kind of hard to see it as a good-faith effort, where we are deregulating on one side and then saying, ‘Oh, but we care about this issue, and we’re going to do something about it,'” Tuddenham said.

She noted desalination plants require significant energy to power their process and questioned if new ones would use fuels that would pollute the air in surrounding communities. She’s urging lawmakers to keep their focus on conservation measures this year and carry the momentum forward.

Said Tuddenham: “Let’s take this urgency now and keep at it, and not lose that focus, not think that we’ve somehow solved it, or that the problem is going to go away.”