A transparent record of substantive revisions to this framework
Purpose
This page records substantive revisions to the Great Salt Lake Accounting framework so that changes to its methods, figures, terminology, supporting analysis, and site structure remain transparent and traceable over time. Consistent with the framework’s principles of reproducibility, explicit assumptions, and version control, each entry identifies what changed and why.
Revisions are documented when they change a material figure, add or substantially reorganize a page, clarify an accounting treatment, or refine a defined term. Formatting adjustments, typographical corrections, repaired links, metadata updates, and other changes that do not affect the framework’s content or structure are not listed individually.
Version 1.1 — August 2026
- Added the Great Salt Lake Accounting Standard (GSLAS) public-review-draft page. Establishes the framework’s formal scope, terminology, governing principles, accounting requirements, and distinction among Accounting Findings, Analytical Inference, and Policy Considerations.
- Revised the dedicated-water portfolio’s bankable-accretion estimates following a complete GSLAS order-level review. Replaced the Version 1.0 estimated totals of 198.450 kaf/year under the dry regime and 185.520 kaf/year under the wet regime with Version 1.1 quantified representative subtotals of 158.515 kaf/year dry and 119.707 kaf/year wet. The review identified 549.456 kaf of active fixed order maximums, including 193.718 kaf associated with actions whose recurring annual benefit remains unquantified pending measured delivery, reported participation, documented depletion, or a supported counterfactual baseline. Assumed annual quantities were removed for a50507, f53574, f53788, and the Ontario Drain Tunnel; a53322 was reclassified from zero to not quantified; and the Morton Salt, Earth’s Elements, and Huntsville Abbey Farm quantities were aligned with their controlling order terms. These changes do not represent a reduction in the legal dedicated-water portfolio; they apply a stricter evidentiary distinction between legal authorization, quantified annual bankable lake accretion, and benefits that remain physically plausible but presently unquantified. Corresponding terminology and figures were updated on the Policy Analysis, System Conclusions, and FAQ pages.
- Updated System Conclusion 4 and the GSLAS elevation-target analysis to distinguish the structural Flow Gap from the currently quantified Bankable portfolio. Retained the 200–400 kaf/year range solely as the documented sensitivity range around the approximately 300-kaf/year structural Flow Gap. Replaced its prior use as an estimate of currently available Bankable conservation with the completed order-by-order portfolio estimates of 119.707 kaf/year under wet-regime conditions and 158.515 kaf/year under dry-regime conditions—reasonably summarized as approximately 100–200 kaf/year. Against the central 854-kaf/year requirement for reaching approximately 4,198 ft by 2034, the currently quantified portfolio leaves approximately 695–734 kaf/year not presently covered by demonstrated Bankable actions. Clarified that the portfolio’s 193.718 kaf of active fixed-order maximum associated with unquantified actions and 549.456 kaf of active fixed-order maximum are not Bankable annual lake-accretion estimates, and that the remaining gap would require additional future Bankable actions, favorable climate, or both.
- Refined the Methodology page’s treatment of storage change and net balance. Expresses the canonical annual storage identity in compatible volume units rather than treating elevation change as an accounting quantity. It also clarifies the relationship between Zone 1 terminal inflows, the unresolved Zone 1-to-lake transition, Zone 2 processes, and separately identified mineral depletion to reduce the risk of double-counting.
- Corrected the Methodology page’s 1996–2025 Basin Yield summary. Changed the displayed 30-year rolling Basin Yield from approximately 3.1 MAF/year to approximately 3.2 MAF/year, consistent with the Water Ledger calculation of 14.1 MAF/year of Basin Precipitation less 10.9 MAF/year of Natural ET. The correction does not change Available Supply, Net Inflow, or any system conclusion.
- Clarified the Water Ledger reconstruction method. Documented the basin-climate scaling method, including the 15,100 kaf/year WY1961–1990 precipitation anchor, use of unrounded KSLC period means, and rounding only after scaling. Corrected the WY1996–2025 Basin Precipitation and Natural ET entries to 14,100 and −10,900 kaf/year, respectively. Clarified the distinct storage-change methods used for the 30-year rolling and five-year shock ledgers, and updated the associated AI prompts while preserving the canonical lake-precipitation and evaporation values used in the published ledger and factsheet.
- Expanded and reorganized the Bankability page. Clarifies the physical accounting definition of bankability to Great Salt Lake and distinguishes it from water banking under the Utah Water Banking Act and from financial-sector project bankability. The page’s evaluation sequence and action matrix were aligned with the Great Salt Lake Accounting Factsheet.
- Clarified the terminal water-balance treatment in the FAQ and Water Ledger. Distinguished lake evaporation from separately identified mineral depletion while recognizing that historical attribution between these terminal loss components is not perfectly separable.
- Expanded the Data & Datasets guidance. Distinguished the canonical Basin Plan ledger from the exploratory Hydro Mapper reconstruction, clarified their respective streamflow boundaries, documented the historical 3% groundwater sensitivity, and added a cross-method comparison of storage-balancing residuals and climate-based evaporation.
- Reconciled cross-page terminology and figures. Standardized dataset and accounting terminology across the Methodology, Water Ledger, Policy Analysis, Data & Datasets, FAQ, and Factsheet. Added clarifying notes for the Huntsville Abbey Farm depletion estimates and the Ontario Drain Tunnel’s treatment in the Dedicated Water Reconciliation totals.
- Improved page structure and navigation. Added purpose statements and clearer transitions to major technical pages, reorganized How the Great Salt Lake Works to lead with observed lake behavior, and expanded the About page’s navigation summary to reflect the current site architecture.
- Expanded access to AI-assisted analysis and project updates. Added references to the Great Salt Lake Accounting Analyst (GSLAA) and the GSL Accounting LinkedIn page where relevant. Existing model-independent AI prompts remain available on the Water Ledger, Policy Analysis, and Data & Datasets pages.
Version 1.0 — July 2026
Initial public release of the Great Salt Lake Accounting website, including the Home, About, How the Great Salt Lake Works, Accounting Methodology, Water Ledger, Bankability, Policy Analysis, Data & Datasets, System Conclusions, and Frequently Asked Questions pages, together with the two-page Great Salt Lake Accounting Factsheet.
© 2026 GSL Accounting · Version 1.1 (August 2026). Content may be shared or cited with attribution. Built by humans with AI assistance for data validation and drafting, and grounded in public data; analytical judgments and conclusions are the authors’ own. See the Changelog for revision history and archived change notes.