SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Several state agencies, including the Utah Division of Natural Resources, have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit claiming state officials are not doing enough for the Great Salt Lake.

The lawsuit was filed in September by a coalition of environmental and conservation groups claiming Utah officials have failed to protect the lake. Specifically, they said the state should be rationing fresh water that is being diverted to residents and businesses upstream.

“Utah’s leaders are prioritizing these water diversions over protecting their own people, so the courts must intervene,” said Brian Moench of the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, one of the conservation groups in the coalition.

Maria Archibald, the senior coordinator of the Sierra Club, another environmentalist group, said Utah officials “have repeatedly demonstrated that they aren’t interested in making meaningful action to address this urgent issue.”

RELATED: Record runoff not enough to save Great Salt Lake

State agencies responded by filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Wednesday, saying the state has dedicated nearly half a billion dollars in the last two years and taken several additional measures to conserve the lake. The motion added that the solutions the coalition’s lawsuit is demanding are not supported under Utah law.

Joel Ferry, executive director of the DNR, said the lawsuit is demanding the “drastic measure” of restricting water deliveries to residents and businesses until the lake reaches a healthy level. He said such a measure would affect 100,000 individual water rights holders and have “broad-reaching implications for the state.”

“A lawsuit like this would force a total shift in how we live our lives here in Utah,” Ferry said. “It would be really disruptive to life here on the Wasatch Front.”

He continued to say there are several other measures that the state is pursuing instead to help the Great Salt Lake, adding that Utah has some of the most forward-thinking laws now in place related to getting water to the lake.

However, he said these measures, which were implemented in the last few years, will take time to show results.

“The lake took 40 years to get to where it is today from its high point,” Ferry said. “It’s going to take some time to build back up. But I believe we’ve turned the ship, and we’re heading in the right direction.”

Ferry said Utah officials, including himself, “care deeply” about the lake, saying he grew up on the north shore of the Great Salt Lake in a small town called Corinne. “We’ve done dramatic things to try to help solve this problem. We take this serious,” Ferry said.

He continued to say defending the lawsuit has used a lot of time and resources from the DNR that could have been directed elsewhere.

“We have to defend this lawsuit, so we’re spending a lot of money on attorneys and I’m spending a ton of time in meetings working on these issues related to the lawsuit where I could and should be focused on efforts to save the Great Salt Lake. It takes from that,” Ferry said.

On Wednesday, Gov. Spencer Cox addressed the issue of the Great Salt Lake saying he feels “very confident” about the direction it’s going. He added that the issue is already taking center stage in anticipation of the 2024 Utah legislative session.

To read the initial lawsuit against the DNR, Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands, and the Utah Division of Water Rights, click here.

The Associated Press has contributed to this story.

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