In a prior post it was noted that the Salton Sea was created in 1905, when heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell and breach an Imperial Valley dike. It took nearly two years to control the Colorado River’s flow into the formerly dry Salton Sink and stop the flooding. As the basin filled, the town of Salton, a Southern Pacific Railroad siding, and Torres-Martinez Indian land were submerged. The sudden influx of water and the lack of any drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea. By the 1950s it supported large populations of imported sea fish. Marketed as “California's Riviera”, the Salton Sea briefly attracted more tourists than Yosemite National Park. More importantly from an ecologic perspecitve, over the years the Salton Sea became a stopover for birds on the Pacific Flyway. [See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Flyway.]
The bad news is that since its creation in 1905, the Salton Sea's water has been supplied almost entirely by run-off from irrigated farms in the Imperial Valley. Because it has no outlet, the lake has gradually become saltier because it is drying up. The lake is 30% saltier than the Pacific Ocean, and much more polluted. Since 2003 only one edible fish, the hardy tilapia [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia], has been seen, and even that is prone to mass “die-offs”. Algae thrives, accounting for the repugnant smell of the area.
Restoration costs have often been estimated to be quite substantial, and the prior post wondered if it would be deemed a worthy investment given California's huge budget problems. For example, last spring California's resources chief opted for a plan to rescue the sea that involves a series of channels, a 52-mile-long sea wall, and $8.9 billion in capital costs. Despite this daunting estimate, Governor Schwarzenegger has signed Senate Bill 187 [see http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0151-0200/sb_187_bill_20080927_chaptered.html] which approves the expenditure of $47 million for the first five-year phase of the restoration. The expenditures will cover studies and habitat development. However, any restoration of the Salton Sea has only just begun; there are many millions and perhaps billions of dollars and many years of activities to go if such a restoration program is attempted. All this to save an accident that happened a century ago.
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