420 species of birds have been documented at the Salton Sea
California's largest lake is shrinking and has been for quite some time. The Salton Sea was originally
created between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River broke through canals in Imperial County's irrigation system. Since the Colorado River returned to its easterly channel, the Sea has been left to evaporate.
There are a handful of problems facing the Salton Sea:
Because the Sea has no outlet, water is lost only through evaporation, leaving dissolved salts behind and graually raising salinity. The Sea's salinity has now reached 44 parts per thousand (ppt), about 25% higher than ocean water. This elevated salinity may partially explain an apparent decline in orangemouth corvina, the most popular sportfish.
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The inflows to the Salton Sea contain high levels of nutrients making the Sea a highly eutrophic (very productive) body of water. This high primary productivity explains the productivity of the fishery but also contributes to periodic fish kills via deoxygenation due to decomposition of 1(the heavily organic sediment after it has been resuspended by high winds, or 2) dead algae following planktonic 'blooms.'
However, these are just some of the issues. Two very important issues are
children and wildlife:
Wildlife biologist Tom Anderson told Pool that 420 species of birds have been documented at Salton Sea. The exposed riverbank makes it easier for prey to reach them, putting some species at risk of extinction, he explained. Plus, the Salton Sea has become an important stopping point for many species of migratory birds.
The Salton Sea’s drying up also poses another problem: If the water disappears, the remaining riverbed would be salty and dry. Wind would blow salty, contaminated dust into the air — and already has in the areas where the riverbed is exposed. As a result, nearby Imperial County treats more children with asthma than any other county in California. Aide Fulton, who directs the Imperial Valley Asthma Program, said three children have died over the past three years from the respiratory illness. “Once this sea dries out,” she said, ”you’re going to have a lot of people getting sick.”
Last year the Obama administration has recommended spending $200,000 to determine the initial steps in restoring the Salton Sea.
This will be the first time the federal government has proposed using federal money to deal with the Salton Sea problem.
Restoring the Salton Sea “is critical to the health of families across Southern California as well as the environment and the economy,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, chair of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, said in a prepared statement.
In a section of the Water Resources Act, which staffers said was written by Boxer, the act’s language asks the corps to “prioritize ecosystem restoration projects that address identified threats to public health and preserve or restore ecosystems of national importance....”
Time is of the essence in the case of the Salton Sea, as once a critical point is reached in the water's salinity there will be an exponential critical reaction with fish dying off and birds not having the fish to eat as a stop on their migration south. Of course, the Salton Sea dilemma has only been exacerbated by California's drought:
Drought and federally sanctioned contracts that transfer water from the sea to the coast have been causing California’s largest lake to shrink dramatically.
In 2017, nearly a third of the water flowing to the Salton Sea will bypass the region and be transferred to the San Diego area, accelerating the rate of lake shrinkage.
A short piece on the Salton Sea can be watched below the fold.