Update on The Salton Sea in Southern California

First, A Quick Recap:

The Salton Sea was originally part of the Gulf of California.  Silt deposits stopped the flow of the Colorado River to the Gulf, allowing water to collect in the depression and then evaporate. This process occurred repeatedly over millennia, creating a depression with salty soil.

Agriculture in the Imperial Valley depended on water.  Canals were constructed in 1901 and by 1904 silt was filling them in and restricting the needed water.  Three more canals were dug in 1905 to increase the flow of water to Imperial Valley.  Heavy rains and an early El Nino in 1905 inundated the Salton area for 16 months, resulting in California's largest lake - 35 miles long and 15 miles wide.

The Salton Sea and the Santa Rosa Mountains in the distance.

Three rivers flow into the Salton Sea, the New, the Whitewater and the Alamo.  They flow seasonally, making them unreliable water sources to the salty lake.  There is no outlet to allow water movement.  Whatever goes into the Salton Sea stays there.

In the 1920s locals started channeling agricultural wastewaters into the Salton Sea. The water level in the lake continued to rise.   Salt in the soil and salts from agricultural runoff increased the salinity of the Salton Sea until freshwater fish died off.  Saltwater fish were introduced.

I took this picture of the southern end of the lake in 2014.

Resorts were built along the shoreline in the 1920s.  During World War II, Navy planes practicing water landings introduced barnacles to the Salton Sea.

By the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a very popular recreation area.  State parks were built along the shoreline. And the crowds came, including  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the Rat Pack; Guy Lombardo raced speedboats.  The Pointer Sisters and Beach Boys performed at the lake in the 1960s.   According to the locals, every day there was a party.

Salt along the southern shoreline

Tropical Storms Kathleen (1976) and Doreen (1977) flooded the Salton Sea repeatedly, destroying shoreline property, washing away marinas and yacht clubs.  Agricultural runoff fed algae blooms which consumed the oxygen in the lake, leading to fish die-offs.  The stench from these events drove a number of shoreline dwellers and visitors away.

The Salton Sea is becoming saltier.  The Salton Sea Authority Web Site lists the lake's salinity level at 25% higher than ocean water (2014).

I took this picture in 2014:  Dead Tilapia are found regularly
on the beach. The sand consists of barnacles & dead fish.

California set up the Salton Sea Authority to revitalize the Salton Sea.  I hope the efforts
are successful. (January 2014)

Eric found this video about the Salton Sea on Atlas Obscura. 

Updates:  The lake continues to provide beautiful photo opportunities for shutterbugs.  Conditions at the Salton Sea continue to deteriorate.

Picture from January 2020 visit

Fishbones are still easy to find on the beach in 2020. 

In 2003 The Salton Sea Restoration Act was signed into law.   A study was completed and lack of promised funding to restore the lake led the Salton Sea Authority to consider private funding for this immense project.   

The Imperial Irrigation District started diverting much-needed water away from the Salton Sea area.  The water is now going to San Diego and to the cities in the Coachella Valley.  Changes in irrigation have slowed the amount of agricultural runoff into the lake.  Each year the lake shrinks.  State and federal politicians promise money to save the Salton Sea.  Funding doesn't arrive.  

A shrinking lake leaves salt and agricultural pesticides exposed to the air.  Asthma rates are going up as the polluted shoreline expands.  

The distressed lake is getting saltier and saltier.  I found an article stating that the Salton Sea is now 50% saltier than the Pacific Ocean.  More fish are dying off.  The annual bird count is dropping... fast.

Imperial County officials declared a State of Emergency at the Salton Sea with the hope that the declaration will break the 14 years of inaction on this growing environmental disaster.   The State has promised to jump-start the long-delayed restoration project.  Locals are skeptical as they continue to struggle with foul-smelling air, Asthma, and growing despair for the loss of their way of life and livelihoods.