The Salton Sea is Dying and I’m Trying to Care

Recently, I passed through Palm Springs, California, and had a chance to visit the Salton Sea. Located in the extreme southeastern corner of the state, the Salton Sea is a vast body of water that covers 350 square miles (906 sq. kilometers). Underneath it lies the San Andreas Fault, California’s longest earthquake fault.

The Salton Sea should not exist. It was created by humans, as the result of an accident. What kind of “accident” creates a lake that is 35 miles (56km) by 15 miles (24 km) in size? Some engineers didn’t do their job very well. More than 100 years ago, Colorado River water was being diverted to irrigate nearby agriculture. And in 1905, the river broke through a poorly-built irrigation canal and flooded this valley.

Photo: Dead fish on the receding shoreline. Notice that the "sand" is mostly barnacle shells. Photo by author.

The Salton Sea is saltier than the Pacific Ocean. And it’s getting saltier every day. Soon, the lake will become a death zone, since no birds, fish, or shellfish will be able to live there.

Ironically, This Was an Ancient Seabed

If the Salton Sea was created from river water, then why is it so salty? There are a couple of reasons. First, when ocean levels were higher, the Gulf of California extended much further north. For three million years, up until the Pleistocene, the valley was flooded by the Colorado River delta and estuary. When ocean levels receded, and the valley dried out, there were plenty of salts in the soils here. Until about 1500 A.D., a remnant body of water called Lake Cahuilla covered much of this same spot.

Image: This map shows the present-day Salton Sea and the outlines of historic Lake Cahuilla. The San Andreas Earthquake Fault is the thick black line. Source: KQED.

Second, agriculture in the neighboring Coachella and Imperial Valleys has created some salty runoff. When farmers irrigate their crops, they have to use enough water to flush out the salts. So some of those salts, along with agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, have run into the Salton Sea.

The sea is continuing to get saltier, partly since some freshwater inflows now get diverted for other purposes. In the 1950s, the Salton Sea was less salty than the Pacific Ocean. Now it is up to 50% saltier than the ocean. In the coming decades, the salinity will be so concentrated that nothing will be able to live in the Salton Sea.

Most Aquatic Life Was Introduced From Elsewhere

Most aquatic species in the Salton Sea have been introduced from elsewhere. The most common type of fish is tilapia, which is known for being very adaptable, and has managed to adapt to the extreme salinity here. There are barnacles in the lake also. These crusty arthropods are related to crabs and lobsters, and they are the white or grey crustaceans that usually grow on the bottom of boats and on whales. They hitched a ride to the Salton Sea on someone’s boat many decades ago, adapted to life here, and have spread all over the Salton Sea since then.

To say that the barnacles spread is an understatement; they took over the Salton Sea. There are so many barnacles that entire beach areas are made up of dead barnacles. From a distance, they look like pebbles or rough sand, but when you walk across these beaches, they feel very unique. You are walking on millions of dead barnacle shells with a few fish bones.

Photo: Creative Commons via Flickr by Jack Miller.

So Why Should I Care If the Salton Sea Dies?

The lake was created accidentally and most of the critters in the water are not native species. So why should we care if the water dries up and leaves behind nothing but salty brine?

There is one interest group that I have not mentioned yet and that’s the birds. Many sensitive bird species have come to depend on the lake as a habitat or as a seasonal stopover on their migration paths. There are more than 400 species of birds that visit the lake annually. These include various kinds of pelicans, storks, bitterns, ibis, grebes, terns, cormorants, and many more.

Photo: Creative Commons via Flickr by SoCalTimes.

Amid the havoc that humans have wreaked on the natural environment, the Salton Sea has become an important refuge for many of these birds. In fact, it’s something of a last resort for many of them. The Colorado River is heavily dammed now, so the wetlands around it have been reduced to about 5% of what once existed along its banks. North of the Salton Sea, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers do not flood annually to create wetland areas like they did in times past, while other bodies of water like Owens Lake have been drained for human use.

Rivers and streams have been damned. Wetlands have been drained or choked off. Fresh water sources like lakes have been diverted to support agriculture and thirsty cities. Urban development has overtaken natural habitat.

In addition to being a home for some year-round residents, the Salton Sea is one of the only places migrating birds have left to stop and refuel. It is considered a critical part of the Pacific Flyway for migrating fowl. That means that birds from Alaska to Central America depend on this body of water for their survival.

Image: Public Domain, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Should we take their needs into account? And what about the people who live in this region? When I left the Salton Sea, after visiting it, I was not sure how I felt about protecting it. The place is odd and I’m sure the money it would take to restore the Salton Sea could be put to good use elsewhere.

But the more I have learned about its importance, the more believe this lake is worth saving. In the end, I do care, if only because of the birds. I am not bothered if others have different views.

Desalinating and restoring the Salton Sea will be expensive. There are several proposals for removing some of the salts or perhaps flushing them out to sea somehow. Everything I have read suggests that restoration is quite possible, though not cheap. It probably will not happen at the sea’s current size, but the Salton Sea could be maintained more easily if it were somewhat smaller. That may be the most sustainable option in the future.

References:
Thumbnail: Photo by author.
Salton Sea Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
Info from Desert USA: http://www.desertusa.com/salton/salton.html
The Downright Weird Salton Sea: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0502/feature5/
Salton Sea’s Wildlife Habitat is Crucial: https://www.kcet.org/redefine/the-salton-sea-is-crucial-wildlife-habitat-heres-why
Restoration: http://saltonsea.ca.gov/