Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br />r-- <br />-.:t' <br />':";f <br />C\! <br />~n the News <br /> <br />Salton Sea Salvation? <br />With great fanfare, top Interior officials in January unveiled a list of options to <br />save the Salton Sea, a vast, saline lake located in California's remote southeastern <br />corner. "The sea is an important natural resource for people and wildlife alike, and <br />we must act to save it," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in announcing results <br />0f the IS-month, congressionally mandated study. <br />The Salton Sea - formed by thc joint forces of man and nature 95 years ago - <br />has no natural outlet. Already 25 percent saltier than the ocean, its salt level <br />increases daily through the natural evaporation/concentration process. If nothing <br />is done, researchers predict the sea will grow too salty for many of the sport fish. <br />Thc demise of these fish, in turn, could impact the hundreds of thousands of fish- <br />eating birds that depend on the sea for habitat. The Salton Sea region is home to <br />some 400 species of birds and is an important stop on the Pacific Flyway. <br />The overall goal is to extract some 9.4 million tons of salt annually, reducing <br />rhe sea's salinity concentration from 44,000 to 35,000 parts per million. The draft <br />Environmental Impact Study/Report (EIS/EIR) released in mid-January, along <br />with a strategic science plan, included five alternative approaches to reducing the <br />sea's salinity, along with a "no-action" option. (A 90-day public comment period <br />will begin when the full draft ElS/EIR is released. lr will be available at the Bureau <br />of Reclamation's Lower Colorado River Basin web site, www.lc.usbr.gov.Afinal <br />EIR/EIS due later this year will select one of the five options.) <br />Elements common to each alternative include a fish harvesting program to <br />reduce the tilapia population; a shoreline cleanup program to remove dead fish <br />and other debris; and an integrated wildlife disease study to improve monitoring <br />and prevention of bird and fish die-offs. As work continues on identifying a <br />preferrecl alternative, pilot projects for these programs will be launched within <br />the next few m.onths. "We're transitioning from talking about the Salton Sea's <br />problems to actually doing something about the sea's problems," said Tom Kirk, <br />executive director of the Salton Sea Authority. <br />The alternatives differ in their approach to reducing salinity, creating, in <br />effect, an artificial outlet for the sea by diking off portions of the sea, allowing <br />some areas to grow saltier; accelerating the evaporation/salt concentration process <br />by pumping water out of the sea and spraying it into the air; or combinations of <br />the two. Cost estimates for the alternatives range from $319 to $542 million. <br />Complicating the effort to resolve the sea's complex problems is the fact that <br />the sea's greatest source of inflow - agricultural runoff from farms in Imperial and <br />Coachella valleys - will be reduced in the years to come as California implements <br />the 4.4 Plan. The core component of that plan is the conservation of water in <br />Imperial Irrigation District for transfer to San Diego. (Other sources of inflow are <br />storm runoff and wastewater from Mexico and California.) <br />Th ~ <br />the <br /> <br />j!i <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />&:' <br /> <br />~' <br /> <br />IF <br /> <br />ill <br /> <br />III <br /> <br />nl'mlill(:lll'r <br />