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<br />u..... fI <; e:;"',' <br />'U.lv/oJ <br /> <br />2002] <br /> <br />THE lAST GREEN lAGOON <br /> <br />935 <br /> <br />Environmental Impact Statement that identified several <br />restoration options for the Sea. 207 These include using <br />impoundments to segregate a portion of the Sea into evaporation <br />ponds, pumping water out of the Sea, and attempting to <br />augment water flows into the Sea to promote dilution of salt and <br />toxics.208 <br />While the Act precluded any option that "relies on the <br />importation of any new or additional water from the Colorado <br />River," 209 several environmental groups, including the Audubon <br />Society, remain in favor of diverting additional Colorado River <br />water into the Sea in order to dilute salinity.21O A number of other <br />environmental groups oppose such a plan, preferring to reserve <br />additional flows for restoration along the Lower Colorado River <br />and Delta.211 <br />Regardless of the alternative selected, restoration of the Sea <br />will be enormously expensive. According to High Country News, <br />"[E]ven the cheapest proposed solution would require a <br />congressional appropriation of more than $300 million. "212 In <br />addition, despite the elaborate engineering fixes designed to cope <br />with salt loads in the Sea, none, of the proposed solutions deals <br />with the real problem facing the Sea: the growing demands on <br />the water that feeds it. Regional water conservation and <br />municipal wastewater reuse efforts are undelWay that will <br />inevitably reduce flows of water to the Sea.213 The <br />conservation/transfer agreements between southern California <br />cities and the Imperial Irrigation District214 are one serious <br />threat. Though laudable for their conservation goals, such efforts <br />will only increase the environmental problems of the Sea by <br />reducing the fresh water inflows. <br />In our judgment, it is hard to think very long about saving <br />the Salton Sea before turning one's eyes toward the Colorado <br />River, despite the current promises that restoration is possible <br />without the addition of new Colorado River water. The Colorado <br />is the lifeblood of the Sea, and if the Sea is to survive as <br />municipal and agricultural water use in the region grows more <br /> <br />207. See Salton Sea Restoration Project, at <br />http://www.lc. usbr.gov / -saltnsea/ ssrest.html. <br />208. See id <br />209. Salton Sea Reclamation Act!3 101(b)(2)(C), 112 Stat. 3377 (1998). <br />210. Nijhuis, supra note 202, at 12-13. <br />211. See id at 12. <br />212. See id <br />213. See COHEN ET AL., supra note 192, at 34-35. <br />214. See id. <br />