SALTON SEA & BORREGO SPRINGS

Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties in Southern California. The current lake was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. In 1900, an irrigation canal was dug from the Colorado River to the old Alamo River channel to provide farming water to the Imperial Valley. The headgates and canals sustained a buildup of silt, so a series of cuts were made in the bank of the Colorado River to increase the water flow. Water from spring floods broke through a canal headgate, diverting a portion of the river flow into the Salton Basin for two years before repairs were completed. The water in the formerly dry lakebed created the modern lake.

In the 1980s, contamination from farm runoff promoted the outbreak and spread of diseases. Massive die-offs of the avian populations have occurred, especially after the loss of several species of fish on which they depend. Fish carcasses can be found on the beaches as the salinity rises and kills off fish. After 1999, the lake began to shrink, and the lakebed became exposed, sending clouds of toxic dust into nearby communities. Smaller amounts of dust reached into the Los Angeles area, where people could sometimes smell the odor from the lake. There have been projects and proposals recently to improve the conditions around the Salton Sea by reducing the toxic dust and reducing salinity.