California is spending more than $200 million to keep an unfolding ecological crisis from getting worse. The state wants to stabilize habitat along the southern bank of the Salton Sea, the state鈥檚 largest lake.
That is good news for nearby residents concerned about their health, but the restoration could also affect everyone who draws water from the Colorado River.
At issue is the wide swaths of exposed lakebed that have been uncovered as the thirsty lake鈥檚 water evaporates in the desert air.
The lake bottom is typically a deep layer of fine silt.
Covered by water, it poses no risk. Exposed to the air and whipped up by the region鈥檚 strong winds, the dust becomes a major health risk.
The lake has been shrinking for years, in part, because the Imperial Irrigation District sold some of their Colorado River water to San Diego. The irrigation of croplands in the Imperial Valley has sustained the sea鈥檚 level over the decades.
But the pace of the retreat jumped dramatically a few years ago and now thousands of acres of lakebed are exposed.
鈥淭he notion of this shrinking sea and the emissive dust coming from the seabed is really alarming and concerning to local residents and we understand that,鈥� said California鈥檚 Natural Resources Secretary, Wade Crowfoot.
This is the first state project to control dust and create habitat. The ground was broken on the 4,000 acre project a few weeks ago. Crowfoot hopes the work near the mouth of the New River is done by 2023.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long time in coming,鈥� Crowfoot said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real impatience and an understandable impatience of residents in Imperial and Riverside counties about restoration and stabilization of the sea.鈥�
California agreed to take on the Salton Sea restoration when Colorado River users and the federal government signed the Quantification Settlement Agreement in 2003.
That deal cleared the way for Imperial County water to move to urban areas like San Diego.
The agreement also cut the flow of water into the thirsty desert lake, exposing thousands of acres of the dusty lakebed.
鈥淓very time we鈥檙e peeling back every inch of that playa we鈥檙e exposing over 100 years of contaminated sediment,鈥� said community activist Luis Olmedo of the Comite Civico del Valle.
Olmedo has worked for years to draw attention to the valley鈥檚 dirty air, even setting up air monitors around the Imperial Valley to track the problem. The pollution affects the entire air basin, from Los Angeles to Mexico.
Farms, trucks, and cross-border pollution from factories all combine to heighten the public health risk, leading to higher asthma rates for the valley鈥檚 residents.
鈥淚s it because we鈥檙e over 85 percent Latinos?鈥� Olmedo asked. 鈥淧eople of color, living in poverty that are not worth that investment? And here now we have the Salton Sea adding insult to injury.鈥�
Any project that improves air quality is welcome in the county, Olmedo said.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what this delivers,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 just one little tiny project to this massively drying area.鈥�
Because the lake鈥檚 decline is directly linked to the 2003 agreement, calls for California to finally start restoration projects have only grown louder.
鈥淪ince the QSA was signed some 24,000 acres of playa have been exposed,鈥� said the Pacific Institute鈥檚 Michael Cohen. 鈥淧rojections are it could be another 40,000 to 60,000 acres not accounting for water use by the projects themselves. Some projections suggest it could be 100,000 acres of lakebed exposed.鈥�
The public health threat adds urgency to the restoration efforts. So does the lake鈥檚 unique role in western water politics.
The Imperial Irrigation District is the single largest user of Colorado River water across the seven western states that rely on it. IID managers hope to leverage their influence to funnel money into Salton Sea restoration efforts, but the restoration push creates difficult choices, Cohen said.
鈥淪hould the people and the birds, the people and the environment suffer to deliver additional water to people on the coast of California and to protect flows to Nevada and Arizona and the Republic of Mexico,鈥� Cohen said.
During the sometimes contentious debates in California over the drought contingency plans enacted in 2019, the Salton Sea was often used as a bargaining chip. IID officials see the sea鈥檚 problems as something for the whole basin to consider and act to address.
The pressure to act increases as the river鈥檚 flow diminishes. The Colorado River basin is already in a nearly two decades long drought.
鈥淭he real driver now is climate change,鈥� Cohen said.
With less water flowing down the river to the Imperial Valley, the tension over who gets to tap the resource will grow.
Reduced flows also put extra pressure on California officials trying to keep the Salton Sea from becoming a public health disaster.
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KPBS, distributed by KUNC, and supported by a Walton Family Foundation grant.
