South Salton Sea is Drying up

Jeff aka BOLT

Jeff aka BOLT

If we have to choose between people in San Diego getting water... or birds having a place to party... I say people matter.

Nature put that nasty water out there. Nature is killing it. Farmers have unnaturally kept it alive longer than nature chose. I say let nature have her way and people should have the water run off that the farmers are piping in via the man made aqueduct.

I don't wanna spend billions more in taxes to save an almost useless body of water that mother nature doesn't want.

IMHO
 
Travace

Travace

Jeff aka BOLT:
If we have to choose between people in San Diego getting water... or birds having a place to party... I say people matter.

Nature put that nasty water out there. Nature is killing it. Farmers have unnaturally kept it alive longer than nature chose. I say let nature have her way and people should have the water run off that the farmers are piping in via the man made aqueduct.

I don't wanna spend billions more in taxes to save an almost useless body of water that mother nature doesn't want.

IMHO
Click to expand...


very valid points :thumb:
 
530ktm

530ktm

I have done some research over the last couple of years and one of the biggest problems that I learned about is the disgusting river that comes up from Mexico flowing into the Salton Sea. It is called the New River and no body ever talks about it or tries to fix the situation because it is so politically messed up. This mess along with some of the other things are all helping to destroy the Salton Sea. Check out this link for a brief lesson on the river.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036Uy5FhtA8
 
530ktm

530ktm

More reading if interested.

The New River channel begins at a volcanic lake, near Cerro Prieto.[1] Today this lake feeds the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station. The river flows north 15 miles (25 km) through Baja California and another 66 miles (100 km) through California into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. Flow at the border is approximately 200 ft³/s (6 m³/s), and about three times this flow at the Salton Sea because of collected agricultural discharges.
The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury), and pesticides (including DDT) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogens that cause tuberculosis, encephalitis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold.[3] Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies.[4][5]
The combined effects of increasing, highly polluted inflow from the New River and agricultural runoff have resulted in elevated bacterial levels and large algal blooms in the Salton Sea. With the lack of an outlet, salinity has increased by approximately 1% per year. Due to high selenium levels, the public was strictly advised to limit fish consumption from the Salton Sea in 1986, after which any amount was likely a health risk. Increasing water temperature, salinity and bacterial levels led to massive fish die-offs (1992, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008), and created the ideal breeding grounds for Botulismavian botulism, cholera and Newcastle disease, which also led to massive avian epizootics from 1992-2008. Currently, the Salton Sea has a salinity of 4.4% (4.4 parts per 100), making it saltier than ocean water (3.5% for Pacific), and many species of fish are no longer able to reproduce or survive in the Salton Sea. It is now believed the tilapia may be the only fish species able to persist there for a limited time. Without restoration actions, the sea will likely increase in toxicity, and remain an ecological trap for avian species.
 
rezrider

rezrider

530ktm:
More reading if interested.

The New River channel begins at a volcanic lake, near Cerro Prieto.[1] Today this lake feeds the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station. The river flows north 15 miles (25 km) through Baja California and another 66 miles (100 km) through California into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. Flow at the border is approximately 200 ft³/s (6 m³/s), and about three times this flow at the Salton Sea because of collected agricultural discharges.
The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury), and pesticides (including DDT) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogens that cause tuberculosis, encephalitis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold.[3] Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies.[4][5]
The combined effects of increasing, highly polluted inflow from the New River and agricultural runoff have resulted in elevated bacterial levels and large algal blooms in the Salton Sea. With the lack of an outlet, salinity has increased by approximately 1% per year. Due to high selenium levels, the public was strictly advised to limit fish consumption from the Salton Sea in 1986, after which any amount was likely a health risk. Increasing water temperature, salinity and bacterial levels led to massive fish die-offs (1992, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008), and created the ideal breeding grounds for Botulismavian botulism, cholera and Newcastle disease, which also led to massive avian epizootics from 1992-2008. Currently, the Salton Sea has a salinity of 4.4% (4.4 parts per 100), making it saltier than ocean water (3.5% for Pacific), and many species of fish are no longer able to reproduce or survive in the Salton Sea. It is now believed the tilapia may be the only fish species able to persist there for a limited time. Without restoration actions, the sea will likely increase in toxicity, and remain an ecological trap for avian species.
Click to expand...

:shocked: and to think people fish in there and EAT EM..... :panic:.... :crazy: ... :puke:
 
Travace

Travace

530ktm:
More reading if interested.

The New River channel begins at a volcanic lake, near Cerro Prieto.[1] Today this lake feeds the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station. The river flows north 15 miles (25 km) through Baja California and another 66 miles (100 km) through California into the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California. Flow at the border is approximately 200 ft³/s (6 m³/s), and about three times this flow at the Salton Sea because of collected agricultural discharges.
The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%). By the time the New River crosses the U.S./Mexico border near Calexico, California, the channel contains a stew of about 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury), and pesticides (including DDT) and PCBs. The waterway also holds the pathogens that cause tuberculosis, encephalitis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid; levels for many of these contaminants are in violation of United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Cal/EPA standards by several hundredfold.[3] Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold), far above the U.S.-Mexico treaty limit of 240 colonies.[4][5]
The combined effects of increasing, highly polluted inflow from the New River and agricultural runoff have resulted in elevated bacterial levels and large algal blooms in the Salton Sea. With the lack of an outlet, salinity has increased by approximately 1% per year. Due to high selenium levels, the public was strictly advised to limit fish consumption from the Salton Sea in 1986, after which any amount was likely a health risk. Increasing water temperature, salinity and bacterial levels led to massive fish die-offs (1992, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008), and created the ideal breeding grounds for Botulismavian botulism, cholera and Newcastle disease, which also led to massive avian epizootics from 1992-2008. Currently, the Salton Sea has a salinity of 4.4% (4.4 parts per 100), making it saltier than ocean water (3.5% for Pacific), and many species of fish are no longer able to reproduce or survive in the Salton Sea. It is now believed the tilapia may be the only fish species able to persist there for a limited time. Without restoration actions, the sea will likely increase in toxicity, and remain an ecological trap for avian species.
Click to expand...

Fecal coliform bacteria are at levels of 100,000 to 16 million colonies per milliliter at the border checkpoint (possibly more, as this is the measuring capacity threshold),

NASTY!!!
 
catrailrider

catrailrider

Its a ghost town out there. Hard to believe it was the premier water ski resort in Cali back in the 60's-70's. Nothing but deserted motels and shorelines full of stinky dead fish.
 
530ktm

530ktm

It is too bad as that place once had high expectations of being a resort area in the 50's and 60's. There were several marinas built along with parks, etc. You can still see them when you drive around down there but it looks like some ghost town from a nuclear fall out movie. Corvina used to be a real popular fishing sport but I am not sure those even exist anymore. Even if they do, I would not anything that comes out of that cesspool.
 
cleonard

cleonard

I remember waterskiing in the Salton Sea around 1970. It was pretty nasty even then. Now it's really gross. The new river is insanely nasty.

Remember that the lake was dry until some mismanagement of the Colorado river back in 1910 or something like that. The river ended up diverted into the dry lake bed for a couple of years giving us the lake we know today. More efficient use of water has cut back the inflow and it is slowly drying up again.
 
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