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Dust Up Over Salton Sea Project at Red Hill Bay

/in , /by /KPBS San Diegoby Erik Anderson

When Imperial County officials broke ground on the Red Hill Bay project in 2015, it was heralded as the beginning of a new era around the Salton Sea. State officials were beginning a long-awaited restoration project that was projected to be done in two years. The 400-acre site on the eastern edge of California’s largest lake was underwater not too long ago, but water transfer and more efficient irrigation in the valley have cut the flow of water into the lake.

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Special Report: Restoration Projects at the Salton Sea

/in , , /by /KYMA Imperial Countyby Alexandra Rangel

Nearly $47 million dollars have been secured in California’s state budget for the next year to begin mitigation efforts at the Salton Sea and the New River.

It’s a major win for a decades-long problem that has contributed to the environmental and health impacts in Imperial County.

Although, millions of dollars are being poured into helping improve the environmental health crisis Imperial County is facing, will it be enough and will residents see a change in their lifetime?

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Opinion: A Greater Sense of Urgency Needed for Crises at the Salton Sea

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Brandon Dawson

The Salton Sea presents one of California’s most pressing ecological and environmental justice crises. The shrinking sea threatens habitat for millions of fish and birds, and as the sea’s shoreline recedes, a pollutant-laced dust spills into nearby communities and threatens the health of 650,000 people living nearby.

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California Still Hasn’t Found Analyst to Study Salton Sea Water Import Proposals It Asked For

/in , , /by /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Mark Olalde

Long-term fixes for the ever-shrinking Salton Sea remain stalled as California Natural Resources Agency officials on Wednesday revealed they have been unable to find an analyst to study proposed solutions to a nearly two decades-old problem.

Eleven different plans, submitted in 2018, suggested methods of importing water from the Sea of Cortez or the Pacific Ocean to decrease salinity and reverse water losses at the Salton Sea, which have exposed a toxic playa laced with pesticides and other pollutants. Although some researchers who study the lake write off the plans as financial and logistical pipe dreams, CNRA still needs to study them as part of the process to determine a long-term solution.

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Coronavirus Strikes Latino Families Near California’s Salton Sea

/in , , /by /The Interceptby Miranda Green

When Alexis Rodriguez laughs too hard, she sometimes gets such a bad cough that she needs to use her inhaler. It’s been this way for the 29-year-old since she was first diagnosed with asthma as a child. Her symptoms typically rear up in the spring, when the high desert around California’s Salton Sea starts to warm, and the dust begins to blow. But Covid-19 was something else.

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IID Applauds New California State Budget

/in , , /by /KYMA-TV, Yuma, Arizonaby Lisa Sturgis

The Imperial Irrigation District is celebrating California’s new state budget. In spite of coronavirus-caused spending cuts, it will get the funding it needs for two important environmental projects.

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Imperial County Hits IID, Feds with Violation Notice for Salton Sea Air Pollution

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sun by Mark Olalde

The Imperial County Air Pollution Control District on Tuesday hit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Imperial Irrigation District with notices of violation for ongoing pollution at a long-stalled Salton Sea restoration project.

The violations allege that the federal agency and the water district have only made sporadic attempts since 2016 to complete work at the several-hundred-acre Red Hill Bay site, “causing numerous instances of elevated levels of airborne dust.”

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