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Long Troubled Salton Sea May Finally Be Getting What it Most Needs: Action – and Money

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation/Western Water by Gary Pitzer

State work to improve wildlife habitat and tamp down dust at California’s ailing Salton Sea is finally moving forward. Now the sea may be on the verge of getting the vital ingredient needed to supercharge those restoration efforts – money.

The shrinking desert lake has long been a trouble spot beset by rising salinity and unhealthy, lung-irritating dust blowing from its increasingly exposed bed. It shadows discussions of how to address the Colorado River’s two-decade-long drought because of its connection to the system. The lake is a festering health hazard to nearby residents, many of them impoverished, who struggle with elevated asthma risk as dust rises from the sea’s receding shoreline.

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Rep. Vargas: $3.2M for Salton Sea, New River in Bill

/in , /by /Holtville Tribune

Nearly $3.25 million in federal funding was preliminarily secured for separate project requests at the Salton Sea and the New River on Monday, July 12, according to the office of Congressman Juan Vargas, D-Chula Vista. The funding was part of a 2022 House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee bill that included requests of $2.546 million for a major Salton Sea research project, $200,000 for a Salton Sea feasibility study, and $500,000 for planning and design phases for a potential New River restoration project, Vargas’ press release states.

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EV Deal Shows ‘Lithium Valley’ Could Be For Real

/in , /by /E&E Newsby David Ferris

If all goes to plan, General Motors Co.’s future electric cars will rely on batteries made from a broiling-hot, brownish fluid that gushes from the California desert.

The contours of that future emerged on Friday, when GM struck a deal with a little-known company called Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to supply the country’s largest domestic automaker with tons of lithium from a desolate area called the Salton Sea.

The arrangement is the first concrete sign that “Lithium Valley,” as its boosters call it — a green industrial ecosystem that produces zero-carbon electricity, battery-grade lithium and lots of jobs — could actually become a thing.

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From the Air, Drone Footage of Salton Sea Shows California Drought Impact

/in , , /by /Reuters

Drone footage taken at the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland lake, shows the dramatic effects of the state’s worst drought since 1977.

Its receding shoreline has caused an ecological crisis as exposed silt is carried into surrounding areas.

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To Get ‘White Gold,’ We Need More Geothermal

/in , /by

A vision for a “Lithium Valley” around the Salton Sea does appear to be on its way to reality.

The potential of the sea as a vast untapped and sustainable reserve of lithium for a world increasingly focused toward renewable — and rechargeable — sources of power got a shot in the arm last week.

Opinion: Why ‘Fixing’ the Salton Sea with Pipelines is Unrealistic and Too Expensive

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Alexander Schriener Jr.

Once again, the chest beating for a sea-to-sea pipeline to “fix” the Salton Sea has begun. Here are a few facts are often ignored.

The Coachella Canal shows that it is possible to transport water long distances without pumping. That canal transports Colorado River water 122 miles to the Coachella Valley, all by gravity. It was completed in 1948, before current environmental regulations. According to the CVWD, this canal delivers about 280,000 acre-feet per year of water.

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Opinion: Salton Sea Needs Bold Action, Not More Government Studies

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby David Bryant

Regarding the Salton Sea, Henny Youngman might say, “Take the pending disaster of the Salton Sea, please.”

Many in this Valley have never been to the big salty lake. Some of us of us love it, its bizarre creation, and its lumpy history. Photographers come from afar to grab images of the now fading graffiti that marked so many of the ruins bordering the western side of the sea. Not quite the site of an ancient civilization, that territory was home to lots of angry, broke, disoriented, and confident aerosol artists. It was a joy to see a free gallery of “edgy on the edge” of the big body of sometimes stinky water.

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Welcome to Lithium Valley: One of the World’s Largest Lithium Deposits Is Located at the Salton Sea—and the Potential Economic Ramifications Have Drawn Comparisons to Silicon Valley

/in , , /by /Coachella Valley Independentby Kevin Fitzgerald

The story of Lithium Valley begins in earnest on Sept. 29, 2020. That’s the day when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1657, sponsored by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, creating a “Blue Ribbon Commission on Lithium Extraction in California.” That commission is now called the Lithium Valley Commission. What is this all about? Oh, just the fact that up to 40% of the world’s potential future lithium supply is located under and near the Salton Sea.

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Clock is Ticking On Dreams of Saving Salton Sea With Water From Mexico’s Sea of Cortez

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Mark Olalde

Coachella Valley-based architect Nikola Lakic knows how to fix the withering Salton Sea. Or, at least he says he does.

Lakic believes it’s possible to import water from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez — or, perhaps, from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast — through a multi-billion-dollar system of pipes. He would construct mangrove habitat for natural water filtration, send desalinated water to geothermal plants and, amid all this, restore California’s largest lake.

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Troubled Waters: Extended Interview with the Imperial Irrigation District

/in , , /by /KESQ-TVby Jesus Reyes

Tina Shields, the Water Department Manager of IID, speaks on the QSA, why it was implemented, and the contention between the state and IID as water was forced from agricultural communities to urban areas.

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