The Power of Water: The promise and perils of California’s Salton Sea 

I could never visit the Salton Sea. The thought of running into Trevor terrifies me.

You should’ve interviewed some old timer that has been there a long time… Not someone who just moved there nine years ago… It was nasty nine years ago

Sonny Bono would have changed the future of this lake if he hadn't passed away.

There needs to be a clear policy on the Salton Sea. And then made clear to the public. If the policy is to let the lake evaporate and go away, then make that policy well known and don’t get wish washy about it. If the plan is to re water the lake, then make the choice and make it happen. California is littered with dry lake beds. Some man made, most naturally made. Tulare lake was purposely dried up but since it’s a natural basin, in high water runoff years, it reforms for a while. The reason it went away was it’s water sources were diverted for other uses. Like the virtual disappearance of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, which prior to 1960, was the worlds 4th largest lake. Now, most of it is gone. What little of it that’s left is being recovered, but most of it has been allowed to die and for all intents and purposes, it’s not going to be reestablished.

Drove by the Salton sea a couple of times last year. The smell is putrid.

The Laguna Salada in Mexico not too far from there met the same faith, used to be an oasis that is now dried up into a lake of sand.

The Salton Sea was created by an accident in the early 1900s. It's not supposed to be there.

When even the camera men sound/light crews producer and news people dont know the story till the writers tell them to show it you're watching a show the salton sea was formally the largest high density salt lake in the world

What a slow-moving car-crash. Apparently there will be no action without a profit motive hence why the lithium deposit projects MIGHT help in getting the Salton Sea rehabilitated.. Its a complete shame since the area really is spectacular and all those communities in the area deserve better...

Sandy shores in gta 5

One major administrative problem there is that the area has no government. It's like the wild west. There are issues with criminals and other bad guys hiding there, not having to worry about the cops hunting them down. Has been an issue for years but has gotten worse. The area has been written off, almost like a bad debt by local governments. Many homes there are held by squatters and are not registered and paying taxes. However, rumors have it that businesses around the lithium industry may be locating there. If so, they will demand the area be policed and properly administered. Good luck with that project.

At least one measly tree wouldn't hurt.

But is mining lithium near this water bed located on the San Andres Fault Line a good idea?

Simple solution pay out all those people that own there land so they can move somewhere else and drain that body of water that was never naturally made to be sustainable

It's a shame the army Corp shot down the idea of pumping in sea water through a pipe.

Interesting.. I’ve been prospecting for graphite 😬

Was there a nuke in the bottom of the Salton Sea? In 1944-45 a series of classified B-29 practice flights were made from Wendover, Utah to the Salton Sea. At the sea, the crew dropped dummy atomic bombs onto a floating white raft and other targets. Salton Sea Test Base Abandoned Naval Station | Desert USA Desert USA

One overlooked solution is pump storage between the Salton Sea and Pacific Ocean in California. Pump water out of the Salton Sea at night using geothermal energy and produce hydroelectric power during the day by adding Pacific ocean water to the Salton Sea. The surface area of the Salton sea is 343 square miles. There is a 225 feet of elevation difference between the Salton Sea and Pacific Ocean. They have already bored a hole in the mountain between the imperial valley and San Diego to transport fresh water. They could drill another one for this battery storage idea. Another advantage is you effectively reduce the high salinity of the Salton Sea while improving air quality of the imperial valley by covering the entire dry lake bed.

Let it dry out and mine it for lithium. Salt resistent grasses will keep the dust down.

I visited the Salton Sea two days ago. One whiff of the air and I knew the scope of the tragedy.

Amazing never heard about it before but I am from Australia.

How do you not know about the salt sea? Especially before moving there?

Good coverage of critical issue. Is Lake Tulare next?

How far is the california Gost lake - pump the water back to this site, save the farmlands under the Gost lake while saving the Salton sea and the area's around it. Is this possible?

Woe... dangerous waves with dusty

Where did all that snow melt go?😮

maybe they can grow mushrooms in the water to clean the pollution

Mother Nature eventually will come back it has happen to Tulare lake

BEEN THERE. GREAT PLACE.BUT THEY GOT WATER NOW!

What is wrong to restore Salton sea to previous state, no water ?

They can build a canal from the Gulf of California to the Salton Sea to stabilize the water level. It's the cheapest and easiest solution to the problem, which is why California would never approve it.

What comes down must go up.

beware the beast man for he is the devil's pawn.

L a needs to build desalination plants and then let the water coming down from the colorado river water that the city takes go to the salton sea.

dig a canal from the sea of cortez .there is only up side.

WHAT CONCHITA SAID IS VERY VERY TRUE !

All the old metal from military machinery and old rusted metal pipes, the toxins from the old irrigation run off, the dead carcasses of birds and coroded fish bones makes it a nasty sesspool.

Just connect the Salton Sea to the ocean thru a pipeline for instance this way water Will cover the toxic dust beside other benefits

The water wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place so

Why don't separate day time supplies for San Diego and fertile.And shift to night time for Salton sea.Than the sea will have a water. 😅

I'll bet Mexico is starting to look better and better. Never too late to move back.

Well done story. People need to know about such things.

they should pump the desalinated salt water here. up the water levels and when it evaporates they can collect the sea salt. win win

Move next to an Airport, then complain about Airplanes flying over.

It's a triple man-made disaster ! First the lake was formed accidentally by the Colorado River from a breach then they decided to cut any more fresh water from flowing into lake San Diego's more important we're not going to let any water go in there then they decide to do agriculture and all the pesticides flow into the lake . They need to change it back and let some fresh water flow into that lake . And also do something about the pesticides from the farming make something so it doesn't flow into the lake .

Good news is that they found a way to replenish the water in the sea! But the bad news is that there going to use lead pipes to do it 😅

So what move then

The Salton sea has been drying up since the 70s even when it was popular it started drying up and that’s why the people moved away. It smells like fish.

How would you not do your homework before buying a house over there.😂 " They dont have a legal status" Maybe you shouldnt be a resident let alone a home owner in a foreign country.

What about planting mangroves?

She has lived 9 plus years in this country, yet still cant speak English.

Dries up 70% faster.

Is Trevor Phillips in on the lithium scheme ?

1 in 4 means specifically Africa and India. Everyone else in the world actually has water and infrastructure.

Instead of letting run off water run to the ocean, redirect it to the dry lake beds

Is it now considered racist to dub over someone who is not speaking our national language?

Doesn’t take much research!

figure out what you can plant, is there some warning so you can send out salton sea water on the dry ground before wind storms? expensive but its better than dying.

I’m sorry but it is very widely known this lake is toxic and a dead lake. The woman at the beginning claims she had no idea so we are then supposed to feel bad? There are literally dead fish all over the shores. It’s a live at your own risk kind of place.

I don't understand her shirt? I don't understand her shoulder pads. WHY?

Tax away that business..!!. see ya, they'll get their lithium elsewhere then...... Build the 'canal' project from Sea of Cortez, bring water back into the sea, then let the community grow as it was doing in the 1950's on diverse business enterprise. A one horse business (lithium) taxed to death won't repair this area... imho.

Poop water I was there 2 days ago and it’s nasty

There is no question the people there will have to move. The question is when.

Lets be clear: Had there not been an accidental breakage in the Colorado River this artificial lake would have never formed. Before it was just Salt Flats. Let nature take its course and let it go back to salt flats, let the lithium help create needed jobs, let the money help California form clean water pipelines between it's lakes and USA's largest lake Mead to help conserve needed water in years to come.

Imagine moving to France and not learning how to speak French.

felt like gat v

Pump seawater back into it.

Watch next year it will be full

Did all the the work to buy a house in an unknow area withut a single youtube seach an is confused why it was a bad deal mmmm.

Thats what you get when you have a landlocked sea with no outlet- this is inevitability

The Salten Sea was a man made mistake. God is showing us he is still the creator.

Hopefully all that water will cause the big One..

If they don't like it, then give them a bud light.

A lot of naïve people think it will be different this time. The truth is that the Saltón Lake will continue to dry out and rights for Geothermal plants and mineral resources will continue to go to corporations. Locals will get jobs at best.

That's lithium valley. Her house is going triple in value in just the next few years

The Salton Sea is a man made mistake. It should be allowed to evaporate. Buy out the residents and continue with the geothermal energy and lithium extraction.

Good report, but imho that green shirt is atrocious.

Do you really think they’re gonna give you anything they’ll dig silver the lithium is gone and then say kiss my buns

move back.

This sounds good... spread the lithium profits, and restore the sea!!? And there was a problem with the volume when the chap was speaking of this ABC?

plz shut it, to talk about water crisis in a year where we have %500 rain and snow is a joke

This is wonderful however, any twosome Gruesome will somehow screw it up and ruin it all, its what progs do.

Point of return.

Here illegally but it is discriminatory to do anything about it…wtf is going on?

Legal immigrants should benefit.

illegal real estate development?

can people stop with the "American dream turn into a nightmare" narrative. should anyone who has the option to go back to their country be complaining about their life in the US? or is it the journalists, reporters, ... complaining for them?

They could not do that in their country of origin? Cowards.

Lo barato sale caro.

The Salton sea dried up and the fish started dying early in the 70s

A cultural change towards long term ism and environmentalism must occur or we will never act in time to save ourselves

Over 10 years in America, ya screw America, why should I speak english I will just complain about not being able to READ the sultan sea has been known for well over 10 years

People who find this funny, mocking, etc are to be pitied now for the consequences we all will face in the near future if this goes on at this lake. The Southwestern Bread&Veggie Imperial Is the Nation's Largest Supplier followed by Central Cal, MidWest, South. When this Lake dries up halfway to zero. The Cancerous Toxicity Runoff Chemicals will contaminate Farming Produce, Cattle, even fruit production including Water Resources and high mountain ranges like the Sierras to the Rocky Mountains. The toxin dust will spread across the West to East as far as Texas down Mexico wherever the wind carries it. Disease like Cancer & Asthma will Skyrocket 10X Fold that only the wealthy would afford cleaned water by expensive tech that Reverse Osmosis alone isn't enough to safely drink. Hell Greenland is the last pure natural clean source of water if it hasn't been targeted by nuclear warheads.

Inclusion ? for improvised Southeastern California Community's, ' another example' take a look at the dying community"s of the Palo Verde Valley 80 miles northeast of the Salton Sea, those community's have never economically benefited from the Colorado River rights held by the local Irrigation District controlled by local 'federally funded" farmers, aid that bypasses the local community's. It is a degradation of the Colorado River ecosystem south of the Palo Verde Diversion Dam, the invasive nature that created the Salton Sea.

No, those benefits should go to African American reparations.

Sound like she just up and move there....she acts ike someone bamboozled her 😆

If California wasn’t such a bureaucratic nightmare they could build new desalination plants we live next to an ocean. It won’t solve all of the water issues but it would help.

I'd like to see the Salton sea filled back up.

Climate change? This old gal doesn't have a clue of the history of this mess.

Ah, why did you not speak to the lady in English since she was capable? If she is there to help be an advocate for the community she better be able to speak both languages. Snow melt should be diverted to this lake. Would be a good thing.