California

How California’s Salton Sea Went From Vacation Destination to Toxic Nightmare

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2022

How California’s Salton Sea Went From Vacation Destination to Toxic Nightmare

A sign welcomes visitors to Salton City, California, on the west coast of the Salton Sea, December 16, 2021. — An indication welcomes guests to Salton Metropolis, California, on the west coast of the Salton Sea, December 16, 2021.

This story was initially printed by Grist. You possibly can subscribe to its weekly publication right here. This text is a part of the Grist collection Parched, an in-depth take a look at how local weather change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems.

Within the spring of 1905, the Colorado River, bursting with seasonal rain, topped an irrigation canal and flooded the positioning of a dried lake mattress in Southern California. The flooding, which continued for 2 years earlier than engineers sealed up the busted channel, created an sudden gem in the midst of the arid California panorama: the Salton Sea. Within the a long time that adopted, vacationers, water skiers, and pace boat fanatics flocked to the physique of water. The Seaside Boys and the Marx Brothers docked their boats on the North Shore Seaside and Yacht Membership, which opened in 1959. On the time, it appeared just like the Salton Sea, and the colourful communities that had sprung up round it, could be there for hundreds of years to return.

However the sea’s heyday was short-lived. Reduce off from the life supply that created it — the Colorado River — and sustained primarily by restricted agricultural runoff from close by farms, the landlocked waterbody started to evaporate. The water that remained turned more and more salty and poisonous. Tourism dried up. The scent of rotten eggs, from excessive ranges of hydrogen sulfide within the sea, crammed the air. Fish died in droves from lack of oxygen, their bones washing up on the seaside like sand.

By the Nineteen Eighties, the wealthy, white vacationers had fled. At the moment, the group is made up of predominantly Latino agricultural staff who labor in close by fields in Imperial County, among the many poorest counties in California, and Indigenous tribes which have referred to as the area dwelling for millennia. They undergo from a novel cocktail of well being threats that stem from the Salton Sea.

The waterbody is fed by about 50 agricultural channels, carrying restricted quantities of water infused with pesticides, nitrogen, fertilizers, and different agricultural byproducts. In consequence, the briny lake’s sediment is laced with toxins like lead, chromium, and DDT. Local weather change and the extended megadrought gripping the western United States are solely compounding these issues. The Salton Sea is projected to lose three quarters of its quantity by the top of this decade; declining water ranges might expose a further 100,000 acres of lake backside. The ocean’s floor has already shrunk roughly 38 sq. miles since 2003.

G/O Media might get a fee

As the ocean dries and extra shoreline is uncovered, the robust winds that plague this a part of California kick up chemical-laced mud and blow it into close by communities, the place roughly 650,000 folks reside. Residents complain of complications, nosebleeds, bronchial asthma, and different well being issues.

“It’s an enormous environmental justice challenge,” Jenny Binstock, a senior marketing campaign consultant on the Sierra Membership, instructed Grist. “It results in elevated bronchial asthma assaults, bronchitis, lung illness.” Hospitalization charges for kids with bronchial asthma in amenities close to the ocean are practically double the state common.

Past mud, Ryan Sinclair, an environmental microbiologist on the Loma Linda College Faculty of Public Well being in California, is anxious about bioaerosols — tiny airborne particles that come from crops and animals — that may develop from algae or micro organism within the sea’s shallow, tepid waters.

“Algae produce algal toxins and micro organism can produce endotoxins,” he stated, “and each of these can aerosolize and blow into close by communities.” When researchers uncovered mice to aerosolized Salton Sea water, the mice developed a “distinctive kind of bronchial asthma,” Sinclair famous. He’s at present working with communities across the Salton Sea to measure and doc ranges of vitamins and algae within the water, one thing that’s not at present being finished by state or federal companies. “One thing must be finished about this,” he stated.

However options are restricted. The mud that will get kicked up may be suppressed, to some extent, with habitat restoration tasks. The primary-ever large-scale restoration challenge for the Salton Sea, a community of ponds on 30,000 acres of lake mattress, is proposed to start out this yr. However the challenge isn’t any substitute for the apparent: The ocean is quickly shrinking and it wants a contemporary infusion of water to outlive. “An ideal resolution for the Salton Sea — in a world the place we have now an abundance of water and extra dependable hydrological cycles — is we might simply fill that factor again up,” Binstock, from the Sierra Membership, stated.

However there’s no water available. One proposal is to ship saltwater in from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, 125 miles south, however Binstock isn’t so positive the positives of that plan outweigh the negatives. “The large investments in laborious infrastructure, the disturbance of playa, and the general public well being and environmental impacts, the prices are simply … it’s fairly bananas to consider,” she stated.

Final week, an impartial assessment panel appointed by the state to evaluate viable, long-term mud suppression choices for the Salton Sea suggested in opposition to importing water from the Sea of Cortez or another close by physique of saltwater. As a substitute, the panel advisable the state construct a desalination plant subsequent to the ocean to steadily filter out a few of the lake’s salinity. It additionally recommended paying Imperial County farmers to not plant their fields, which might permit extra water to achieve the ocean from the Colorado River as a substitute of getting siphoned off by farmers. Each methods would slowly replenish the ocean with contemporary water, revive its aquatic ecosystems, and permit the ocean to “return to being a jewel within the Californian desert, and a spot others will need to go to and reside subsequent to once more,” the panel’s abstract report stated.

Mariela Loera, a coverage advocate on the California-based Management Counsel for Justice and Accountability, doesn’t see an satisfactory, long-term resolution to the issue. She has been doing work with communities surrounding the Salton Sea for years. Mud suppression efforts and habitat restoration tasks are a helpful bandaid, she stated, “however ideally, there’s a long-term, clear water resolution.”

In the meantime, the Salton Sea’s copious brine presents an sudden alternative: a bonanza of lithium, the extremely sought-after steel.

Lithium is the important thing ingredient in electrical automobiles batteries and clear power storage, however additionally it is briefly provide. Lithium costs shot up some 400 p.c this yr as the worldwide urge for food for EVs rose and corporations turned more and more determined to search out new sources of the steel. The state of California estimates that the Salton Sea has sufficient lithium to provide America’s complete urge for food, now and sooner or later, and 40 p.c of the globe’s demand on high of that.

Loera and different native teams acknowledge the significance of the ocean’s lithium shops, however they are saying communities affected by the area’s poisonous mud and algae blooms want justice earlier than extraction can start. “Loads of residents have questions on potential impacts,” Loera stated. Lithium mining requires copious quantities of water. Would that water come from the ocean’s personal restricted provide? And what impacts would mining have on the state’s ongoing habitat restoration and dirt suppression efforts? These questions and others raised by the group haven’t been adequately answered but. “There’s an absence of group engagement within the determination making course of so far,” she stated. “We have to have that dialog: How are we going to proceed this inexperienced transition, however in an environmentally simply method?”

Source link

Click to comment

California

Magnitude 3.5 earthquake recorded in Malibu, California Friday afternoon

Published

3 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Magnitude 3.5 earthquake recorded in Malibu, California Friday afternoon

An earthquake shook along the Southern California coast Friday afternoon.

The earthquake reportedly occurred in Malibu, west of Los Angeles, at 2:15 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The temblor, which was recorded at a depth of nearly 6 miles, measured a preliminary magnitude of 3.5.

It was not immediately clear if there was any damage.

Source link

California

California bomb cyclone brings record rain, major mudslide risk

Published

11 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

California bomb cyclone brings record rain, major mudslide risk

An atmospheric river dumping rain across Northern California and several feet of snow in the Sierras was making its way across the state Friday, bringing flooding and threatening mudslides along with it.

The storm, the first big one of the season, moved over California as a bomb cyclone, a description of how it rapidly intensified before making its way onshore.

On Thursday, rain poured across the northern edge of the state, slowly moving south. It rained 3.66 inches in Ukiah on Thursday, breaking the record for the city set in 1977 by a half-inch. Santa Rosa Airport saw 4.93 inches of rain on Thursday, shattering the daily record set in 2001 of 0.93 inches.

More rain is due Friday.

Cars are covered in snow during a storm in Soda Springs.

(Brooke Hess-Homeier / Associated Press)

“Prolonged rainfall will result in an increased risk of flooding, an increased risk of landslides, and downed trees and power lines across the North Bay,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office wrote in a Friday morning forecast.

After its initial peak, the system is expected to linger into the weekend, with a second wave of rainfall extending farther south across most of the San Francisco Bay Area, down into the Central Coast and possibly reaching parts of Southern California.

On Saturday, Los Angeles and Ventura counties could see anywhere from a tenth to a third of an inch of rain. San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties could see up to an inch in some areas.

A second round of rain expected to begin Sunday could be “a little stronger than the first but still likely in the ‘beneficial rain’ category,” the National Weather Service said in its latest L.A. forecast.

Chances are low of flooding or any other significant issues in Southern California, forecasters said, though roads could be slick and snarl traffic.

Staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report.

Source link

California

Storm dumps record rain and heavy snow on Northern California

Published

19 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Storm dumps record rain and heavy snow on Northern California

FORESTVILLE, CALIFORNIA —

A major storm moving through Northern California on Thursday dropped heavy snow and record rain, flooding some areas, after killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands in the Pacific Northwest.

Forecasters warned that the risk of flash flooding and rockslides would continue, and scores of flights were canceled at San Francisco’s airport.

In Washington, nearly 223,000 people — mostly in the Seattle area — remained without power as crews worked to clear streets of electrical lines, fallen branches and debris. Utility officials said the outages, which began Tuesday, could last into Saturday.

Meanwhile on the East Coast, where rare wildfires have raged, New York and New Jersey welcomed much-needed rain that could ease the fire danger for the rest of the year.

The National Weather Service extended a flood watch into Saturday for areas north of San Francisco as the region was inundated by this season’s strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land.

The system roared ashore Tuesday as a ” bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. It unleashed fierce winds that toppled trees onto roads, vehicles and homes, killing at least two people in the Washington cities of Lynnwood and Bellevue.

Communities in Washington opened warming centers offering free internet and device charging. Some medical clinics closed because of power outages.

“I’ve been here since the mid-’80s. I haven’t seen anything like this,” said Trish Bloor, who serves on the city of Issaquah’s Human Resources Commission, as she surveyed damaged homes.

Up to 41 centimeters of rain was forecast in southwestern Oregon and California’s northern counties through Friday.

Santa Rosa saw 16.5 centimeters of rain in the last 24 hours, marking the wettest day on record since 1998, according to Joe Wegman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The Sonoma County Airport, in the wine country north of San Francisco, got more than 28 centimeters within the last 48 hours. The Ukiah Municipal Airport recorded about 7.6 centimeters Wednesday, and the unincorporated town of Venado had about 32.3 centimeters in 48 hours.

A car is left stranded on a flooded road during a storm Nov. 21, 2024, in Windsor, Calif.

In nearby Forestville, one person was hurt when a tree fell on a house. Small landslides were reported across the North Bay, including one on State Route 281 on Wednesday that caused a car crash, according to Marc Chenard, a weather service meteorologist.

Daniela Alvarado said calls to her and her father’s Sonoma County-based tree business have nearly tripled in the last few days, with people reaching out about trimming or removing trees.

“We feel sad, scared, but also ready for action,” Alvarado said.

Rain slowed somewhat, but “persistent heavy rain will enter the picture again by Friday morning,” the weather service’s San Francisco office said on the social platform X. “We are not done!”

Dangerous flash flooding, rockslides and debris flows were possible, especially where hillsides were loosened by recent wildfires, officials warned. Scott Rowe, a hydrologist with the weather service in Sacramento, said that so far the ground has been able to absorb the rain in Butte and Tehama counties, where the Park Fire burned this summer.

“It’s not necessarily how much rain falls; it’s how fast the rain falls,” Rowe said.

Santa Rosa Division Chief Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said 100 vehicles were stuck for hours in the parking lot of a hotel and medical center after being swamped by thigh-high waters from a flooded creek.

A winter storm watch was in place for the northern Sierra Nevada above 1,070 meters, with 38 centimeters of snow possible over two days. Wind gusts could top 121 kph in mountain areas, forecasters said.

Sugar Bowl Resort, north of Lake Tahoe near Donner Summit, picked up 30 centimeters of snow overnight, marketing manager Maggie Eshbaugh said Thursday. She said the resort will welcome skiers and boarders on Friday, the earliest opening date in 20 years, “and then we’re going to get another whopping of another foot or so on Saturday, so this is fantastic.”

Another popular resort, Palisades Tahoe, said it is also opening Friday, five days ahead of schedule.

The storm already dumped more than 30 centimeters of snow along the Cascades in Oregon by Wednesday night, according to the weather service.

More than a dozen schools closed in the Seattle area Wednesday, and some opted to extend the closures through Thursday.

Covington Medical Center southeast of Seattle postponed elective surgeries and diverted ambulances after losing power and having to rely on generators Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to Scott Thompson, spokesperson for MultiCare Health System. Nearby, MultiCare clinics closed Wednesday and Thursday after losing power.

In Enumclaw, also southeast of Seattle, residents were cleaning up after their town clocked the highest winds in the state Tuesday night: 119 kph.

Ben Gibbard, lead singer of the indie rock bands Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service, drove from his Seattle neighborhood Thursday morning to the woods of Tiger Mountain for his regular weekday run, but trees were blocking the trail.

A downed tree rests on a property during a storm, Nov. 21, 2024, in Forestville, Calif.

“We didn’t get hit that hard in the city,” he said. “I just didn’t assume it would be this kind of situation out here. Obviously you feel the most for people who had their homes partially destroyed by this.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee thanked utility crews for toiling around the clock. It could take weeks to assess the scope of the damage and put a dollar figure on it, he said in a statement, and after that “we’ll know whether we will be able to seek federal assistance.”

In California, there were reports of nearly 13,000 power outages.

Authorities limited vehicle traffic on part of northbound Interstate 5 between Redding and Yreka due to snow, according to California’s Department of Transportation. Officials also shut down a 3.2-kilometer stretch of the scenic Avenue of the Giants, named for its towering coast redwoods, due to flooding.

About 550 flights were delayed and dozens were canceled Thursday at San Francisco International Airport, according to tracking service FlightAware.

Parched areas of the Northeast got a much-needed shot of precipitation, providing a bit of respite in a region plagued by wildfires and dwindling water supplies. More than 5 centimeters was expected by Saturday morning north of New York City, with snow mixed in at higher elevations.

Weather service meteorologist Brian Ciemnecki in New York City, which this week saw its first drought warning in 22 years, said “any rainfall is going to be significant” but the storm will not be enough to end the drought.

Source link