Possible Progress for California's Salton Sea

Back to Map Page June, 1998 Congress Passes Clean-up Funding Lying in the hot agricultural Imperial valley on California's border with Mexico, the Salton Sea is at once a cesspool and a critically important refuge for migratory water birds. Extreme pollution levels and at least four major bird die-offs in the past 6 years have focused attention on the area. At the same time local authorities and landowners wish to rejuvenate the tourism industry that flourished on the lakeshore in the 1960s. On July 15 the House of Representatives authorized $380 million to remediate the area's environmental health and help restore the tourism economy. The bill, introduced by Representative Newt Gingrich, is known as the Sonny Bono Memorial Salton Sea Remediation Act, after California's late senator who vacationed there during his show business days and who advocated its cleanup before his death in early 1998.  Although the area desperately needs remedial help, critics point out that it includes no funding for feasibility studies, and that the bill's timeline is too short to allow adequate scientific analysis of a complex ecological problem. Without sufficient time for study and planning, critics charge, the money spent could bring little benefit to the area's wildlife.   This aerial view of the Salton Sea shows agricultural fields to the south, urban development on the north, and the Mexico-California border marked in brown. The Salton Sea, shown in the photo at right, with the California-Mexico border marked in brown, was created by accident when an irrigation canal burst in 1905. It is now California's largest inland body of water. Lying in a baking desert, the lake drains the salt- and chemical-laden effluent from the Imperial Valley's irrigated produce fields (see image). Accumulated effluent evaporates in the desert sun, leaving increasingly concentrated chemical-rich brine that is now 25% saltier than the ocean. Accumulating salts include selenium and other toxic minerals naturally present in the valley's sedimentary soils. Native fish are now absent, although imported African tilapia now support a thriving sport fishery. Thousands of Birds Dying The chief focus of environmentalists' concerns is a series of catastrophic die-offs among migratory birds. The Salton Sea is one of very few remaining water bodies in southern California. The region once had extensive natural wetlands, but most have been drained for agriculture. As a result the Salton Sea, despite its concentrated pollution levels, hosts millions of migratory water birds in the winter. Magnificent frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, avocets, brown pelicans, and dozens of species of ducks and terns are among the more than 300 species that regularly congregate on this 15-mile long water body in the winter. The Salton Sea has been declared a National Wildlife Refuge because of its importance to birds. But the refuge has now become a periodic death trap. With such concentrated bird populations, communicable diseases spread easily. Avian cholera, botulism, and other unidentified diseases began appearing in the late 1980s, and in 1992 a devastating 150,000 eared grebes died, plus uncounted ducks. Two years later the death count was estimated at 15,000-20,000, including 1,400 endangered brown pelicans and thousands of ducks and grebes. This past January more than 5,000 birds died--less than the nearly 7,000 deaths of the previous winter.  Short of creating additional wetlands and dispersing wintering populations, cleaning up the Salton Sea is an important step. Congressional appropriations of July may help reduce catastrophic die-offs, and may help reduce long-term water contamination. Remediation proposals include pumping pollutants into a smaller lagoon, thus saving the larger wetland and lake, or a cooperative water-exchange agreement with Mexico. The Sonny Bono Memorial Salton Sea Remediation Act could be a hopeful step for the refuge, but some conservationists fear that political and economic forces will override and derail the scientific and ecological needs. Inadequate planning and rushed development, funded by $380 million in federal appropriations, could further endanger migratory birds in the area and do little to reduce the principal source of mortality--communicable diseases. Still the birds continue to come. An annual bird festival takes place in mid-February, when winter populations peak. Watch for further news on Senate action, on the rehabilitation efforts, and on the health of migratory birds. To read more, see Environmental Science, A Global Concern, Cunningham and Saigo, 5th ed. Water pollution: pages 436-447 Environmental Science, Enger and Smith, 6th ed. Clean-up efforts in the New River, adjacent to the Salton Sea: page 295 For further information, see these related web sites: Bird mortality report from the USGS, last January General information on the environment and history of the Salton Sea Text of the Sonny Bono Memorial Salton Sea Remediation Act, as submitted to Congress Back to Map Page feedback form | permissions | international | locate your campus rep | request a review copy digital solutions | publish with us | customer service | mhhe home Copyright ©2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of the The McGraw-Hill Companies.