Guide of SALTON SEA

EO Newsroom: New Images - Imperial Valley and Salton Sea, California
The Salton Sea formed by accident in 1905 when an irrigation canal ruptured, allowing the Colorado River to flood the Salton Basin.
Today the Sea performs an important function as the sink for agricultural runoff; water levels are maintained by the runoff from the surrounding agricultural valleys.
The Salton Sea salinity is high—nearly 1/4 saltier than ocean water—but it remains an important stopover point for migratory water birds, including several endangered species.
The recent increased demands for the limited Colorado River water threatens the amount of water allowed to flow into the Salton Sea.
The agricultural flow into the Sea includes nutrients and agricultural by-products, increasing the productivity and likelihood of algae blooms.
Additional information: The Salton Sea A Brief Description of Its Current Conditions, and Potential Remediation Projects and Land Use Across the U.S.-Mexico Border Astronaut photograph STS111-E-5224 was taken by the STS-111 Space Shuttle crew that recently returned from the International Space Station.


SALTON SEA

ESRI Press
Salton Sea Atlas The Salton Sea Atlas is a comprehensive collection of maps and information about the Salton Sea, arranged with the intent to illustrate the environmental, cultural and ecological processes affecting the sea.
Innovative tools and methods, including geographic information systems (GIS) were used to communicate complex spatial relationships among principal factors influencing the sea.
Researchers, scientists, and policy makers will use this information resource to make better-informed decisions about the fate of the sea and its natural environment.
California’s Salton Sea is a nexus of the forces of nature and the momentum of human civilization.
Formed by the 1905 flooding of the Colorado River into a depression in the low Sonoran Desert, and believed by some observers to be temporary phenomenon destined to waste away, this great inland sea has nevertheless survived the 20th century and evolved into a rich and complex, yet fragile ecosystem, as well as the crown jewel of avian biodiversity in the state.
As one of the nation’s most productive fishing spots and as a temporary home for literally hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, the sea is considered by many a vital natural resource worthy of protection.

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info: SALTON SEA


Photo by www.signonsandiego.com

US debate continues over future of “bird jewel”
Michael Gore/BirdLife Black-necked Stilt - one of the many birds known to inhabit Salton Sea IBA .
Concerns are being raised by Audubon (BirdLife in the US ) over the future of California ’s Salton Sea , an Important Bird Area that is home to one in five species found in North America .
The State of California have been tasked to come up with a plan for restoring the Sea, but so far none of the proposals outlined by the state in its Draft Environmental Impact Report include actions to “adequately” maintain the site as a habitat for wildlife, conservationists argue.
Salton Sea is an inland saline lake located in the Colorado Desert of Southern California.
The Sea was created in 1905 when heavy rain and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to breach an upland dyke, flooding the surrounding lowlands.
The Sea covers an area of 376 square miles and is a vital refuge for over 400 bird species.
In recent years the Sea’s restoration has become an increasingly important issue because nutrients and contaminants brought in from irrigation waters have become concentrated as water has evaporated.
Over time this has impacted on the micro-organisms living in the Sea’s waters, negatively affecting the birds and other wildlife that are dependent on the site for food.

Benefits



Water-Diversion Plan Threatens California's Salton Sea
September 24, 2002 At first glance, the Salton Sea appears like a glistening mirage in the California desert—a shimmering landscape of reflected sky and sand.
But Salton is no mirage—it is a bird-watcher's paradise with more than 400 species and waters that thrive with millions of fish.
However the sea's very existence, and all the species that call it home, is threatened by a new proposal that would redirect its only water supply.
The Salton Sea is in peril—it is already 25 percent saltier than the Pacific and it is in danger of becoming so salty that it will no longer support life.
Because the demand for water in California's metropolitan areas is so great, the state is considering a proposal to divert freshwater that would normally flow into the sea, to western cities.
Without freshwater, evaporation will cause the water level to drop and the sea will become saltier, faster, said Charlie Pelizza, a wildlife biologist at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife Refuge.
'The implications are that the salinity will go up to the point where fish won't reproduce or survive.' A Prehistoric Lakebed If the salt level reaches that critical stage, the sea's ecosystem will change irreversibly, said Pelizza.

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