By BLAKE DAVIS Guest Columnist Sep 11, 2022
The Salton Sea is the biggest clean body of water in California. It is also the most toxic from agricultural runoff from the Imperial Valley and sewage flowing from Mexico into the New River which is then deposited into the sea. This scenario has been occurring for the last century and will continue unless an infrastructural change is made. I refer to the Salton Sea as the Chornobyl of California because of its toxic nature along with what has been displaced at the bottom of it. The Salton Sea was a test site for the Navy to test nuclear weapons and not all the contents of the testing, aircraft crashes, or airmen were retrieved. The severe drought poses a dangerous problem to the local constituents because of the toxicity of the playa that is exposed and constantly being blown over the southwestern part of the United States along with Northern Mexico. This causes respiratory complications along with different forms of cancer. The Salton Sea is along the Pacific Bird Highway and the exposed playa causes additional damage to the wildlife. Prospectively having a bigger negative impact on the western hemisphere of the world, distributed by migratory birds.
The finding of white gold (lithium) hurts this scenario of faulty clean water infrastructure based on global demand and demand for progress within industries that utilize lithium. Plausibly rushing the mining process which could extend these problems way past their due date by complicating mining by not accurately and efficiently addressing these issues before mining starts. The Salton Sea is the biggest coagulation of lithium in the world which will influentially highlight our valley and our agriculture practices in a negative connotation.
This is where the solution I have been proposing on Twitter @Blake_S_Davis for the last 3 years comes into play. Hydroponics is the science of controlling every aspect of a plant’s environment to reduce stress which will increase quality along with the time of growth. Hydroponics conserves 90% of the water utilized in agriculture irrigation in the Imperial Valley traditionally defined as flood irrigation. Applying hydroponics to all crops but specifically forage crops should be the main goal for those who are being asked by the State Government to conserve clean water because of these inefficient water practices that have created this scenario of severe drought.
The short-term impact of hydroponics being applied at scale would replace 100% of the agricultural runoff with 90% more clean water flowing into the inlet of the Salton Sea. Which would put the Imperial Valley in a great position to renegotiate the delta of the New River efficaciously eliminating its existence in the United States. It would also free up the oppression occurring on the civil liberties of the local constituents while putting the Salton Sea in a better position to be revamped. This should be a collective goal that is seen as an achievable reality for the Imperial Valley.
The long-term impact creates trust within the community by ensuring what is being done is in their best interest along with freeing up land mass for more economic opportunities. It creates an infrastructure that protects the local citizens’ civil liberties of one of the most valuable resources, clean water. Along with re-establishing the Salton Sea back to the tourist attraction it once was. Freight Farms are in 38 countries and 48 states and are doing research on my behalf to bring this idea to fruition along with cornering a specific part of the market that will not be forgotten about. “Freight Farms is the leader in the modular hydroponic farm market with a mission of creating a global infrastructure to revolutionize local access to fresh food.”
This solution was presented directly to J.B Hamby the director of the IID where it wasn’t given its due diligence because of the IID’s focus on protecting the commercial farmers of the Imperial Valley who have built empires through pollution and a lack of innovation from ignorance. I plan to directly compete with the product of all commercial farmers but initially and specifically those in the Imperial Valley.
The combination of commercial hydroponic forage crop farming and freight farms will position the Imperial Valley perfectly for the onset of the white gold boom that will occur within this next decade. My solution along with freight farms is the most viable and economically sound solution being introduced considering current export prices along with the importance of climate change via drought. For more information, please visit @Blake_S_Davis & @FreightFarms on Twitter.
Blake Davis, Fullerton