BYJONATHAN J. COOPER, KATHLEEN RONAYNE- Los Angeles Times.
A visitor takes a selfie beside public art in Bombay Beach, a tiny community on the Salton Sea. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, wants the federal government to withhold money for environmental cleanup at the troubled lake until California agrees to use less of its share of Colorado River water. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
California communities exposed to hazardous dust by a drying lake bed have found themselves at the center of tensions between Arizona and California over how to conserve water along the overtaxed Colorado River.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat facing reelection, wants the federal government to withhold money for environmental cleanup at the Salton Sea until California agrees to use less of its share of the river. He also faulted the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for not being clear about when and how it will act if the seven Western states that rely on the river fail to significantly lower their use.
“We are out of time,” Kelly wrote Tuesday in a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior. “The longer the Department waits to press for an agreement … the more difficult this crisis will be to solve, leading only to tougher choices and litigation.”
Federal officials in June said the states must dramatically cut usage as key reservoirs risk dropping so low they can’t produce hydropower or supply water users. But the states blew through an August deadline without a plan. Congress has dedicated up to $4 billion in part to pay farmers and cities to use less water, but its impact remains unclear.
Much attention is on California, the largest holder of the river’s water and the last to lose in times of shortage. The state’s users said recently they would cut use up to 9% contingent on federal money and a plan to clean up toxic dust around the Salton Sea.
Climate change, megadrought and agricultural needs have transformed the ‘jewel in the Californian desert’ into a toxic place.
This story was originally published at Grist and is republished here by permission.
In the spring of 1905, the Colorado River, bursting with seasonal rain, topped an irrigation canal and flooded the site of a dried lake bed in Southern California. The flooding, which continued for two years before engineers sealed up the busted channel, created an unexpected gem in the middle of the arid California landscape: the Salton Sea. In the decades that followed, vacationers, water skiers, and speed boat enthusiasts flocked to the body of water. The Beach Boys and the Marx Brothers docked their boats at the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club, which opened in 1959. At the time, it seemed like the Salton Sea, and the vibrant communities that had sprung up around it, would be there for centuries to come.
But the sea’s heyday was short-lived. Cut off from the life source that created it — the Colorado River — and sustained mainly by limited agricultural runoff from nearby farms, the landlocked waterbody began to evaporate. The water that remained became increasingly salty and toxic. Tourism dried up. The scent of rotten eggs, from high levels of hydrogen sulfide in the sea, filled the air. Fish died in droves from lack of oxygen, their bones washing up on the beach like sand.
Oxygen-starved tilapia float in a shallow Salton Sea bay near Niland, California AP Photo / Gregory Bull
By the 1980s, the rich, white vacationers had fled. Today, the community is made up of predominantly Latino agricultural workers who labor in nearby fields in Imperial County, among the poorest counties in California, and Indigenous tribes that have called the region home for millennia. They suffer from a unique cocktail of health threats that stem from the Salton Sea.
The waterbody is fed by about 50 agricultural channels, carrying limited amounts of water infused with pesticides, nitrogen, fertilizers, and other agricultural byproducts. As a result, the briny lake’s sediment is laced with toxins like lead, chromium, and DDT. Climate change and the prolonged megadrought gripping the Western United States are only compounding these problems. The Salton Sea is projected to lose three quarters of its volume by the end of this decade; declining water levels could expose an additional 100,000 acres of lake bottom. The sea’s surface has already shrunk roughly 38 square miles since 2003.
As the sea dries and more shoreline is exposed, the strong winds that plague this part of California kick up chemical-laced dust and blow it into nearby communities, where roughly 650,000 people live. Residents complain of headaches, nosebleeds, asthma, and other health problems.
“It’s a huge environmental justice issue,” Jenny Binstock, a senior campaign representative at the Sierra Club, told Grist. “It leads to increased asthma attacks, bronchitis, lung disease.” Hospitalization rates for children with asthma in facilities near the sea are nearly double the state average.
Beyond dust, Ryan Sinclair, an environmental microbiologist at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health in California, is concerned about bioaerosols — tiny airborne particles that come from plants and animals — that can develop from algae or bacteria in the sea’s shallow, tepid waters.
Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton
Dear Deputy Secretary Beaudreau, Assistant Secretary Trujillo, and Commissioner Touton: Thank you for your leadership and collaboration as we work together to stabilize the Colorado River Basin amidst an unprecedented, climate change-driven drought stretching over two decades.
Given dire drought conditions across the region and dangerously low reservoir levels, we firmly believe that all water users within the Basin must take immediate voluntary actions to stabilize water supplies in the Basin’s major reservoirs.
California water agencies that utilize Colorado River water supplies propose to conserve up to an additional 400,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead each year, beginning in 2023 and running through 2026. This water, which would otherwise be used by California’s communities and farms, will meaningfully contribute to stabilizing the Colorado River reservoir system.
We have identified a collection of proposed water conservation and water use reduction opportunities that would yield approximately 400,000 acre-feet of System Conservation water supplies that could be retained in Lake Mead each year through 2026.
California’s Colorado River water agencies are also prepared to create and store additional quantities of Intentionally Created Surplus water supplies in Lake Mead pursuant to the 2007 Interim Shortage Guidelines, under future favorable hydrologic and water supply conditions. In order to enable this water conservation, our agencies will need to utilize funding opportunities provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal programs.
Each of the California agencies involved in developing this package of proposed conserved water supplies will also require your support in developing agreements for funding, potential intra- and inter- state coordination, water use accounting, and in obtaining necessary board and agency approvals over the coming weeks and months.
The State of California and its Colorado River agencies appreciate the collaboration of the Department of the Interior and Reclamation to stabilize the Salton Sea, which has been shrinking due to California’s existing water conservation actions and will further shrink when additional conservation actions are taken.
Voluntary water conservation actions outlined in this letter depends on a clear federal commitment to contribute meaningfully to stabilization efforts at the Salton Sea. California has long been a leader in water conservation within the Colorado River Basin, including through the nation’s largest agricultural to urban water conservation and transfer program, the Quantification Settlement Agreement, and through billions of dollars in investments in agricultural and urban water conservation.
In fact, through a variety of activities, California’s water agencies have voluntarily conserved nearly 2.0 million acre-feet of water supplies in Lake Mead since 2007 that has added more than twenty feet to Lake Mead elevations and aided other Lower Basin water users from experiencing previously agreed upon shortage reductions that would have otherwise occurred as early as 2015. Most recently, our water agencies have been committed to constructive participation in discussions among the basin states that began even before to the Commissioner’s call in June for urgent voluntary water conservation. While a broad multi-state agreement to conserve water across the Basin has not been reached, the California agencies propose to take voluntary action now to conserve water in coming months.
It is California’s intention that this proactive voluntary action builds on existing agreements, contracts, compacts, and water rights to catalyze broader basin-wide conservation and helps to avoid protracted litigation that might otherwise result from regulatory or mandated actions. California and its Colorado River agencies believe that it is imperative for the Department of the Interior and Reclamation to immediately reengage the seven Basin States, Tribes, and Mexico in efforts to identify additional water conservation and water use reduction activities to stabilize the Colorado River reservoir system. Additionally, California and the agencies look forward to working with you and others across the Basin with respect to the administrative actions identified in Reclamation’s August 16, 2022, News Release.
Sincerely,
CC: California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot California Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth Colorado River Basin States Principals
The Salton Sea, California’s most polluted inland lake, has lost a third of its water in the last 25 years. New research has determined a decline in Colorado River flow is the reason for that shrinking.
As the lake dries up, the concentration of salt and chemicals in the remaining water has increased dramatically, causing a mass die-off of fish and birds, including endangered species. The dry lakebed, coated in the salty, toxic water, becomes dust that causes respiratory problems for nearby residents.
“It is an environmental catastrophe,” said Juan S. Acero Triana, UCR hydrologist and lead author of a new study focused on understanding water movement on and below Earth’s surface near the Salton Sea, a research field called hydrology. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Innovation at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems, or INFEWS, program.
A view of the drying, shrinking Salton Sea and the playa left behind. (Stan Lim/UCR)
There have been a variety of hypotheses about why the water levels are steadily declining. Some blame climate change and heat for drying up the lake. Others suspect that agriculture could be to blame. As irrigation systems get more efficient and crops are modified to use less water, it means less water getting into the Salton Sea. However, the researchers say these are not the biggest causes of the sea’s decline.
“There is less water coming from the Colorado River into the Sea, and that is driving the problem,” said Hoori Ajami, UCR hydrologist, study co-author and principal investigator. This finding, and the methods used to obtain it, are now published in the journal Water Resources Research.
The researchers considered all major processes impacting the water balance of an endorheic lake like the Salton Sea, where water flows in but not out to any tributaries. Endorheic lakes worldwide have been shrinking in recent decades at what the researchers call an “alarming” rate due to the combined effects of global warming and diversion of water for agricultural and industrial purposes.
A view of the drying, shrinking Salton Sea and the playa left behind. (Stan Lim/UCR)
To understand the reasons for the Salton Sea’s decline, the researchers used a hydrologic model that accounted for all processes in the surrounding areas that impact the lake’s water balance, including climate, soil types, land slope, and plant growth.
Geographically the model included data not only about the Sea itself, but also from the surrounding watershed, streams entering the lake, and the land area that drains into those streams.
Data for the model was hard to come by as this is a transboundary basin on the US-Mexico border between California and Baja California Norte, and stakeholders may have been reluctant to share data that could alter previously earned water rights. However, using publicly available data and data mining techniques, UCR researchers were able to simulate long-term water balance dynamics and identify reduced Colorado River flows as the main cause of the Salton Sea shrinking.
“It’s not entirely clear, however, whether the decline in Colorado River water is more due to global warming drying out the river, or reductions in allocation levels to California, or both,” Acero Triana said.
Despite that lingering ambiguity, the researchers say the study should send a message to water management agencies and lawmakers that the Salton Sea watershed should be considered part of the Colorado River basin.
“Usually, the Sea is considered an independent system, and a watershed-centric approach considering surface and groundwater resources is needed to find a solution,” Ajami said. “As the environmental risks of a shrinking Sea mount, all parties must work together to mitigate the danger.”
Demands for its water far exceed what it ever could provide
MICHAEL HILTZIK
Hoover Dam – Luis Sinco LA TIMES
It’s human nature to mark big-number anniversaries, but there’s a centennial looming just ahead that Californians — and other Westerners — might not want to celebrate.
It’s the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact, a seven-state agreement that was signed Nov. 24, 1922.
That evening, in the Ben Hur Room of Santa Fe’s Palace of the Governors, using the lapboard on which Gen. Lew Wallace had written his biblical epic 40 years earlier while serving as New Mexico’s territorial governor, representatives of six of the seven states of the Colorado River Basin applied their signatures to the compact with a gold pen.
The compact — essentially an interstate treaty — set the rules for apportioning the waters of the river. It was a crucial step in construction of Hoover Dam, which could not have been built without the states’ assent.
The compact stands as a landmark in the development of Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Phoenix and other Western metropolises. But it is also a symbol of the folly of unwarranted expectations.
That’s because the compact was built on a lie about the capacity of the Colorado River to serve the interests of the Western states — a lie that Westerners will be grappling with for decades to come.
The crisis of water supply from the Colorado is vividly represented by the so-called bathtub ring around Lake Mead, the vast reservoir behind Hoover Dam, showing how far below normal the water level has fallen.
As my colleague Ian James has reported, federal projections show that the risk is growing that both Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam, are approaching “dead pool” levels, below which water would no longer pass downstream through the dams.
The prospect has led to pressure from the federal government on water agencies in California and the six other basin states to drastically cut back on water use. So far, however, no agreements on cutbacks have emerged.
The ultimate danger is that Lake Mead reaches the “dead pool” stage. At the end of last month, Lake Mead was at 1,044.28 feet of surface elevation above sea level. That’s about 100 feet below its level in August 2003 and about 180 feet below its record elevation of 1,225 feet, reached in July 1983. When the level falls to 950 feet, the lake can no longer generate hydroelectricity. At 895 feet, the dam can’t release water downstream.
The long-term decline in Lake Mead’s capacity has been blamed mostly on global warming. But as I’ve reported before, the river’s enemies are both natural and man-made. It’s true that nature has placed the basin in a long-term drought. But human demands for water from the Colorado have far outstripped what it can provide — indeed, what it ever could provide.
That brings us back to the compact negotiations. The impulse for a high dam on the lower Colorado came largely from California — principally from growers in the Imperial Valley. They depended on the river for irrigation and desired a more reliable supply as well as flood control that could only be provided by a major dam.
Congress resisted approving the project unless the seven basin states of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming could agree on how to apportion the river water among themselves.
The task of supervising the negotiations fell to Herbert Hoover, who was President Harding’s Commerce secretary.
The process was contentious. The upstream states were painfully aware that California was the most voracious user of the river’s water even though it had the smallest acreage within the basin.
All were convinced that California, the most-developed state of the seven, was plotting to appropriate more than its share of the water to stoke its continued development at their expense.
They were suspicious of Hoover, who though born in Iowa had made his home in California since becoming a member of the first graduating class at Stanford University in 1895.
Working with his deputy, Arthur Powell Davis — director of the U.S. Reclamation Bureau and a nephew of John Wesley Powell, the pioneering explorer of the Colorado and the Grand Canyon — Hoover overcame the states’ disagreements by promising that they all would receive enough water to provide for all their future economic growth.
They did this through connivance. Davis provided an estimate that the river’s annual volume averaged 16.4 million acre-feet. (One acre-foot, the equivalent of 325,851 gallons, is enough water to serve one or two average households today.)
That allowed the compact to be concluded with a guarantee that the upper basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico could pass 7.5 million acre-feet a year — measured as 10-year averages of 75 million acre-feet — to the lower states of California, Nevada and Arizona without sacrificing their own needs. All the states agreed on this formula except Arizona, which didn’t sign the compact until 1944.
(By then the state had all but gone to war with California over water rights on the river, dispatching a squad of National Guard troops to the river on a ferryboat to block construction of Parker Dam in 1934. The ferry was derisively dubbed the “Arizona navy” by a Times correspondent assigned to cover the skirmish. After the federal government imposed a truce, the guardsmen were reported to have returned home from the “war zone” as “conquering heroes.”)
The real flaw in the compact was no joke, however: Davis’ figure was a flagrant overestimate — as he certainly knew, having studied the Colorado for decades.
The 1899-1921 time span on which his figure was based was one of the wettest periods in the basin’s known history. Indeed, only four times since construction of Hoover Dam began in 1931 has the 10-year average reached 16.4 million acre-feet.
Current estimates place the average annual volume of the Colorado since 1906 at 14.7 million acre-feet; since 1991, the annual average is closer to 13.5 million.
Yet the portions of California and the West dependent on the river for their sustenance have grown as if its bounty is effectively limitless.
In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the dam from a podium overlooking the project, declaring that it had turned the willful river into “a great national possession.” Since that time, the population of the seven basin states has grown by more than 52 million, much of the growth fueled by the water and electricity the dam has provided.
For several decades, however, climate and hydrological experts have warned that there can be no soft landing from the restrictions that global warming are forcing upon the Colorado River’s historical beneficiaries.
Hard choices are becoming imperative. The federal government is effectively ordering that the basin states cut their water usage by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet a year.
Talk of draining Lake Powell to keep water in Lake Mead at a serviceable level is getting louder, notwithstanding the political and engineering obstacles standing in the way. Within basin states, especially California, water scarcity is exacerbating conflicts among growers, residential users and environmentalists.
The draconian cutbacks signaled by the federal government have been made necessary by inadequate action in the recent past.
As water and climate expert Peter Gleick told James recently, “If we had cut water use in the Colorado River over the last two decades to what we now understand to be the actual levels of water availability, there would be more water in the reservoirs today. The crisis wouldn’t be nearly as bad.”
The reckoning may have been long in coming, but it was inevitable. As long ago as 1893, John Wesley Powell — the uncle of Arthur Powell Davis, who perpetrated the foundational lie allowing the construction of Hoover Dam — foresaw the basin’s destiny.
Attending an irrigation congress in Los Angeles at which the coming paradise of water-driven growth was being proclaimed, Powell stood to deliver a hard truth. “I tell you, gentlemen,” he said, “you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not sufficient water to supply the land.”
He was driven from the hall by a chorus of catcalls and boos, but time has proved him right.
The Turbulent, Thrilling Saga of the Building of Hoover Dam
COLOSSUS
As breathtaking today as when it was completed, Hoover Dam ranks among America’s most awe-inspiring, if dubious, achievements.
This epic story of the dam—from conception to design to construction—by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik exposes the tremendous hardships and accomplishments of the men on the ground—and in the air—who built the dam and the demonic drive of Frank Crowe, the boss who pushed them beyond endurance.
It is a tale of the tremendous will exerted from start to finish, detailing the canny backroom dealings by Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the herculean engineering challenges Crowe faced, and the terrific union strikes by the men who daily fought to beat back the Colorado River.
Colossus tells an important part of the story of America’s struggle to pull itself out of the Great Depression by harnessing the power of its population and its natural resources.
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.
Salton Sea Area
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.
Salton Sea
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.
Those drawn to the other-wordly landscape surrounding the Salton Sea, some 45 minutes southeast of Palm Springs, have long been lured by potential.
Potential to plant crops that help feed the country or solar panels to help power it in the wide open, affordable land in Imperial County. Potential to pursue bohemian, artistic lives in Bombay Beach or nearby Slab City. Potential to spot migratory birds who make their temporary home at this largest lake in California.
That potential hasn’t always panned out. With both local and imported water scarce, farmers sometimes are paid to keep their fields fallow. The solar industry hasn’t delivered the once-promised jobs or a huge spike in land values. And there are regular reports of massive bird and fish die-offs, with the sand of some lakeside beaches made from the bones of fish that couldn’t survive the shallow, salty lake’s oxygen-deprived waters.
But now, everyone from General Motors to the U.S. Department of Energy to Warren Buffet seems to believe the Salton Sea’s greatest potential so far remains untapped: its potential to become known the world over as Lithium Valley.
Demand for lithium has skyrocketed over the past 30 years, since the world’s lightest metal also happens to be fantastic at storing energy. Lithium’s ability to quickly charge, recharge and transfer lots of energy has made it the primary component in batteries for everything from laptops to pacemakers to cell phones. Now, lithium is the material of choice for batteries to store solar and wind energy — and to power electric vehicles.
Tens of millions of EV batteries soon will be needed each year. In August, California announced a plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035, and more than a dozen states are expected to follow suit. And federal lawmakers have passed several funding packages that also push consumers and car manufacturers toward EVs, with countries around the world pursuing similar goals.
Unfortunately, lithium isn’t particularly abundant or easy to get at. So the growing demand has triggered a geopolitical scramble — sometimes called a “white gold rush,” in reference to lithium’s silvery-white color — to find new, cost effective ways to source the material.
Lithium Valley.
That’s where the Salton Sea Geothermal Field comes in.
Researchers believe there may be enough lithium bubbling a mile or more beneath the desert adjacent to the sea to meet domestic needs for the foreseeable future. They believe there might even be enough lithium left over that the U.S. could export the prized material to other countries.
Some locals remain understandably skeptical. But experts working on these plans insist the type of lithium extraction operations they’re eyeing, which aren’t yet happening anywhere in the world, present few environmental problems while offering significant economic potential for the region.
As of today, it’s not clear if there’s a cause for concern over any toxic algae blooms at the Salton Sea.
The California State Water Resources Control Board has yet to release test results from samples submitted by Imperial County Environmental Health officials this week.
The state works with Riverside and Imperial counties to manage the Salton Sea, as the waterway spans across both counties.
The alert noted “observations of scum and surface accumulation of algal material present at this site indicating elevated health risk to humans and animals. Surface accumulations may become stranded along shoreline, children and dogs should avoid contact.”
It also noted “the exact location, extent and toxicity of the reported bloom may not be accurate and may not be affecting the entire waterbody,” therefore its recommended the waterbody manager be contacted for current conditions since “the bloom may still be present or may have subsided.”
County environmental officials partner with the state to help advise the public in the surrounding community if a toxic algae bloom is detected.
Salton Sea
“The last time we posted signage was in mid-July, so the detection would’ve been the week prior,” said Vanessa Ramirez, Environmental Health Compliance Specialist for Imperial County.
However, unless testing is conducted, county officials don’t always know whether or not toxic algae is present at the Salton Sea. If a potential harmful algal bloom is observed and reported, then county officials will visit the site and conduct an investigation to make a determination.
Currently, the state water managers conduct what’s called holiday testing. “The state water board has a program for Memorial Day, July 4, and for Labor Day. Since we’re local, we’ll go out there on their behalf, do the sampling, and send the sample to the state” for testing, said Vanessa Ramirez, Environmental Health Compliance Specialist for Imperial County.
Depending on the level of danger determined, action is then taken to address the bloom. Those steps can range from putting up signs warning the public to closing waterways for recreational use.
Toxic algae blooms used to be more seasonal, but that’s no longer the case due to a variety of reasons, including warmer temperatures and California’s ongoing drought.
When water recedes, its allows for “an increase in nutrient activity in a particular area,” according to Jeff Lamoure, Deputy Director of Environmental Health for Imperial County.
“You see maybe a concentration of the Cyanotoxins in the water that causes them to bloom more frequently. You’re not having as much water movement because of the receding shorelines, so they’re kind of working together to causes these activities to increase,” added Lamoure.
Existing warnings for people to stay out of the water due to dangerous algae blooms in Lake Elsinore, in western Riverside County, and Big Bear Lake, in San Bernardino County, are prompting growing interest on the current status of algae blooms at the Salton Sea.
The lake, located in southern Riverside and northern Imperial counties, has had a history of toxic algae blooms in previous years.
Exposure to toxic algae blooms can cause severe illness among people and animals, and death among wildlife in some instances.
