Shrinking Salton Sea
The Salton Sea, California's largest lake, may soon become a desert playground. The lake is shrinking as it competes against coastal cities for dwindling water resources in a historic drought.
For centuries, the Colorado River periodically emptied into a body of water known as Lake Cahuilla on the northern reaches of the Gulf of California. The Salton Sea was created there in 1905 when the river breached a dike, flooding the basin for two years, 225 feet below sea level, and bringing farmers to California's Imperial Valley.
In this photo, an air of decline and strange beauty permeates the Salton Sea as steam rises from geothermal mud pots near its banks close to Niland, California, evidence of the region's vast geothermal activity, April 29, 2015.
Shrinking Salton Sea
The barren earth and dead trees reveal the plight of the Salton Sea, once a natural playground and tourist site in California, December 27, 2010.
Most of the water in the Salton Sea comes from agricultural runoff, which has declined steadily with the decade-old deal to sell water from the Imperial Valley to San Diego. The current drought in the state has worsened the perilous state of the lake.
Once California's largest fresh water lake, state and federal officials want to keep the lake from drying up because it supports wildlife and dust storms carry residue from pesticides in the dry lake bed.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Biologist Tom Anderson of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Refuge Complex steers an airboat across the shallow waters of the Salton Sea near Niland, California, April 29, 2015.
Often called the "The Accidental Sea," because it was created when the Colorado River breached a dike in 1905, the Salton Sea now faces a looming calamity as coastal Southern California clamors for more water.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Morning light reflects off water in the All-American Canal near Calexico, California, May 1, 2015.
Colorado River water is diverted near Yuma, Arizona, to an 82-mile canal that runs west along the Mexican border and then north into 1,700 miles of gated dirt and concrete channels that crisscross farms. When gates open, water floods fields and gravity carries increasingly salty runoff downhill through the New and Alamo rivers to the Salton Sea.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Irrigated citrus trees sit surrounded by bone-dry land near Westmorland, California, May 1, 2015. Viewed from the air, the Imperial Valley's half-million acres of verdant fields end abruptly in pale dirt.
San Diego now purchases more than one-quarter of its water from the valley, where runoff from nearby farms delivers 70 percent of the lake's inflows.
Water diversions from the valley to coastal urban use is contributing to the Salton Sea drying up.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Palm trees destroyed in earlier flooding line the banks of the Salton Sea in Salton City, California, May 1, 2015.
An air of decline and strange beauty permeates the Salton Sea, an area that once drew more visitors than Yosemite National Park.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Ed Victoria of Los Angeles sits under an umbrella as he fishes for tilapia along the receding banks of the Salton Sea near Bombay Beach, California, April 30, 2015.
Beginning in 2018, water deliveries to the Imperial Irrigation District are set to be cut as part of the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). The QSA is the country's largest agricultural-to-urban-water transfer deal.
Shrinking Salton Sea
A dead tilapia floats among algae in a shallow Salton Sea bay near Niland, California, April 29, 2015.
Though many species of fish have been brought to the Salton Sea over the years, the hearty tilapia fish and native desert pupfish are the only ones left; increasing salinity of the lake endangers them.
The Salton Sea faces several major environmental problems with a decreasing water level, increasing salinity and algae issues.
Shrinking Salton Sea
A photo from the 1960s shows an active North Shore Yacht club. In 1959, it was originally part of a $2 million development on the northeastern shore of the Salton Sea which became California's largest marina. In its heyday, members included Jerry Lewis, The Beach Boys, and Guy Lombardo.
To see more archive photos: The Salton Sea Museum
Shrinking Salton Sea
Bruce Wilcox of the Imperial Irrigation District speaks during an interview in front of the cracked, exposed Salton Sea lakebed near Niland, California, April 30, 2015.
The lake's shrinkage has exposed about 25 square miles of salt-encrusted lakebed since 2003. California and other Southern California water agencies are set to stop replenishing the lake after 2017, which raises concerns that dust from exposed lakebed will exacerbate asthma and other respiratory illnesses. The region's air quality already fails federal standards.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Exposed lake bed of the Salton Sea dries out near Niland, California.
San Diego and other Southern California water agencies agreed to deliver water to the Salton Sea through 2017 as part of the 2003 QSA deal giving the city water from the Imperial Valley, It was meant as an interim solution while the state developed a long-term fix. No fix is in sight, however.
Shrinking Salton Sea
An abandoned motel sits on the edge of the Salton Sea in North Shore, California. The area is no longer the tourist mecca it once was.
Shrinking Salton Sea
An American coot runs across the surface of the Salton Sea before taking flight near Niland, California, April 29, 2015.
Located on what is called the "Pacific flyway," heavy migrations of waterfowl, marsh and seabirds take advantage of the Salton Sea during spring and fall. For them, the lake is a desert oasis from vast stretches of rock and sand.
A smaller Salton Sea threatens fish and habitat for more than 400 bird species.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Oxygen-starved tilapia float in a shallow Salton Sea bay near Niland, California, April 29, 2015.
The water is nearly twice as salty as the Pacific Ocean, endangering remaining tilapia. Earlier in the year thousands of tilapia washed ashore.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Farmer Al Kalin walks back to his truck on his farm near Westmorland, California, April 29, 2015. Kalin, who farms 1,800 acres near the souther shores of the Salton Sea, installed sprinklers and other water saving measures to replace flood irrigation over the last five years.
"We're kind of between a rock and a hard spot," said Kalin. "We've got to conserve water for the thirsty people, 17 million in Southern California. At the same time, there's concern about the Salton Sea because it's rapidly declining because of our conservation efforts."
Shrinking Salton Sea
A biologist from the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Refuge Complex steers an airboat across the shallow waters of the Salton Sea near Niland, California, April 29, 2015.
The flat-bottomed vessel is one of the few boats fit to navigate waist-high waters. Residents say speedboats were last seen about four years ago.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Bruce Wilcox of the Imperial Irrigation District demonstrates how fine dust particles from exposed Salton Sea lakebed dissipate near Niland, California, April 30, 2015.
The lake's shrinkage has exposed about 25 square miles of salt-encrusted lakebed since 2003, with more likely to come. The dust is often blamed for exacerbating respiratory illnesses in the region.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Jose Alcantara, 17, behind, poses with his mother, Marta Sanchez, 45, in Mecca, California, May 1, 2015.
Alcantara has become an activist for his mother, whose bronchitis worsened after the family moved to Mecca in 2010. The family believes dust from the exposed Salton Sea lakebed exacerbates respiratory illnesses in the region.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Exposed lakebed of the Salton Sea dries out near Niland, California, May 1, 2015.
The drying up of the lake raises concerns that dust from the exposed lake bed will exacerbate asthma and other respiratory illness in a region whose air quality already fails federal standards.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Agricultural farm land is seen near the Salton Sea and the town of Calipatria in California, May 31, 2015.
The nonprofit Pacific Institute estimates that surface area of the 350-square-mile lake will shrink 100 square miles by 2030, salinity will triple over 15 years, and fish will disappear in seven years without intervention. San Diego's water purchases from Imperial Valley -- which ramp up to 2021 -- are to blame, but low rainfall and water conservation also hurt.
Shrinking Salton Sea
Mark Messenger looks out over the Salton Sea as he prepares to sleep in his car on the banks in Salton City, California, May 1, 2015.
More than 10,000 people live in the shoreline communities, cherishing their solitude. They now feel forgotten in the dynamics of state politics.
Shrinking Salton Sea
The sun sets as water birds fly near Red Hill Marina at the Salton Sea, California, March 19, 2015.
Shrinking Salton Sea
A man walks near an abandoned fishing business next to the North Shore Yacht Club at the Salton Sea in California, March 19, 2015.
The lake, which has no outlet, would probably have quickly evaporated naturally if farmers hadn't settled California's southeastern corner. According to Sue McClurg of the Water Education Foundation, "Inflow from agricultural drainage, storm runoff, and wastewater discharges," kept the lake filled.
Now, the shrinking of the nearly 90 year-old Salton Sea threatens the rich wildlife of the area, tourism, and what McClurg calls "some of the most productive farmland in the world, where agriculture is a $1 billion industry."