Solutions for the Salton Sea
New York Times
Editorial: July 12, 2003

Southern California's Salton Sea has lost much of the appeal it once enjoyed with tourists. A lot of the fish died off, and people began worrying about pollution. To the fish that still call it home, however, as well the millions of birds that use it as a migratory stopover, the Salton Sea is still crucial. At the moment it is caught in the middle of an interstate dispute that threatens to reduce, if not entirely cut off, its chief source of water: irrigation runoff from Imperial Valley farms.

The sea has no natural system of water flowing in and out. It was created roughly 100 years ago in a desert basin by flooding from the Colorado River. Water moves out of the sea mostly by evaporation, leaving behind salt and increasing the sea's salinity. The sea is now 25 percent saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Without water from irrigation runoff, it could completely evaporate in as little as 15 years, by some estimates. Hence the relevance of the current dispute.

For years, the Western states that depend on the Colorado River for their water have been allotted quotas. California regularly exceeded its quota by as much as 20 percent until Gale Norton, the interior secretary, reduced the state's ration at the beginning of this year because it had failed to agree on plausible ways to decrease consumption. Ms. Norton's department has suggested various strategies. One is get Imperial Valley farmers to reduce the water they use for irrigation, mainly by using more modern methods. Such improvements would free up water for city dwellers in San Diego. Unfortunately, it could also kill the Salton Sea because less irrigation water means less roundoff.

So the question is whether California can live within its limits, providing enough water for cities and saving the sea. One plan is to build a desalinization plant, while shrinking the size of the sea. the plant would desalinate runoff as it entered the sea so it could be sold to the cities, leaving behind water of the sea. This wo

Meanwhile, Gov. Gray Davis of California has proposed a two-year, $20 million inquiry into different restoration strategies. This is a complex issue, environmentally and economically. One hopeful sign is that many state authorities seem determine to save the sea. That is important. At issue here is not just a reservoir for runoff, but an important ecosystem.

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