The Salton Sea belongs to a group of salt lakes found on all continents that are of vital economic, environmental and cultural importance. 

These lakes face a variety of threats in part because they are misunderstood and under appreciated. The threats are largely due to diversions of freshwater inflows to the lakes. The Aral Sea in Central Asia is the starkest example of the severe effects diversions can have on the human population, agricultural production and the environment.

However in California and nearby states, groups have successfully organized and cooperated with public agencies to protect and restore threatened salt lakes. Some of the most successful efforts have been at Mono Lake and Owens Lake in California, at Pyramid Lake in Nevada and the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

These efforts were based on scientific and legal foundations, a sustained sharing of information with the media and decision makers combined with expressions of support from local residents and others who valued the lakes.

About 70 percent of all inland salt water is held in the Caspian Sea in Central Asia. The Great Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in the U.S. and the Salton Sea is the second largest. Most of these jadsida

lakes are found within watersheds that have no drainage to the ocean and are found at both very high and very low elevations. The level of salinity varies greatly in these lakes from 5 parts per thousand in Pyramid Lake to over 300 parts per thousand in the Dead Sea. The Salton Sea has 44 parts per thousand.

Salt lakes are valuable sources of minerals, fish, shrimp cysts and other food sources that are important for both humans and wildlife. Migratory waterfowl and shore birds particularly rely on salt lakes as places to feed, rest and nest. The Salton Sea is a critical link in the Pacific Flyway for such birds and is linked to other salt lakes in the Flyway such as Mono Lake, the Great Salt Lake and Walker Lake in Nevada. The cultural, aesthetic and recreational values of salt lakes are also significant particularly to the local economies.