The drying up of the Salton Sea

[Flyer]

I’ve seen various articles over the years about the declining of the Salton Sea. Here’s a recent one I came across.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-salton-sea-a-time-bomb-amid-california-drought/ar-AAa1YSD

But here’s something that I don’t understand. Everybody admits that the Salton Sea is an accident–i.e., it should not exist.

Now, in other contexts, all the environmentalists and ecologists are really keen on the idea of “returning things to nature.” Some people want to tear down all dams, for example.

Setting rivers free: As dams are torn down, nature is quickly recovering

And yet the state of California, which has had such a strong liberal influence for so long, has somehow decided that the drying up of the Salton Sea is a bad thing.

I say that they should bite the bullet, and live up to their professed principles, even when that inconveniences their own area. Either that, or else confess that their principles are wrong and misguided.

[Tamerlane]

The quality and extent of wetlands in California are diminished from historic levels (Dahl et al.1991). The present day Salton Sea, which is de facto mitigation for wetland habitat loss in the historical Colorado River-Gulf of California region (Molina and Shuford 2004), represents a regionally important stopover point for many migratory birds, as well as an important nesting area for various seabirds and shorebirds, including several species of conservation concern.

From here ( pdf ).

That pretty much says it all. The Salton Sea may be unnatural in origin, but it replaces a lost natural feature which probably cannot be recreated due to CA’s thirsty demand for Colorado river water. The Colorado river delta currently only gets 1% of its historical flows, with concomitant loss of formally productive wetlands.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Tamerlane

That pretty much says it all. The Salton Sea may be unnatural in origin, but it replaces a lost natural feature which probably cannot be recreated due to CA’s thirsty demand for Colorado river water. The Colorado river delta currently only gets 1% of its historical flows, with concomitant loss of formally productive wetlands.

I agree.

[JRDelirious]

@Tamerlane

That pretty much says it all. The Salton Sea may be unnatural in origin, but it replaces a lost natural feature which probably cannot be recreated due to CA’s thirsty demand for Colorado river water. The Colorado river delta currently only gets 1% of its historical flows, with concomitant loss of formally productive wetlands.

Right – the real return-to-natural state would be for the Salton to dry up AND the Colorado/Gulf of California estuary wetlands to be reestablished – their loss being itself unnatural due to the human-use diversions of the river flow. Otherwise you end up in a lose-lose scenario.

Also, the OP’s concluding sentence does not follow from the facts and premises presented.

[Twoflower]

Also, just letting it “dry up” would not return it to natural conditions. It receives a lot of irrigation runoff water water from all the farmland in Imperial Valley. Letting “nature” take its course would just result in a stinking, muddy, toxic mess, not a restoration of the historic Salton Sink.