Should the Salton Sea be saved?

[azbackpackr]

Over the past several years, various HAZ members have traveled to California's Salton Sea, and have posted some marvelous photos of water birds and scenery. I couldn't find another discussion thread about the the area or about the ecological disaster that the Sea has become. I remember visiting there as a child in the early 1960's with my parents. At that time it had already started its decline, both ecologically and in terms of visitors, resorts, etc. My father recollected its heyday, and loved to talk about swimming there, where he could float on his back with his head and feet well out of the water, due to the supreme flotation provided by the high salt content.

This video from BBC details a lot of the issues:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17818361

[rwstorm]

Having just visited there for the first time last week, I can assure you it is an amazing place that should be saved! It should not be allowed to dry up in order to meet the water needs of nearby large urban areas.
I say that not just because of recreation potential, but because of its importance as a wetland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owKIgLAg_Q4

[Nimrag]

Its a cool place to explore. I envision it as a post nuclear town.

[SuperstitionGuy]

I am waiting for some government bureaucrat to announce a canal or pipeline from the Pacific Ocean to refill and maintain the level of the Salton Sea.
After all it is all downhill and wouldn't require any pumps or maintenance right. ;) :whistle:

[azbackpackr]

Too sleepy right now for an appropriate smart aleck response....

[PaleoRob]

There was at one point a plant to dig a canal from the Sea of Cortez up to the Salton Sea to not only maintain the water but to serve as an inland deepwater port. Silly, I think.

[azbackpackr]

There's quite a bit of info about it, including what Rob is talking about, on Wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea

The canal from Sea of Cortez would have to go downhill, since the Salton Sea is 226 feet below sea level. The story of the creation of the sea, which was accidental, is very interesting. At one point as the water rushed in from the Colorado, an 80 foot falls was created, and the worry was that if not stopped it would carve its way back to the river itself and form much higher falls. If that had happened, the course of the Colorado River would have been altered more or less permanently, and it would have continued to fill the Imperial Valley and all those lowlands with water. The elevation of the river at Yuma is about 130 feet ABOVE sea level, and the Imperial Valley and Salton Sea are below sea level, so if not stopped, the river would have just continued to fill up that sunken area.