SALTON CITY – (INT) – Senator Barbara Box is calling for urgent action to restore the Salton Sea, California’s largest lake.

Boxer toured the area Thursday and was briefed on the restoration project by local and federal officials. She said the degradation of the Salton Sea must be halted as she asked for immediate and long-term steps to bring the sea back to life.

It has been plagued with eroding air quality, diminishing water supplies, and massive fish die-offs.

A 2014 study from the Pacific Institute, a global water think-tank, found that Californians could face $70 billion in costs, ranging from lower property values to dramatically higher health care costs for respiratory illnesses caused by the Salton Sea.

Over the past several months, excessive hydrogen sulfide advisories have been issued because of obnoxious odors drifting into the Coachella Valley from the Salton Sea.

Story Date: August 24, 2016