SALTON SEA – (INT) – A 10-year plan has been set forth to deal with the impact of the Salton Sea’s receding shoreline. Habitat and dust-suppression projects are at the forefront.

As the Salton Sea shrinks, air quality in Riverside, Imperial, and surrounding counties suffers, because particulates small enough to be dangerous to human health are picked up by the wind from the exposed lakebed. Huge populations of resident and migratory birds are at risk.

The plan released by the California Natural Resources Agency targets areas near where the New and Alamo rivers carry farm drainage into the southern end of the Salton Sea and where the Whitewater River flows into the northern end of the roughly 35-mile-long lake.

The plan details the number of acres of lakebed expected to face exposure each year through 2028.

At an estimated total of $383 million, the costs of the projects needed to cover nearly 30,000 acres of exposed lakebed over the next decade outstrip the currently available funding.

Story Date: March 23, 2017