Lizzette is playing on her bicycle as strong winds are blowing across her neighborhood in Salton City.
The Salton sea is a looming environmental and public health disaster. The Salton Sea’s shoreline is receding, exposing a dusty lakebed known as the “playa.” This sandy substance holds a century’s worth of agricultural runoff, including DDT, ammonia, possibly carcinogenic herbicides like trifluralin and other chemicals. Its windborne dust travels across Southern California and into Arizona, but nearby communities — many of them populated by Latino farmworkers — bear the heaviest burden.
Lizzette and her mum are playing after schools, at the family back yard, near Salton City. Her mum Miriam Juarez " Our kids are chronically ill, the toxic dust is of course affecting us" as strong winds are whipping up dust.
Lizzette shows of a school project about protecting the planet.
Miriam Jeremiz with her children Lizette and Lihan.
Dead palms line Yacht club drive and parking lot that used to be the access to the beaches of the Salton sea.
The Salton Sea is approximately twice as salty as the Pacific ocean, the sea is now only about 4 ft deep. The sea is partly fed by agriculture run off and from one of America's most polluted rivers, the New River. The result is that the sea is a toxic mix of fertilizers and pesticides with high levels of salt. This toxic mixture leaves the newly exposed playas with all of the residue on the sand on the playa - this is the sand that the gets blown into the air during the frequent wind storms. With less water entering the lake and climate change causing higher temperatures and increased evaporation the problem is getting worse.
A Tilapia skeleton lays as a reminder of the huge die offs that are seen around the Salton sea. High algae blooms decrease the oxygen levels in the sea killing the fish: caused by a decrease of water entering the sea, rising temperatures and evaporation result in increased sanity levels.
Sebastian and Thalia brought their son junior form nearby Coachella, to see the Salton Sea for the first time.
Donna and Mike's house reflects in the Canal they live next too- once filled with water part of the Salton sea they used to fish and boat and swim in - now there is nothing left but a stagnant smelly pool of water with now outlet and drying up.
The canal water behind John and Donna used to reach above their heads where they are now standing on dry land. Donna talks about how they used to swim and go out in their boat in the canal “My prayer every single day is that it will fill up, this is the worst it’s ever been “
A resident of Desert Shores holds a picture taken in 1996 showing where water levels used reach, people could then swim and boat in the sea.
A Jet Ski lays slowly degrading, cut off from direct access to the Salton Sea as water levels keeps lowering.
The sea's edge is a bright orange red as the water is hyper saline attracting salt loving microbes and bacteria.
Mayra sits with her baby daughter who has a cold,
Mayra has spent her whole life in North Shore and has seen the changes. She talked about how the lake was a place they would go to for walks and enjoy, now she says " all fish are dying and it stinks' she and her daughter are frequently sick. She does not want to always be on medications " there are days you just can not go out.
When Martha has to go outside during storm days, she wears a dust mask " I just don't go outdoors on days its windy, I get to sick and can't breath" " she says' "we feel ignored between the toxic dust from the sea, the pesticides and fertilizers from the surrounding fields we are exposed too - everyone gets sick "
Many people who work in agriculture live in trailer parks, that is too often substandard housing, near fields spayed with pesticides.
Fields of dates in the Coachella valley.
Farm workers are doing clearance in a date palm grove near Coachella. 40 million pounds of dates are produced here yearly. Behind the neat lines of agricultural fields , agriculture irrigation overflow filled with fertilizers and pesticides flows in to near by rivers that then flow in to the Salton Sea.
A farm labors picking and sorting dates, 80 % of americas date are produced in the Coachella valley.
A farm worker is weeding a field of chilies, that are kept warm by covering the young plants. Behind the neat lines of agricultural fields , agriculture irrigation overflow filled with fertilizers and pesticides flows into near by rivers that then flow in to the Salton Sea.
A field is being irrigated near Coachella. This is the irrigations laced with fertilizer that feeds the sea.
The Coachella canal as it winds its way in to the Coachella valley north of the Salton sea.
The canal is an aqueduct that conveys water from the Colorado river bringing irrigation water to this arid region.
Agricultural run off and drainage is flowing to an already murky river heading toward the Salton sea. Agriculture run off is considered a major source of water for the sea.
While it’s not readily visible, leaching the soil of excess salts in arid and semi-arid regions is an essential agricultural practice.
Children play in the play ground at the Salton City Sea View Elementary School. Children living near the sea both in the Coachella Valley and Impreal county have some of the highest levels of asthma in the country. As the frequent high winds whip up the exposed dust from playas, children complain of breathing difficulties and nose bleeds.
The janitor at the Sea View elementary school in Salton City shows the color coded list of flags used to indicate the air quality, a system used to help keep parents informed. When the air quality is bad the children remain inside.
A geothermal plant at the south eastern shore of the Salton Sea. More plants are planned as the sea keeps shrinking and more land becomes available for exploration and development.
Chris Schoneman Project Leader at The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge stands looking out over a vast dried out lake bed area, with the current shore line way in the distance miles away
Christian: "This used to be one of the major bird migration routes and bird sanctuaries in America- next only to the Bay Delta and the Great Lakes- Now most of fish have died off due to high levels of salinity and all fish eating birds are gone"
The Salton sea is a looming environmental and public health disaster. The Salton Sea’s shoreline is receding, exposing a dusty lakebed known as the “playa.” This sandy substance holds a century’s worth of agricultural runoff, including DDT, ammonia, possibly carcinogenic herbicides like trifluralin and other chemicals. Its windborne dust travels across Southern California and into Arizona, but nearby communities — many of them populated by Latino farmworkers — bear the heaviest burden.
Over tens of thousands of years, as it meandered across the West, the Colorado River occasionally filled the Salton Sea. The lake’s most recent iteration formed between 1905 and 1907, when an engineering disaster diverted the river into the basin. It has since been fed largely by agricultural runoff from the Imperial and Coachella valleys. It soon became clear that salinity levels would continue increasing. Since then, millions more people have begun relying on the Colorado River, even as climate change threatens the waterway. In response to competing demands, the 2003 agreement diverted water from the Imperial Valley. That meant that the lake’s level was guaranteed to drop.
Click link to Story in The High country news .............................................................. The Salton sea is a looming environmental and public health disaster. The Salton Sea’s shoreline is receding, exposing a...
Mette Lampcov Photography
Mette Lampcov is a freelance documentary photographer from Denmark, and is currently based in the greater Los Angeles area.
