Coachella Valley Students Take On Salton Sea

Palm Desert and Desert Mirage High School Student to Kayak Across Salton Sea to Bring Attention to both Federal and State Leaders

SALTON SEA  —  Students from opposite ends of the valley have joined forces to raise attention to the plight of the Salton Sea and how these issues will affect all valley residents for years to come.

The determined Coachella Valley high school students realized that once this coronavirus pandemic has run its course, we will still be faced  with the same environmental problems that plagued us before the virus.

High school seniors from opposite ends of the Coachella Valley; Layton Jones, Evalyn Garcia, and Clayton Jones, have joined forces to take action and raise the awareness of the dilemma confronting the Salton Sea. The Coachella Valley students will kayak across the Sea. All three students hope to get the attention of federal, state and local leaders.

With an estimated surface area of 343 square miles or 350 square miles, the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California by surface area. The average annual inflow is less than 1.2 million acre⋅ft , which is enough to maintain a maximum depth of 43 feet and a total volume of about 6 million acre⋅ft. However, due to changes in water apportionments agreed upon for the Colorado River under the Quantification Settlement Agreement of 2003, the surface area of the sea is expected to decrease by 60% between 2013 and 2021.

The Coachella Valley students will begin their kayak adventure in Thermal on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7 a.m. and hope to finish the five-hour journey at the Salton Sea State
Park in North Shore.

Students plan to travel to Washington, D.C. and Sacramento this fall to meet with Secretary
Bernhardt and Governor Newsom. The offices of Congressman Ruiz, State Assemblymember
Garcia, and Riverside County Board Supervisor Perez have been invited to attend.

Meet the Students

Layton Jones, Palm Desert High School Senior was raised in the west end of the valley
(Palm Springs), and has been an intern at Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz’s office since she was
a freshman in high school. Her duties at the congressman’s office included researching
environmental problems at the Salton Sea and there negative impacts on valley residents. It
was at this time when she developed an interest in raising public awareness with the issues
associated with the large body of water.

Evalyn Garcia, a high school senior, was raised in the east end of the valley (Thermal), and
has worked with the Green Academy, an environmental group that has been focusing on air
quality in and around the Salton Sea. Evalyn responsibilities would include collecting air
samples throughout the east valley at different times of the day and recording there effect on
local residents.

Clayton Jones, a high school junior, was also raised in the west end of the valley (Palm
Springs), and has an interest in hard science, physics in particular. He too has developed an
interest in developing a solution to the issues facing the Salton Sea. He believes that there
may be a political answer to the problem but he thinks science will play a big part in
overcoming major obstacles.

Departing:
Date: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020
Time: 7 a.m.
Location: 600 block of Capri Lane
Thermal

Arriving:
Date: Saturday, Sept.26, 2020
Est. Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Salton Sea State Park
100225 State Park Rd
Mecca