Salton Sea Plans Face Critical Flaw: Not Enough Water, Army Corps Finds
{Special to Uken Report]
View of the Salton Sea from the North Shore Yacht Club in Mecca, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a community meeting on proposed solutions for the Sea.
MECCA — There is not enough water. That is the blunt assessment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the feasibility of four modest plans intended to address environmental and health problems at the Salton Sea.
The announcement came during a community informational meeting at the North Shore Yacht Club in Mecca, one of a series of recent meetings the Corps has held on the long-standing crisis.
The four plans, developed to ease the dust and air pollution created as the Salton Sea shrinks and more lakebed is exposed, share one critical flaw: none has the water needed to be viable.
A hydrology study presented at the meeting concluded there is not enough water available to support even the most modest restoration alternatives. When asked directly whether sufficient water exists for any of the options, Army Corps hydrologist Isaac Gould answered plainly: “No.”
The Corps also addressed what it understands is a popular idea of importing ocean water via pipeline to refill the Sea and restore it as a viable recreational lake capable of supporting fish and human activity.
Senior Water Resources Planner and Project Manager Michael Dietl acknowledged that the concept is technically feasible and well within the Corps’ expertise to build. However, he said political and cost considerations make it impractical, and it will not be among the plans recommended to Congress.
That announcement was met with audible disappointment from some of the roughly 50 people in attendance, many of whom strongly favor restoring the Salton Sea to its former full level through ocean water imports.
One requirement for any plan sent to Congress for funding is that it can be implemented and completed within a relatively short timeframe. Meanwhile, conditions at the Salton Sea continue to deteriorate.
Looking out across the vast expanse of water and the surrounding mountains, the Salton Sea can appear normal. But beneath the surface, the Sea is largely lifeless. No fish can survive in the main body of the Salton Sea. Some may briefly persist near freshwater inflows, but even those populations are struggling and declining.
As the water recedes further, salinity will keep climbing and more dry playa will be exposed, releasing airborne dust and worsening respiratory health impacts on nearby communities.
Those concerns were voiced by attendees, several of whom described family members suffering from asthma and other breathing ailments.
When asked about a timeline, the Corps described a process that will take years, even for the modest remediation plans. One frustrated audience member responded: “How many more decades is this going to take? I’m not going to be alive before you come up with a solution.”
Feature photo above: Community members attend a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informational meeting on Salton Sea solutions, held Wednesday, April 30, 2025, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the North Shore Yacht Club in Mecca. Approximately 50 residents were in attendance, along with roughly 25 representatives from the Army Corps and state agencies. Photo courtesy of Russell Betts
