The dead Salton Sea is getting much needed support from two California congressmen who are urging President Barack Obama to support its cleanup.
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, and Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, said Thursday they wrote a letter to Obama this week, asking for federal funding in the complicated cleanup process.
They are recommending the president include $1 million for the Salton Sea Research Project through the Bureau of Reclamation and $200,000 for additional work by the Army Corps of Engineers in his proposed 2016 budget, according to a report by The Desert Sun.
Federal and state officials want to build wetlands along parts of the sea - which is really a shallow lake - for a habitat for fish and birds. The wetlands would also control dust.
"Deteriorating conditions have made the Salton Sea a serious public health threat," Ruiz said in a joint statement with Vargas. He said that threat "will only intensify as the Sea recedes if we don't act now."
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when there was a breach in an irrigation channel in the Colorado River and water flooded the basin. Until 1907 the water continued to flow.
However, since then, the lake has been a recepticle for runoff of the Imperial Valley and its farmland. Regardless of the health hazard the water with its contaminents poses, as the levels decrease, the more dust is produced, blowing across the valley and posing significant health hazard.
The economic impact could range between $29 billion and $70 billion over the next 30 years, according to a report delivered by the Pacific Institute of Oakland, Calif. The estimates include healthcare increases from the bronchial problems and the projected decline in housing prices.
