BajaNomad

Richard Meyer? Salton Sea to Sea of Cortez

gringorio - 10-10-2004 at 07:44 PM

Has anyone heard about this proposal?


"Meyer supports a plan by former Rep. George Brown to build a canal from the Salton Sea to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico to maintain the level of the Salton Sea. The project would cost $10 billion but could be partially offset by selling some of the fresh water that flows into the inland lake from the Colorado River that otherwise evaporates. This also would open the door to using the Salton Sea for boating and other recreation."

Canal ??

MrBillM - 10-10-2004 at 08:46 PM

Although I lived in Indio from 1970 - 1978 and spent a good deal of time at the Salton
Sea,I haven't paid much attention to it for many years, other than passing by on Hwy 86 at
least twice every month. However, the problems I was familiar with was the fact that the
Sea was rising and becoming increasingly Saline due to the agricultural practice of leaching
the Salt out of the farmland with deep irrigation, the result then flowing into the Salton
Sea via a network of drainage canals. I am unaware of ANY Fresh Colorado River Water
flowing directly into the Sea. The Coachella Canal from the River flows into Lake Cahuilla
(a reservoir) southwest of Indio.

I would think that a Canal from the Sea of Cortez would be an expensive and involved
project with a required network of locks since the surface of the Salton Sea is more
than 200 feet below Sea Level. I can't imagine how any such project would be cost
effective.

surfer jim - 10-11-2004 at 08:23 AM

Was just talking to a friend who bought some land near the sea and he talked about the old pipes underground draining into the water....also mentioned they want to split the sea into a lower half and an upper part somehow to try to clean it...

The New River

MrBillM - 10-11-2004 at 08:57 AM

The New River flows North from West of Mexicali into the
Salton Sea and is the primary source of pollution into
the Sea.

Packed away, I have an excellent book on the Salton Sea.
"The Colorado Delta" was written back in the 40s (I believe)
and tells the story of the creation in detail. It also
includes numerous photos from the 30s, including one of
San Felipe when it was the Southern Terminus of the Colorado
Estuary. I ran across this out-of-print book at the Library
and knew it would be difficult to find so I told them it was
lost and paid a steep fine to "purchase" it.

When I lived in Indio, I had a friend who hunted Rattlesnakes
in those canals. I accompanied him "Once". As we were walking
up through one of the canals, his Coleman Lantern, which was our
only source of light, ran out of fuel. Walking through a canal
containing Rattlesnakes made the next half-hour exciting.

David K - 10-11-2004 at 07:52 PM

This is very interesting... my dad took us to the Salton Sea for fishing (corvina), swimming, and boat racing... when I was kid (early 60's). Before I can remember, he was a Team Mercury outboard boat racer with Roy Rogers... he also did the Catalina boat race.

Now, so salty and polluted and stinky the Sea is useless for recreation... dead fish line the shore.

The lake (sea) was a collosal mistake caused when the buiders of a dam near Algodones didn't have 'safegaurds' for a then mighty Colorado which was accidentally diverted and went 'downhill' towards the Salton Sink, creating a/the NEW River.

I also remember CAT FISH at Agua de Chale/ Nuevo Mazatlan following 'fresh' Colorado River water south from the delta... per what Luis told us (1966-67). Perhaps a fish expert can give a more scientific reason.

The www.DesertUSA.com web site has a Salton Sea history page, I believe...

The Colorado Delta

MrBillM - 10-12-2004 at 10:57 AM

I dug out the book that I had referenced. If it can be
found, it will tell you much more than you could ever
want to know about the Delta and the creation of the
Salton Sea. It is written as a scientific text so It's
a boring read. The author first explored the Colorado
Delta in the late 1800s. The book itself was published
first in 1938 and republished in 1970. Things went wrong
(or right) when the engineers were digging irrigation
canals to support the farmers that they had inticed into
the Imperial Valley in 1900 and the error wasn't corrected
until 1907.

THE COLORADO DELTA
American Geographical Society
Godrey Sykes
Research Associate Carnegie Institution of Washington
Kennikat Press
Library of Congress No: 79-113298
ISBN 0-8046-1329-X
Special Publication NO. 19

I remember well when The Salton Sea was at it's peak
as a recreational facility. In the period 1960 - 1967
we drove out many times to waterski and swim. The
State Park area on North Shore was booming and the
facilities, including the snack bar, restaurant and
Marina were great.
After moving to Indio in 1970, we also did a lot of
boating and fishing there. There was also one time
when we got "drafted" to help out on one of the
Hydroplane races at the North Shore Yacht Club. We
ended up in the infield to tow boats when they broke
down. Sounded exciting, but was pretty boring sitting
there hour after hour, towing only one boat in the
whole time. The after race party was fun, though, and
the booze was our payment.

I too had many time

jrbaja - 10-12-2004 at 11:03 AM

waterskiing and fishing at the Sea. We used to love it there.
We stopped by there on the way back from our wedding in Kansas in the late 70's. Carried ice chest, chairs, fishing stuff to one of the remote beaches, to find pollution and dead fish lining the shore.:lol:
Probably won't be visiting there again !!!

Colorado river water

Hook - 10-12-2004 at 11:06 AM

still flows into the Salton Sea.

It just does it by way of the golf courses, urban and ag runoff from the entire Palm Springs area. That's really the problem; that and no outlet.

This might be the first formal proposal to cut a canal from the Gulf to the Salton Sea, but the idea has been talked about for a long time.

While it might be unpleasant in the short term, it certainly would help clear up the pollution problems in the S.S. Throw another few million in and build the treatment plant for Mexicali at the same time.

I can see surf shops in El Centro if this ever became a reality. Imagine the tidal bore at times!

Not sure where the idea of splitting the S.S. is at. Apparently the bottom samples in the area where the dike would be constructed showed the bottom to be akin to peanut butter in consistency. Very expensive to build on.

[Edited on 10-12-2004 by Hook]

That's the Point

MrBillM - 10-12-2004 at 11:48 AM

The Colorado River Water that ends up in the Salton Sea is water
that has been used for some other purpose first, so I don't see
where there could be a recouping of costs from the sale of water.

The sad fact is that there will never be enough political support
for any of the remedies mentioned. Whether or not the Salton Sea
could eventually become a substantial recreational destination
again is pure speculation and the costs are so high that there will
never be a political consensus in D.C. to spend the needed funds.
There are far more popular projects that can't get needed funding.

Packoderm - 10-12-2004 at 12:29 PM

Maybe we can just build a dike at the border keeping the water in Mexicali. We don't need no stink'n new river.

Hook - 10-12-2004 at 04:23 PM

Quote:

The sad fact is that there will never be enough political support
for any of the remedies mentioned. Whether or not the Salton Sea
could eventually become a substantial recreational destination
again is pure speculation and the costs are so high that there will
never be a political consensus in D.C. to spend the needed funds.
There are far more popular projects that can't get needed funding.


Couldn't agree with you more. Barring some major environmental disaster that actually threatens more than birds and fish, nothing will ever be done.

There is no political vision in this country anymore; only political expediency.