Originally posted by MrBillM ALL The musings over the restoration of the Salton Sump are simply meaningless recreation.
There will NEVER be the significant funds available to take remedial action OR the political will (outside of California) to
pursue the idea with any seriousness.
The area serves its current purpose (mostly as a runoff depository) well enough and its "possible" use for other purposes doesn't justify the
enormous expense necessary to achieve those goals.
The same can be said to a certain extent for the "surge" experiment. Except for the odd (and growing odder) exceedingly wet years, there will NEVER
be sufficient excess water in the system to restore the Delta to any extent.
Fun to think about, though.
Might be if the stench from the algae blooms/fish die-offs impacts the well-to-do folks up the road in Palm Springs area. I've smelled it from
Ranchita, 30 miles away and 5,000 feet higher...yuck.
They talk about a 'sea level' canal flowing (downhill) into the Salton Sea (200+ feet below sea level... but no talk about locks. If the Salton Sea is
to not raise higher than its original highest shoreline (and flood the farmlands of the Imperial Valley), how does letting a little gulf water in do
any good? Don't you need to pump out the Salton Sea bad water with as much new gulf water going in?
Originally posted by David K
They talk about a 'sea level' canal flowing (downhill) into the Salton Sea (200+ feet below sea level... but no talk about locks. If the Salton Sea is
to not raise higher than its original highest shoreline (and flood the farmlands of the Imperial Valley), how does letting a little gulf water in do
any good? Don't you need to pump out the Salton Sea bad water with as much new gulf water going in?
"From where it crosses the border, just east of the town of Mexicali, the canal route follows the sea level elevation contour almost due north for
another 60 km. It meets the Union Pacific Railroad trunk line just east of the town of Niland, where it widens into an excavated harbor and seaport.
The western shore of the sea level harbor will be only a few km. from the Salton Sea. Pipelines of manageable size complete the connection to the
Salton pumping and generating station."
So for boats to traverse into the Salton Sea a lock would be needed in his plan I'm surmising. Hmmm, they could make a heck of a waterslide with a
little of the water.
Originally posted by MrBillM
Would be less challenge than the UP.
In any case, the vertical range of individual locks in existing applications seems to be less than 20 feet.
SO, from Sea-Level to -228 Feet .................. ??????
Sure.
[Edited on 4-1-2014 by MrBillM]
Exactly, so in the author's plan, locks to the Salton Sea are not included, however a new port "a few km" away from the Salton Sea would be built AND
water would be exchanged via the pumps/energy storage system he talks about. SO, the Salton Sea would be saved, a new port would be built, but you
can't get in your kayak and paddle from Mecca to Mexicali. But you CAN get in your yacht and sail from Niland to Cabo...and maybe a waterslide
Originally posted by MrBillM
Would be less challenge than the UP.
In any case, the vertical range of individual locks in existing applications seems to be less than 20 feet.
SO, from Sea-Level to -228 Feet .................. ??????
Sure.
[Edited on 4-1-2014 by MrBillM]
Exactly, so in the author's plan, locks to the Salton Sea are not included, however a new port "a few km" away from the Salton Sea would be built AND
water would be exchanged via the pumps/energy storage system he talks about. SO, the Salton Sea would be saved, a new port would be built, but you
can't get in your kayak and paddle from Mecca to Mexicali. But you CAN get in your yacht and sail from Niland to Cabo...and maybe a waterslide
That makes sense indeed.
Somehow I did not visualize a 200 ft. drop from Niland to the Salton Sea, they are pretty close. So a mini lake/ harbor would be at sea level near
Niland and in and out pipes would flush the Salton Sea. Good luck on that one!
Would give the Low-Budget Desert Campers a place to hang out, re-supply and utilize the Sanitary facilities.
A Boon all around.
BTW, the elevation at Niland is -141 feet and the surrounding area looks pretty flat to me when I go through there, so I'm
assuming that the Port would be some distance away towards the mountains.
Roger Arnold | Sep 08, 2010
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In September 2008, EnergyPulse published an article by Harry Valentine on "The Potential for Seasonal Energy Storage" 1. One of the possibilities for
very large-scale pumped hydroelectric storage that Harry mentioned would operate between the Salton Sea in Southern California and Mexico's Sea of
Cortez. I didn't initially think his suggestion was practical. Lately, though, I've reconsidered.
Energy Mega-storage
The Salton sea presently covers an area of 974 km2, at an elevation of 70 meters below sea level. An inflow of sea water sufficient to raise the lake
level by one meter could generate some 200 gigawatt-hours of electricity. That's a gigawatt of continuous output for 8.3 days for each meter of lake
surface rise -- enough to supply the seasonal difference in daily average for over 10 gigawatts of peak solar power.
An obvious issue is the distance from the Salton Sea to the Sea of Cortez (or the Gulf of California, as most of us know it). The image below, from
Google Earth, shows the two. The Salton Sea is the dark body of water toward the lower left center; the view looks south toward Baja California and
the Sea of Cortez. The distance is 185 km. That means the average elevation drop is a meager 38 cm. per km. After Harry's article, I commented that
"It would need a diameter of at least 100 feet (for a pipe or tunnel) to move enough water over that distance to generate 10 gigawatts". That was the
minimum scale I felt would be needed to justify such a megaproject. But even at that scale, the capital cost of such an enormous water tunnel would
make the stored energy prohibitively expensive.
After mulling it over, I decided to do some serious figuring to see if there was any way the project could possibly be feasible. The conclusion I
reached, surprisingly, is that in fact it could be -- if it's done right.
What does "done right" mean, and where was I wrong when I previously scoffed at the idea? It wasn't in my "guestimate" of a 100 foot diameter for a
water tunnel. That was actually a little optimistic. To carry sea water for 185 km. with sufficient flow and head to generate 10 gigawatts at the end,
a tunnel would need to be more like 50 meters in diameter! Even if it were technically feasible to build such a gigantic water tunnel -- which I
rather doubt -- the cost would be orders of magnitude too high to pay off. So how do I conclude that the project could be feasible?
There are a number of considerations, but they start from the fact that the project does not require a tunnel! Instead, it would employ a large
sea-level canal for 98% of the distance between the two bodies of water. The desert region above sea level that the canal would traverse consists
almost entirely of young alluvial deposits from the Colorado River delta. The course is flat and barely 30 meters in elevation at its highest. Cutting
a sea-level canal through that terrain would be a large but not otherwise challenging civil engineering project.
Ancillary Functions
Using an open canal rather than a buried tunnel changes the mode of operation for the pumped energy storage system in ways that make it more
efficient. I'll explain about that shortly. But more importantly, it enables the system to serve additional functions that enhance its economic and
social value. In fact, energy storage might ultimately be among the least of its functions. The system would also serve for:
large scale tidal power generation for northern Mexico;
a major shipping canal for both international and regional traffic;
infrastructure for economic development in the Mexicali region and the Imperial Valley; and
ecological enhancement of Salton Sea and lower Colorado River environs.
Large-scale tidal power generation is enabled by the unusually large tidal swings at the northern end of the Gulf of California. The typical tidal
variation at the Colorado River delta is around 7 meters, with two cycles daily.
Using the canal for shipping might raise a few eyebrows. One can question whether there is really a need for a canal to bring freight to inland ports
in Mexicali and the Imperial Valley. But it has its points. It would bypass congestion and cut air pollution at the present port of Long Beach, while
saving rail shippers the expensive climb out of the LA basin over Cajon and Beaumont passes. It would reduce the travel distance for ships coming
through the Panama Canal to the U.S., and would lower the cost of shipping container cargo to and from the Mexicali region and the American Southwest.
As part of an energy project, the canal's use for shipping seems an afterthought. However, to adequately serve its "primary" energy functions, the
canal must be BIG. So big, in fact, that it would be a waste not to use it for shipping. My rough figuring calls for 100 meters wide by 35 meters deep
at its Gulf entrance. That is ample to allow two Panamax cargo ships, drawn by railed canal mules, to pass in opposite directions. And in economic
terms, shipping would be far more than an "afterthought". The canal's shipping role could ultimately eclipse its energy functions. That's not so much
from port revenues or the avoided costs of operations out of Long Beach, but rather indirectly. It would attract business and industry to the regions
around the canal. Which brings us to the next point: infrastructure for economic development.
The broad desert areas surroundings of the canal route are prime locations for solar power. The energy storage capacity of the canal would provide the
means to convert abundant but intermittent solar energy into reliable 24/7 grid power. Available land, clean reliable power, and easy access to
worldwide shipping would make the canal a magnet for industrial development. That would bring jobs and residential development. But what about fresh
water -- which is notably scarce in that region?
New supplies of fresh water for the region would have to come from desalination of sea water. Geothermal resources at the southern end of the Salton
Sea could be useful for that purpose, but probably a portion of generated solar and tidal power would need to be tapped as well. Modern sea water
desalination plants consume about 3.2 watt-hours per liter of fresh water output. (The theoretical minimum is .77 Whr / liter. 2) To meet the domestic
water needs of a regional population of one million, some 200 million liters per day would be needed -- assuming no special efforts to reduce
consumption below the 200-300 liters per day of the "typical" American lifestyle. If met entirely from desalination, that would be a steady 27
megawatts for desalination -- less that 1% of the average output from the solar installations that the canal could support.
Canal Features
We're now beginning to touch on the most controversial aspect of the project: its environmental impact. Before I can talk more about that, however, I
need to backtrack and explain the physical characteristics of the canal. The features that allow it to serve for both energy storage and tidal power
generation have a lot to do with its impact.
The main part of the proposed canal -- and 75% of the heavy engineering -- lies in Mexico. It consists of a large sea level canal that begins 20 km
out in the Gulf of California, runs between sea walls to the shore, and then continues north-northwest for 130 km. to the U.S. border. From where it
crosses the border, just east of the town of Mexicali, the canal route follows the sea level elevation contour almost due north for another 60 km. It
meets the Union Pacific Railroad trunk line just east of the town of Niland, where it widens into an excavated harbor and seaport. The western shore
of the sea level harbor will be only a few km. from the Salton Sea. Pipelines of manageable size complete the connection to the Salton pumping and
generating station.
In addition to the canal itself, dozens of saltwater lakes and tidal marshes will be built along its course. Salt tolerant grasses and other plants
will grow in the marshes, providing habitat for birds and fish. Although they have obvious environmental benefits, the lakes and marshes are
functional components of the power generation and storage systems. They provide surface area to enable short-term storage of large volumes of sea
water with minimal changes in water level.
The constructed lakes and marshes need not be deep; total surface area is what matters. Those near the south end of the canal provide storage for
water delivered at high tide. Water is released from there at low tide for power generation. The rise and fall of water in these marshes mirrors the
twice daily rise and fall of the Gulf of California tide, but at a reduced scale.
The lakes and marshes near the north end of the canal, in contrast, provide storage for water pumped up from the Salton Sea during hours of surplus
power. The stored water is returned to generate power at night and other times when generation is down.
We can see now why the open canal works so much better in these applications than a water pipeline or tunnel. A pipeline is inflexible; it connects
the two great reservoirs at either end, but to move any water between the reservoirs, it's necessary to move the entire 180 km. plug of water through
the pipeline. That involves high losses to flow resistance. In contrast, the canal is is "elastic". It constitutes a long stretched out reservoir in
its own right. There are seasonal average flows through it, drawing water from the Salton Sea in summer and replacing it with water from the Gulf in
the winter. But the seasonal average flows are one to two orders of magnitude less than the daily flows that generate tidal power and supply
load-following capacity to the power grid. With the canal system, those larger daily flows are mainly local -- between the primary reservoirs and
nearby sections of the canal and its auxiliary lakes and marshes. Losses to flow resistance are drastically reduced.
Salton Sea Impact
There are several regions impacted by the project. The first is the Salton Sea itself and the area immediately around it.
From the 1930's and into the 1980's, the Salton Sea was a productive fishery and a popular destination for tourism and camping. But with no outlet,
the waters have grown steadily saltier and more polluted from wastewater and agricultural runoff. Fish caught there are no longer judged safe to eat
and can't be sold commercially. Algae blooms from high fertilizer levels in the water periodically deplete oxygen and suffocate fish. The stink from
dead sea life has at times driven away tourists and campers.
Even more ominous for the Sea's future is that California has long been overdrawing its Colorado River allotment. Under court rulings, it is reducing
its draw, which means less flow into the Salton Sea. Moreover, a larger portion of the fresh water that is drawn will be pumped to San Diego and other
cities, rather than being used for irrigation in the Imperial Valley. With greatly reduced fresh water input, the Salton Sea will continue shrinking
and becoming much saltier.
To address these issues, the regional county governments and water agencies got together in 1993 and formed the Salton Sea Authority. The Authority
has studied a range of options for addressing the Sea's problems. Several of the early options studied involved canal and pipeline combinations for
exchange of water between the Salton Sea and either the Pacific or the Gulf of California. Their focus was limited to stabilizing the water level and
managing water quality in the Salton Sea, so they did not include the energy or shipping functions of this proposal.
In May 2007, the Salton Sea Authority issued its "Preferred Alternative and Funding Plan" 3. None of the canal and pipeline options made the cut for
consideration in the final selection. That angered not just die-hard canal proponents, but also others who want to see the Salton Sea restored and
maintained at its full current size. The "preferred alternative" that was selected reduces the marine sea to less than 10% of its present area. With
no canals or pipelines for water exchange, the reduction is necessary in order to slash evaporation losses and accommodate the reduced inflow of
irrigation runoff from the Colorado River.
I can't fault the Salton Sea Authority for the plan they selected. In fact, I think it's rather elegant, in the way it manages to preserve the
existing shoreline while creating new wetland habitat. The Authority has selected what is probably the most cost-effective alternative for the
specific problems it was chartered to address.
On the other hand, there's no question that the canal project described here would also serve to stabilize the Salton Sea and maintain its salinity at
an ecologically productive level. The twice daily tidal flows through the canal combined with pumped storage operations would support a high volume of
water exchange between the Salton Sea and the Gulf of California. It should be ample to avoid salt build-up, without the need for dikes and
impoundments in the Salton Sea. The daily cycling of water through the salt marshes along the canal would provide natural filtration and fertilizer
uptake that should eliminate problems with algae blooms. In terms of initial cost, it would be an expensive solution to the Salton Sea's problems. But
it would be a solution.
Desert Impact
The open water surfaces of the canal and its salt water lakes and marshes would be large enough to affect regional micro-climate. It would increase
average humidity downwind of the canal by a small amount and moderate local day-night temperature swings. Since all moisture that evaporates at one
location on the earth ultimately falls as rain somewhere else, the project should (theoretically) increase rainfall in northern Mexico, southern
Arizona, and west Texas. Whether the effect would be large enough to notice, I don't know.
The real impact would be from the influx of business and population that would follow completion of the canal. The many dozens of storage lakes built
around the canal would create some thousand miles of waterfront in what was previously empty desert. The bluffs formed by excavation of a large sea
level canal would host prime view lots overlooking the landscaped canal corridor. It's likely that within two decades, the canal would develop into
the central artery of an extended "linear city". That prospect will be sufficient to turn some environmentalists solidly against it. Many abhor the
idea of building new cities in the desert, when the earth is already in crisis from overpopulation and dwindling resources.
I see it differently. We do face an urgent need to slash consumption and find ways to live more efficiently. However, when efficiency is the goal,
building from scratch is often a lot easier than trying to reform a complex existing system. It's not actually all that hard to build super-insulated
buildings that require negligible energy expenditure for heating and cooling -- even in the desert. It's also fairly easy to design for very low water
usage. Dry climate landscaping, drip irrigation, and low-flush toilets are only the beginning. When fresh water must come from solar-powered
desalination plants, there is an economic incentive to use it sparingly. Innovations like blown-mist shower systems, adapted from submarines, start to
make sense. The planned communities that will develop along the canal route could be showcases for low-impact, post-carbon lifestyles.
Gulf Impact
The most problematic area of environmental impact would be to the Gulf of California. The Gulf is a rich area for marine biology. Its nutrient-rich
waters are home to a range of unique species, and provide the winter breeding and nursery waters for the California Grey Whale. A sizeable region at
its northern end is designated by the Mexican Government and by the U.N.'s Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a biosphere
reserve.
The canal route that I described above would cut straight through the biological reserve. In itself, that wouldn't necessarily be a problem, because
sea walls would isolate the canal from the shallow coastal waters and wetlands of the reserve. But construction of the canal and sea walls could be
very disruptive. So an alternative route that would bypass the reserve might have to be used. That route would pass west of the Colorado River delta
and open into the Gulf near the town of San Felipe, well south of the delta area. That route would be about 35% longer than the most direct route to
the head of the Gulf. As it happens, though, there has long been interest in Mexico for building a sea-level canal along a good portion of that route.
It would connect to and flood the dry lake bed of Laguna Salada, and create a local seaport for that region of Baja California.
The most controversial impact to the region is probably the large influx of tourists and recreational boating that the canal would enable. At present,
the only access to the Gulf of California from the heavily populated California coast is a long slog around the Baja peninsula. That has kept the gulf
comparatively unspoiled and free of large-scale development. The canal would most certainly change that. But that might not be a bad thing for local
marine life. Isolation has by no means prevented the gulf's waters from being heavily overfished. Some once-popular species have already been fished
to apparent extinction. A healthy tourist industry based around diving and sport fishing could be the only realistic way to curtail overfishing and
conserve local marine life. At least, that seems to be how it has worked in some other areas.4
Notes and References
1. Valentine, Harry, The Potential for Seasonal Energy Storage, Click Here
2. Energy of Sea Water Desalination, Click Here
3. Click Here
4. See, for example Click Here and linked reports on the job creation and economic benefits of marine conservation. The jobs created are mostly in
tourism, and provide relief to the poverty that drives overfishing in less developed areas.
Mexitron, great workup by Valentine/Arnold. For the story attached about a canal from Santa Rosalillita to BOLA I should have used the title "It's not
My Fault".
Attachment: Canal.doc (35kB) This file has been downloaded 211 times
"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
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