brief tour of salton sea history and...

Brief Tour of Salton Sea History and Science

Valerie SimonSalton Sea Program ManagerBureau of Reclamation

Salton Sea PresentationFebruary 17, 2016UCR Palm Desert, California

Historical Highlights• 1500: Colorado River fills Lake Cahuilla to create a

waterbody 26 times the size of the current Sea (calcareous water line remains visible on westerly mtns) – subsequent periodic ephemeral lakes form.

• 1892: New Liverpool Salt Company mines salt from west of the railroad station named “Salton”.

• 1901: California Development Company contracted builds Alamo Canal for delivery of Colorado River by gravity flow to Imperial Valley farmer/settlers.

Historical Highlights • 1905:Temporary diversion of the Co River to replace water

from the blocked Alamo Canal is breached by a series of floods. River flows into the Salton Basin for about 2 years.

• 1907: Southern Pacific Railroad repairs the breach. USGS records Sea elevation at 197 feet below sea level.

• 1924: President Calvin Coolidge issues Public Water Reserve Orders 90 and 114 (in 1928) setting aside lands under the Sea as a permanent drainage reservoir for agricultural and surface water runoff from the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. All lands subject to the two Public Water Reserve Orders were revoked in their entirety by Public Land Order 6105 on March 5, 1982. Reclamation subsequently withdrew 79,576 acres from the public domain to maintain ag discharge sump.

Historical Highlights • 1930: Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge (35,000

acres) designated by EO 5498. (Renamed Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in 1998).

• 1941-45: Fishermen supply mullet from Sea to coastal fish markets after German subs limit commercial ocean fishing during WWII.

• 1944-45: B-29s from the 393rd Heavy Bombardment Squadron, commanded by LtCol Paul Tibbets, drops highly secret dummy bombs into the Sea. On August 6, 1945, Tibbets, in the Enola Gay, drops the first Atomic Bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.

Historical Highlights • 1950-56: The CDFG introduces Corvina and Sargo,

along with several other species, after which only tilapia, a freshwater fish, adapt to increased salinity and survive into the 21st century.

• 1955: Salton Sea State Park is dedicated; at the time, the largest in CA (120,682 acres - renamed the Salton Sea State Recreation Area in 1965.)

• 1968: USGS records Sea surface elevation at 233 feet below sea level (close to present day elev).

Historical Highlights • 1974: Salinity documented at 38 ppt (about same as

ocean water)• 1993: The Salton Sea Authority is formed “for the

purpose of directing and coordinating activities relating to improvement of water quality and stabilization of water elevations and to enhance recreational and economic development potential of the Salton Sea and other beneficial uses…”

• 2003: The QSA is executed to quantify IID, CVWD, and MWD’s share of California’s 4.4 million acre-feet appropriation of Colorado River water.

Historical Highlights • 2012: CA Financial Assistance Program awards $1.2M to

FWS for Red Hill Bay Project (420 acres of shallow saline habitat for migratory birds); $700K to IID/Sephton for Salton Sea Water Habitat Pilot Project, and $1,1M to TMDCI/SSA for the Tribe’s wetlands rehabilitation project.

• 2014: DOI and SSA enter into an MOU for collaboration and exchange of technical and scientific information.

• 2014: The SSA and the WRI at CSSB-PD establishes a Salton Sea Records Repository.

• 2014: The SWRCB convenes a workshop regarding the status of the Sea in response to a petition from IID.

Historical Highlights • 2015: The IID Salton Sea Restoration and Renewable Energy

Initiative released as an incremental approach designed to minimize environmental and air quality impacts, while using revenue generated by renewable energy projects to fund larger scale environmental mitigation and restoration efforts.

• 2015: Reclamation records Sea salinity in May at approx 57 ppt.• 2015: Bruce Wilcox selected as the new Assistant Secretary for

Salton Sea Policy, CA Natural Resources Agency.• 2015: November 5 groundbreaking for Red Hill Bay project.• 2015: Nov-Dec: State of California convenes series of Salton

Sea Management Program agency stakeholder workshops.

Why is the Salton Sea Important?• Human Health/Air Quality/Fugitive Dust Mitigation• Approximately 20 Species of Conservation Concern• Avian Diversity is Second in North America (+400 species)• Regional Water Security (QSA)• Geothermal and other renewable energy opportunities• Permanent Repository for Agricultural Drainage Water• Fishery/Recreation/Socio-economic opportunities• Probable micro-climate for agriculture industries• Largest lake in California

DOI Issues of concern: Migratory Birds

The Scientific Challenges

• Declining inflows• Salinity increasing• Nutrients increasing• Fugitive dust• Human health risk• Avian disease• H2S (The Big Stink of 2012)

• Selenium, arsenic • Geothermal activity• Earthquakes/faults• Fisheries habitat (loss)• Migratory bird habitat (loss)

Science at the Salton Sea• 1969: DOI and other agencies complete recon study

of water quality concerns in the Sea.• 1970: Brown Pelican is listed as an endangered

species – habitat includes Sea. (De-listed in 2009).• 1971: Salton Sea Project Act of 1971 (P.L. 92-76)

authorizes DOI agencies to conduct a feasibility investigation to provide alternatives for lowering the salinity and maintaining water levels in the Sea.

•

Science at the Salton Sea• 1996: Type C avian botulism outbreak causes an estimated 15-

20% decimation of western population of white pelicans and more than 1,000 endangered brown pelicans die at the Sea.

• 1997: Reclamation and SSA provide evaluation of alternatives to Congress to address salinity and elevation concerns at the Sea.

• 1997: A workshop is held in Palm Springs, which becomes the genesis for future scientific endeavors at the Sea. Workshop participants include FWS, CA DFG, Reclamation, and USGS.

• 1998: The Salton Sea Reclamation Act of 1998 authorizes DOI to complete studies of options to stabilize salinity and surface elevation, as well as maintain fish and wildlife populations and enhance the potential for recreation and economic development.

Science at the Sea• 1998: In August, 7.6M tilapia and croakers die from oxygen depletion due to algae

bloom. The Sea still had the most productive fishery in the world at that time.• 1998: SSA awarded EPA grant to conduct scientific investigations: Restoring and

Sustaining the Salton Sea: Supporting Science and Environmental Data Collection and Analysis 1998-2003. Scientific oversight conducted by Science Subcommittee and USGS Salton Sea Science Office.

• 1999: Reclamation begins quarterly water quality monitoring at the Salton Sea.• 1999: The Water Resources Development Act of 1999 authorizes the Secretary of the

Army to provide assistance to Federal, state, and local agencies to implement restoration measures in the Sea.

• 2000: The USGS Salton Sea Science Office is established to provide “continuity of the science effort, effectiveness of the science undertaken in support of the restoration project and efficiency of operations in serving management needs…”(Salton Sea Science Subcommittee, 2000).

• 2000: The Secretary of the Interior submits to Congress a Reclamation-produced DEIS/DEIR and Strategic Science Plan for restoring the Sea.

Science at the Sea• 2004: The Water Supply Reliability and Environmental

Improvement Act of 2004 required the Secretary of the Interior, with CA and the SSA, to complete a feasibility study on a preferred alternative for Salton Sea restoration.

• 2006-2010: USGS and Reclamation construct Shallow Saline Habitat Ponds (SHPs) to evaluate the ecological risk to birds from selenium (blended water strategy). USGS publishes “An Ecological Risk Assessment” documenting that SHPs are a viable alternative for restoration of wetlands at the Sea (Case III, H.L. et al. 2013).

• 2007: Per the Water Supply and Reliability and Environmental Improvement Act of 2004, Reclamation releases a summary report titled “Restoration of Salton Sea”.

• 2007: CA finalizes their PEIR on Salton Sea Restoration.

Science at the Sea• 2013: The USACOE and CA release their Final EIR/EIS for the SCH. The

preferred alternative permits 3,770 acres of shallow saline ponds at the mouth of the New River. (Construction commences in 2016).

• 2013: UCI starts The Salton Sea Initiative to harness the research, teaching, and service resources of the UCI campus to help address the multiple sustainability challenges faced by the region.

• 2014: Genetics analyses prove that the endangered bird formerly known as Yuma Clapper Rail is a subspecies of the newly designated Ridgway’s Rail, also classified as endangered.

• 2014: USGS convenes meetings for stakeholders, scientists, and managers to review all the Salton Sea science conducted to date to assess knowledge gaps, and make recommendations for immediate and near future science and monitoring needs, including anticipated funding requirements for Salton Sea management decisions.

Hazard’s Toll Report• Pacific Institute report highlights:

– Flows to Sea decrease by 40% in the next 15 years

– Volume decrease of more than 60% = 100 sq mi of exposed playa.

– Salinity concentrations triple.– Estimated costs by 2047

• habitat loss $10-26B • health effects from blowing dust $21-37B• property values decrease $400M• recreation revenues decrease $110-150M

Colorado River Drought• 2000-2015 was the driest 15-year period in over 100 years of

historical records • This 15-year period is less than the 1st percentile from tree-ring

reconstructions that date back over 1200 years• The observed 2015 April through July runoff, above Lake Powell

was 97% of average• QSA mitigation water to Salton Sea:

– 110k in 2015– 130k in 2016– 150k in 2017 (finito)

1 Percent of average is based on the period of record from 1981-2010.

Declining Inflows

Daily lake water surface elevation at the USGS gage at the New River, near Westmoreland, CA.

Effect of No- Action on Salinity and Lake ElevationModified from Cohen and Hyun, 2006. Hazard: The Future of the Salton Sea with No Restoration Project

ElevationSalinity

Loss of brine shrimp

Loss of brine flies

Loss of fish

Salton Sea at elevation -235 ft















Salton Sea at elevation -251 ftSalton Sea at elevation -252 ft.

Inflow Reductions• 30-40% less water• The Salton Sea will shrink

Inflow Reductions• Decrease in water quality• Increase in air pollution• Loss of wildlife habitat

SALTON SEA 2001 DAVIS ROAD

Fugitive Dust issues associated with exposed dry playa and receding lake level

California county listing for childhood asthma hospitalizations 2010. Riverside and Imperial County marked in red (Salton Sea straddles both counties).

N

Davis RoadUSGS/Reclamation Shallow Habitat Project Site at southern end of Sea

Aerial photo November 2007

Success Story

Shallow Habitat Project pond 2, mixed gulls, White pelican, mixed shorebirds

Salton Sea Management• Large, “one-time” expensive solutions are not practical• Focus should be on incremental effective solutions

Red Hill Bay

brief tour of salton sea history and...

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