Although the state has made significant progress over the past two years in its short‑term planning efforts, it still lacks a plan for how it will manage changes at the Salton Sea that will occur after 2028. We conclude by highlighting some key issues for the Legislature to monitor in the coming years to ensure the state is effectively meeting its goals for the Salton Sea. Impacts to save the area could lead to ideas on how to create another oasis that is beneficial to the environment and humans living near biodiversity hotspots. This drainage area eased the waterlogging of the land in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. . The Death Of A Sea. Salton Sea is a huge blue salt lake, beautiful to look at and almost a ghost town with less than 400 residents and the abandoned buildings from days gone by-yet theres an odd attraction to explore this huge salt lake. Additionally, because the Sea is a terminal lake with no outlet to the ocean, water that enters it can only depart through evaporation, leaving salts behind. The Legislature will want to track implementation of the Plan to ensure not only that the state is meeting its annual construction goals, but—more importantly—that it is achieving its larger objectives of avoiding negative health and environmental impacts over the coming decade. The plan includes annual targets for acres of projects to be implemented, and the State Water Resources Control Board issued a water rights order requiring the state to meet those goals. (As discussed later, because the QSA agencies are making their expenditures over a period of many years, their total funding obligation is estimated to ultimately total around $288 million, including interest.) While statute requires the state to consider local economic impacts, it does not assign fiscal responsibility to the state to address any such impacts that may result from a shrinking Salton Sea. By the 1950s, the Salton Sea became a tourist attraction, enticing vacationers to enjoy its shores. The state has not yet developed a plan for how it will respond to changes at the Salton Sea past 2028. NRCS = National Resources Conservation Service and QSA = Quantification Settlement Agreement. By reducing the amount of water available for agricultural uses in the Imperial Valley, these transfers have the effect of decreasing the amount of fresh water that runs off fields into the Sea. Some projects will provide both habitat and dust suppression benefits, while some are primarily to control dust emissions. The Legislature has several opportunities for exercising its oversight role, monitoring progress at the Salton Sea, and determining whether legislative intervention might be needed. The Salton Sea is one of the most enigmatic places in the Southwestan otherworldly lake in the barren, naked desert, sandwiched between the resorts of Palm Springs and the Mexican border. In addition to the agencies displayed in the figure, other state and federal regulatory agencies monitor the potential environmental impacts of conditions at the Salton Sea and issue permits authorizing activities. Of particular concern is the lack of identified funding for ongoing operations and maintenance for the management projects the state plans to construct in the coming ten years. As a result, one of the Salton Sea Restoration Program’s goals became to track the salinity of the Salton Sea and to track the impact of salinity on the surrounding ecosystem. Info. Numerous agencies at all levels of government are involved in responding to conditions at the Salton Sea. These changes threaten the survival of the hundreds of thousands of birds that depend on the Sea as a key stop‑off along the Pacific Flyway. In the subsequent years, agricultural runoff from farms in the Imperial Valley fed the Sea, preventing it from fully drying up as had occurred in the past. The region consistently fails to meet federal air quality standards designed to protect public health. The changing Salton Sea has and will continue to have significant impacts for local residents. A total of $730 million has been authorized for Salton Sea mitigation and management activities from state, federal, and local sources, of which $507 million remained unspent as of June 2018. The ensuing flood breached a dike and for two years dumped the contents of the Colorado R… Dos Palmas Preserve. Specifically, in 2017, the state released a ten‑year plan to guide state projects at the Salton Sea and address potential public health and environmental effects over the next decade. We describe the state’s role and obligations, as well as funding and cost estimates associated with activities at the Sea. In many areas, this playa is covered with fine sediments that have been deposited at the bottom of the Sea. In 2003, multiple parties—including the state and three water districts in the region—entered into a series of agreements to address longstanding issues regarding usage of Colorado River water. The state has created a committee to begin developing these plans. Administers Salton Sea Restoration Fund. The QSA includes an agreement to transfer 300,000 acre‑feet of water from IID—which uses Colorado River water to irrigate farm fields near the Sea—to two other Southern California water districts (the Coachella Valley Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority) for residential uses. 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