4 ms·

This reminds me of the Salton Sea, a man-made lake in California which used to be promoted as a tourist destination and now continues to be an ecological disast

by spuz 3y ago

This reminds me of the Salton Sea, a man-made lake in California which used to be promoted as a tourist destination and now continues to be an ecological disaster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea

ZeroGravitas 3y ago
There is a similar "seaflooding" plan for that sea, and it is mentioned in passing at the end of the list of possible global sites in the article. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-05/panel-rejects-idea-of-filling-salton-sea-with-ocean-water https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-05/panel-re...
- CommieBobDole 3y ago
  An issue with flooding the Salton Sea to sea level is you'd submerge a lot of agricultural land that already exists to the north and south of the Sea. Plus a number of towns (like Coachella) that already exist in the area. Though, if you could use this to maintain the water level and salinity at historical levels, you could avert the ecological disaster that's going to happen when the Salton Sea dries up. And it would likely become a popular area for recreation again, like it was in the 1950s and 60s.
  - bradleyjg 3y ago
    you'd submerge a lot of agricultural land that already exists to the north and south of the Sea Thus solving, or at least significantly migrating, the Colorado river over allocation problem. Win-win.
AbrahamParangi 3y ago
To be fair, it was accidentally created and so its water was intentionally cut off, causing the current ecological mess - which by the way also applies to other dried salt lakes too.
- mnw21cam 3y ago
  Also to be fair, it was created with water from a river that had all sorts of horrible run-off from farms in it, which is why it is so particularly toxic. I'd expect projects like the ones mentioned in the article to be slightly cleaner than that, but still pretty awful.
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    I thought the run-off was just from surrounding farms and continues till now. Is that not correct?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]

by spuz 3y ago

ZeroGravitas 3y ago

There is a similar "seaflooding" plan for that sea, and it is mentioned in passing at the end of the list of possible global sites in the article. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-05/panel-rejects-idea-of-filling-salton-sea-with-ocean-water https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-05/panel-re...

CommieBobDole 3y ago
An issue with flooding the Salton Sea to sea level is you'd submerge a lot of agricultural land that already exists to the north and south of the Sea. Plus a number of towns (like Coachella) that already exist in the area. Though, if you could use this to maintain the water level and salinity at historical levels, you could avert the ecological disaster that's going to happen when the Salton Sea dries up. And it would likely become a popular area for recreation again, like it was in the 1950s and 60s.
- bradleyjg 3y ago
  you'd submerge a lot of agricultural land that already exists to the north and south of the Sea Thus solving, or at least significantly migrating, the Colorado river over allocation problem. Win-win.

AbrahamParangi 3y ago

To be fair, it was accidentally created and so its water was intentionally cut off, causing the current ecological mess - which by the way also applies to other dried salt lakes too.

mnw21cam 3y ago
Also to be fair, it was created with water from a river that had all sorts of horrible run-off from farms in it, which is why it is so particularly toxic. I'd expect projects like the ones mentioned in the article to be slightly cleaner than that, but still pretty awful.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  I thought the run-off was just from surrounding farms and continues till now. Is that not correct?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]