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It absolutely wasn't intentional - a flood destroyed the diversion works, funneling the entire Colorado river into the valley. It took two years for them to fo

by EricE 3y ago

It absolutely wasn't intentional - a flood destroyed the diversion works, funneling the entire Colorado river into the valley. It took two years for them to force the Colorado river back into its original channel. It was the impetus for what eventually became Hoover Dam after it left such a negative impression of the devastation an untamed Colorado river could do.

NegativeLatency 3y ago
From the SA article: > Furby: The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, but it actually started out as an accident. This is not true, or at least not fully accurate, and not what I expect of a publication like Scientific American. Not sure if you read the history section of the wikipedia article but it was intentional: > In 1900, under Governor James Budd, the California Development Company began construction of irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River into the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed. After construction of these irrigation canals, the Salton Sink became fertile for a time, allowing farmers to plant crops. > Within two years, the Alamo Canal became filled with silt from the Colorado River. > Engineer Charles Rockwood, faced with bankruptcy and "after mature deliberation", directed the construction of a breach in the bank of the Colorado River approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the existing wooden headgates (the Chaffey Gate). > Rockwood's action in ordering the breach was later described as a "blunder so serious as to be practically criminal."
- scarby2 3y ago
  > Not sure if you read the history section of the wikipedia article but it was intentional: you're mis-reading the history there. Water was diverted into the area to use as irrigation for farming, at this point there was no sea nor was anything on that scale intended. It wasn't until the heavy rains and unintentional diversion of the Colorado that the sea formed.
  - NegativeLatency 3y ago
    My quibble is with the statement from the article: "it actually started out as an accident", it's just not good reporting. It didn't start as an accident, there was a prehistoric lake there, occasionally inhabited. Because of the lake that used to be there the area has fertile soil. Humans diverted water there intentionally for farming. Some people profited off of this and have left residents and others to deal with health effects and pick up the tab of dealing with the problem.
    - s1artibartfast 3y ago
      The problem is that the area is returning to it's natrual evironment. Some people profited and while they did so, they incidentaly did everyone a favor by preventing the harms that mother nature would do in their absence. IF not for the accident, most of the lake wouldn't exist as it does today.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  It was absolutely a disaster and unexpected. There was an intentional and deliberate effort to divert more water from the Colorado River. This involves breaching the banks to allow some more water to flow out. Erosion at the bridge led to a failure Cascade to the point where more than 90% of the Colorado River was diverted from its current course to the Salton Sea. Closing the took several years to complete

by EricE 3y ago

NegativeLatency 3y ago

From the SA article: > Furby: The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, but it actually started out as an accident. This is not true, or at least not fully accurate, and not what I expect of a publication like Scientific American. Not sure if you read the history section of the wikipedia article but it was intentional: > In 1900, under Governor James Budd, the California Development Company began construction of irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River into the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed. After construction of these irrigation canals, the Salton Sink became fertile for a time, allowing farmers to plant crops. > Within two years, the Alamo Canal became filled with silt from the Colorado River. > Engineer Charles Rockwood, faced with bankruptcy and "after mature deliberation", directed the construction of a breach in the bank of the Colorado River approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the existing wooden headgates (the Chaffey Gate). > Rockwood's action in ordering the breach was later described as a "blunder so serious as to be practically criminal."

scarby2 3y ago
> Not sure if you read the history section of the wikipedia article but it was intentional: you're mis-reading the history there. Water was diverted into the area to use as irrigation for farming, at this point there was no sea nor was anything on that scale intended. It wasn't until the heavy rains and unintentional diversion of the Colorado that the sea formed.
- NegativeLatency 3y ago
  My quibble is with the statement from the article: "it actually started out as an accident", it's just not good reporting. It didn't start as an accident, there was a prehistoric lake there, occasionally inhabited. Because of the lake that used to be there the area has fertile soil. Humans diverted water there intentionally for farming. Some people profited off of this and have left residents and others to deal with health effects and pick up the tab of dealing with the problem.
  - s1artibartfast 3y ago
    The problem is that the area is returning to it's natrual evironment. Some people profited and while they did so, they incidentaly did everyone a favor by preventing the harms that mother nature would do in their absence. IF not for the accident, most of the lake wouldn't exist as it does today.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
It was absolutely a disaster and unexpected. There was an intentional and deliberate effort to divert more water from the Colorado River. This involves breaching the banks to allow some more water to flow out. Erosion at the bridge led to a failure Cascade to the point where more than 90% of the Colorado River was diverted from its current course to the Salton Sea. Closing the took several years to complete