Any of you Southern Californians heard of Salton Sea? Sounds promising...

[SwampNut]

If the Mexican Federal government was effective in enforcing pollution regulations

There is an ongoing battle between all the interests; Mexico, EPA, gangsters, Sea residents, US billionaires....

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[Crissa]

If the US really wanted to stop it, they could stop the importation of goods not certified to be made to our environmental standards.

Or they could divert the flow away from the basin.

Or any of a dozen things that could be done other than whine about it being a foreign problem when it isn't.

-Crissa

 

[SwampNut]

“The US” is run by the billionaires profiting from all of the benefits AND the issues themselves. I forget the details of one scandal, but some asshole was involved in both pollution and a cleanup plant, but of course, government funded, not by his polluting company. There has been so much fuckery going on for so many decades.

This does not absolve Mexico's part of the problem, nor does it in any way imply I was saying they are the entire problem. I believe it might be the only river where the US is downstream of Mexico (not sure), so that is a unique situation.

I'm guessing that building EVs in Mexico is not exactly going to help this.



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The Río Nuevo flows north from Mexico into the United States, passing through a gap in the border fence.

The murky green water reeks of sewage and carries soapsuds, pieces of trash and a load of toxic chemicals from Mexicali, a city filled with factories that manufacture products from electronics to auto parts.

For people trying to cross illegally into the United States, the river offers a route to try to slip past Border Patrol agents. But the water is so polluted that people who wade in get itchy rashes or sores, and anyone who gets even a splash in the mouth becomes violently ill.

Just north of the border in Calexico, the New River is treated like a toxic waste site. On the edge of its trash-strewn ravine, a yellow sign is planted in the dusty soil with a skull-and-crossbones symbol and the warning: “CONTAMINATED SOIL AND NEW RIVER WATER, KEEP OUT!!”

For people who live next to the river, the odor can be so overpowering that it gives them headaches. Their eyes water and their nasal passages sting. To escape the stench, residents avoid spending time outdoors in their yards.

“All the chemicals, all the waste that comes from the factories there in Mexicali, I can’t tell you what it contains because I don’t know,” said Ernestina Calderón, who lives on a street next to the river in Calexico. “But I’m 100 percent sure that they’re chemicals that are harmful for your health.”

A decade ago, Calderón survived a fight with stomach cancer. Her adult son had cancer in his lymph nodes and survived.

Several of Calderón’s neighbors — she counted six people — have died over the years of different types of cancer, including lung, pancreatic and stomach cancer. Other neighbors suffer from illnesses including asthma and thyroid disorders, which can be triggered or worsened by pollution.

Residents have been complaining for years that living next to the river is making them sick. They’ve demanded government agencies clean up the sewage and industrial waste. Yet despite those calls for help, the river is still filled with high levels of bacteria and toxic chemicals.

In an investigation into the pollution that afflicts the city of Mexicali and nearby border communities, The Desert Sun found that the New River is plagued by harmful chemicals and heavy metals, increasingly frequent sewage spills and a lack of funding to fix those problems — despite recognition among government regulators on both sides of the border that the river requires bigger cleanup efforts.

 

[Sirfun]

Salton Sea is a very strange place, when I looked up current lake levels, today's water surface is at -239.10 feet. That's right, 239' BELOW sea level!!!
Last time I checked, SHIT RUNS DOWNHILL!!!!! Swampnut is correct the pollution from Mexico is being feed downhill, across the man made line we humans call the border between the United States and Mexico.
Absolutely, Mexico is NOT the only source of pollution feeding DOWNHILL to the Salton Sea. I've heard one of the ideas to help heal this lake is to import water from the nearby Gulf of Baja and desalinize it. With Salton Sea being so far below Sea Level, this does seem like a viable solution. But it's all going to take money!!!!!!

 

[Cybertruckee]

If Mexico's water flows into Salton Sea, would that mean they have right to share in the lithium that would be mined, extracted and produced?

 

[Cybertruckee]

If the US really wanted to stop it, they could stop the importation of goods not certified to be made to our environmental standards.

Or they could divert the flow away from the basin.

Or any of a dozen things that could be done other than whine about it being a foreign problem when it isn't.

-Crissa

If the solution to Salton Sea is a an outfall then we need Mexico's cooperation as waste water flows south.

Like the way Texas helps California when the latter flush their toilets.

As Florida does for New Yorkers.

 

[Sirfun]

If Mexico's water flows into Salton Sea, would that mean they have right to share in the lithium that would be mined, extracted and produced?

LOL, I'm thinking this is sarcasm. But my filter could be wrong. In so many ways Swampnut is right. The Salton Sea is a Clusterfuck. Lithium extraction could easily be more BS from the billionaire club.

 

[Cybertruckee]

Yes, it is sarcasm. Specially if you are looking at Mexico for help.

The country has bigger problem and I am not even talking about drugs and it being a failed state with the drug lords as the master and commanders.

Close to the subject of pollution, it's own capital is cancer alley with polluted air nth times WHO air quality standards for most of the year.

As to the billionaire club, good luck, we are still paying for the clean up of their abandoned mines and superfund sites after extracting the wealth off it -- while polluting new ones.

 

[SwampNut]

If Mexico's water flows into Salton Sea, would that mean they have right to share in the lithium that would be mined, extracted and produced?

LOL...finders keepers?

But it's all going to take money!!!!!!

Yeah that. But I do think a pipeline from the Sea of Cortez to bring in sea water could be viable and not insanely expensive. But we have to get Mexico to agree, and well, find dollars.

On the good side, it's a fantastic off-road playground with some really trippy terrain. At night, there's an area that you'd swear looks like the moon under off-road LED lights on vehicles. Soft and gray dust. Then there's a place just minutes away that is red and looks like it was the set for The Martian. Weird round rocks, and totally Mars. Then some "sand" dunes farther down that are decomposed ocean reefs from millions of years ago. And more and more.

Another amusing thing is the random thermal vents where they "shouldn't" be. A friend got his well built Jeep totally stuck in a mud pit on TOP of a hill climb. WTF!!!

 

[Crissa]

Salton Sea is a very strange place, when I looked up current lake levels, today's water surface is at -239.10 feet. That's right, 239' BELOW sea level!!!
Last time I checked, SHIT RUNS DOWNHILL!!!!! Swampnut is correct the pollution from Mexico is being feed downhill, across the man made line we humans call the border between the United States and Mexico.
Absolutely, Mexico is NOT the only source of pollution feeding DOWNHILL to the Salton Sea. I've heard one of the ideas to help heal this lake is to import water from the nearby Gulf of Baja and desalinize it. With Salton Sea being so far below Sea Level, this does seem like a viable solution. But it's all going to take money!!!!!!

There is literally a canal that runs perpendicular to the new river. It could be diverted.

And it's not the 'new river' for nothing: it did not flow before the Salton Sea disaster.

Blaming Mexico and 'billionaires' lets the real politicians - nearly all Republicans - who let these disasters remain. And it's probably this disaster why it's no longer a Republican district, even though the county is heavily Republican.

Politics is everywhere. There are things that we could do. Take responsibility for this rather than saying it's Mexico's problem when it isn't.

-Crissa

 

[Cybertruckee]

Not exactly Salton Sea, but I recall the Dead Sea issue that is due to go completely dry in the next 5 years or so.

Meanwhile, Israel and Jordan that share it is on a mad scramble to extract valuable minerals while the tourist resorts can go get f'd with their beaches now miles into the water lines.

Solution is on the Israel side from the Sea of Galilee as it flows to the Dead Sea through the Jordan River -- yeah, where Jesus got baptized but I doubt if he can be listened to propose a compromise solution.

And I wonder where we could place the Salton Sea issue with West Coast's water shortage crisis.

But first, who to blame.

 

[Crissa]

Not exactly Salton Sea, but I recall the Dead Sea issue that is due to go completely dry in the next 5 years or so.

Meanwhile, Israel and Jordan that share it is on a mad scramble to extract valuable minerals while the tourist resorts can go get f'd with their beaches now miles into the water lines.

Solution is on the Israel side from the Sea of Galilee as it flows to the Dead Sea through the Jordan River -- yeah, where Jesus got baptized but I doubt if he can be listened to propose a compromise solution.

And I wonder where we could place the Salton Sea issue with West Coast's water shortage crisis.

They've been pumping into it desalinated water created by buying cheap oil to fire their electrical grid.

-Crissa

 

[SwampNut]

And I wonder where we could place the Salton Sea issue with West Coast's water shortage crisis.

I don't see how they are related. Unless you're suggesting that we could fill the Sea with "extra" water if there were any.

Blame? Pick your party of choice and blame the other one. That's how it has worked for a long time, and what we see happening right in this thread. Make sure it's always the other side, so that we get nothing at all done about it.

 

[Cybertruckee]

I don't see how they are related. Unless you're suggesting that we could fill the Sea with "extra" water if there were any.

First they are both in California.

2nd it could be a choice of reviving Salton Sea to have another of CA's tourist destination vs solving it's water crisis to address it's thirst and so Californians can maintain the beautiful, well trimmed green lawns.

If I live near Salton Sea and being annoyed by the constant salt dust, I'll tell the leaders and to the rest of California: Let's them drink beer!

And solve another of the nation's problem of division. People drinking beer don't whine and blame other people as much..

 

[SwampNut]

If I live near Salton Sea

Eh, the local character is yet another fun and long topic.

As to filling it, that's another weird rat's nest. It's HUGE, but not deep. So lots of evaporation compared to what it holds. It's down by a huge amount. It would take well over 100 million gallons just to raise the level a foot. It's complicated.

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