IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
State officials are being called on to restore funding to clean up the Salton Sea.
A coalition of private residents, elected officials and water officials spoke before the state water board Wednesday and implored its members take action before the lake turns into an environmental disaster, according to a report in The Press-Enterprise.
The state has a responsibility to select a restoration plan, then pay for it and implement it, Kevin Kelly, general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, told the board.
The Salton Sea borders Riverside and Imperial counties. Once a tourist destination, the 350-square-mile lake was created by flooding on the Colorado River but it is currently shrinking. Change in farm irrigation and reduced inflows caused by water recycling Mexico are responsible, the
report stated.
A 2003 agreement required the Imperial district to add water to the Salton Sea for 15 years while a restoration plan was worked out. When those additions end in two years, the lake will receive half the water it currently receives and its condition will worsen, the report stated.
