The Salton Sea – the first man-made eco-disaster …. The Salton Sea is a 500 square mile lake an hour south of Palm Springs. For 3 million years, this area was the delta of the Colorado River and formed the northern end of the Sea of Cortez. Eventually the delta extended far enough west that this valley was cut off – no water in – no flow out. For the last few thousand years the area has been alternately a dry desert basin or fresh water lake depending on rains.

Until 1900 when human ingenuity, hubris, and stupidity managed to screw things up on a monumental scale.

The idea was simple – send water from the Colorado into the dry lake for irrigation. Water + fertile land = crops + money + jobs + pursuit of happiness. What could go wrong?

Well, two years into the project the canals silted up and, in 1905, rain and snowmelt overwhelmed the headgates sending the whole volume of the Colorado River into the Salton Sink. This flooding continued on and off for thirty years until the Hoover Dam was completed in 1935 and got the Colorado under control. In the meantime the Salton Sea had been created. Today the inflow and evaporation are almost in balance and the sea is here to stay.

On a quick visit this week, we were amazed to find that the beach is entirely made of dried up and ground up sea creatures – barnacles and fish. I can imagine thousands of years of flooding and drying cycles leaving layer after layer of dried up crustacea. It looked like your plate after a million years of bouillabaisse dried out. Today the salinity and algal blooms contribute to regular waves of dead fish on the beach.

Along the eastern shore of the Salton Sea is Salvation Mountain – a massive sculpture about 50 yards wide by Leonard Knight made from local adobe clay and donated paint. One man’s Lord’s Prayer. This is an unbelievably unforgiving desert environment in which to spend 30 years on a work of art.

Everyone has their own Utopia.