SAVING THE SALTON SEA EP 1 JAN 2021

[Music] hello this is roy dorantes and i'm in the bombay beach salton sea area and as you can see you see a lot of white sand here a lot of white area why is that why do we have miles and miles of white beach wide area which should be sand but in some cases it is only the remains the bones of millions of fish now the residents of this area and of imperial county and of the whole southwest are concerned about the salton sea what is going on here so we are launching a television show on a monthly basis that is going to focus on what is going on at the salton sea it is going to tell the life stories of residents here in imperial valley who are concerned or affected by the consultancy issues and we're going to focus on what is being done or what is not being done at the salton sea we should be concerned about it because there is uh the sediments as it dries up the anytime a body of water dries up what's on the bottom becomes like airborne can cause illnesses what degree what kind of illnesses you know like i said it's for the medical people to figure out well other than what i heard that it's drying out and then whatever is left on the dirt it's gonna come um this way and it's gonna be a lot of pollution i don't i really don't know all i know is that it said it's bad and i feel like going out there to go check it out but i'm afraid that the air will be um that i might get sick by going there just to go look um well yeah that's not good um i think i'm more sad about it um i'm up here now because this place has a special place in my heart and um i would like to find a little piece of land in here and i know the stuff that you're talking about because i've heard about it and like i said because it's special to my heart so i've kind of been watching the whole progress from when this first started and when the whole thing started um evolving into the ghost town i guess better i don't have any better words to explain that but when it first started and stuff and all the fish were dying and stuff the smell was really bad and now that it's gone through all that and everything's dead you know you don't have that smell there is a little bit of a smell here but nothing like it used to be and i understand that the air quality is is going to it's like really bad it is very serious especially for the patients who have lung issues asthma copd any kind of lung issues just because the salton sea is drying the pesticides or any other kind contaminants right it is going into the air and that very same air we all are breathing here in the valley and those uh pesticides in drier are carcinogenic there's some concerns um i hear that when it's windy you know all that um sand that's right there already dry it comes this way and um especially for the people that has asthma it's they get kind of sick and i remember like 30 40 years ago my parents used to take us there and i found some uh maybe a couple of pictures and i was like wow that boat is still there and on the side of the consultancy so um well i know it costs us a lot a lot of money but um it would be nice if we could have some recreation area that we can take our grandkids or go for a day a picnic so hopefully something can be done uh i know the basic stuff that you know it's been contaminated for several years due to the agricultural drainage the pesticides and all of that and i do have a concern that you know as it is review you know although the playa is revealed those contaminants can go into the air and they can affect people's uh breathing we met with lisolmedo executive director for comtessi di co del valle to ask him about some of the things people should be concerned with regarding the salt and sea first and foremost is the public health this is a public health crisis the public needs to be aware they need to be informed the solution is going to come much later the crisis is here and now and the public has to be engaged in protecting their health being aware and being involved now luis a lot of people understand that we have issues with consultancy that we have air pollution that possibly is exacerbated by the playa being exposed and the water levels you know diminishing at the salton sea but should people really be concerned absolutely you know this area this entire region look it's not just imperial but it's the entire air basin coachella imperial valley mexicali the air levels here already failed to meet federal standards time and time and persistently the the contributions from the sea are massive and enormous and people need to be concerned we already have high levels of of asthma prevalence you know we already have a lot of underlying conditions uh social determinants of health yes the salton sea has to be a focal point has to be a priority i know we're dealing with a pandemic right now at this very moment of coba 19 but look we've been dealing with endemics historically and all of those are just multiplying and and just layer after layer of cumulative impacts that people need to be aware you don't have to be an expert you have to be aware you have to be able to take proactive measures to protect your health but also be part of the vision because they could just put you know anything out there uh you know it could be a a solution of of nothing or it could be a solution that benefits our community and that's gonna come from the public pressure it's gonna come from the public engagement and it's gonna come from the vision of the community so that we can make it a sustainable a long-term fix not a short-term fix as we've experienced now luis i understand that some work has started at this at the end at the south end of the salton sea some of us would like to understand more of what that work means uh yeah you know we did definitely need to celebrate the fact that they just did a groundbreaking on the sch project which is a species conservation habitat this is the state of california department of water resources the natural resources agency you know this is part of those commitments that they made are we behind yes but this administration has doubled down on their efforts and commitments and are following through we have a lot of uh carryover from inaction on the past but things are moving but it doesn't help in terms of the timeline you know that we've blown every deadline but we got to celebrate that they finally kicked off and it's off the ground and they're gonna you know it's probably still gonna take a couple years to get this built there's still opportunities to engage and inform it you know do you just want you know uh habitat for wildlife do you want to park do you want a job i mean there's just so much to be involved that could benefit our community now finally luis uh you know sometimes as the average citizen or the average resident in the area you know people don't uh understand what it is that we can do or what it is that we should do from where we are standing what do you recommend the average person to be able to do or to actually do look you know i i mean i recognize that at an organization like committee because this is what we do this is our job i you know it's not just me or the board it's our entire team it's our partners we're working hard to try to inform and elevate the voice of the heart of reach the voice of the environmental justice of the disadvantaged communities people have priorities they got to put food on the table we live in an economically depressed area we get it but but we need your involvement we need your input we need your support because when we write a letter we need the support of the community we need to make sure that letter reflects the priorities and and the desires of the community you know so you know they can sign on to like saltoncoe.org which is a website that we manage in collaboration with the state they can sign on to the natural resources agency i mean you can look them up very easily and keep track of you know keep up with the song c authority keep up with the imperial irrigation district there's a lot of agencies but look locally just you know you can reach out to committee civico you know will connect you to where the the information is being shared the the relevant real information but also uh you know the the progress that is happening at the salton sea [Music] i'm at the southwest end of the salton sea right behind me and around me are the ruins of what was once a thriving military base what is the importance of this area in relation to environmental concerns for the answer i asked imperial irrigation district director alex cardenas to help us understand not just this area but other areas in this region and how they affect our community and what is being done in those areas to mitigate the dust that might affect the whole area so we're at a very unique place along the salton sea as some of you know the salton sea is the largest lake by far in the state of california it covers 322 miles square miles along the imperial county and riverside county region and this particular area is extremely unique we're on the southwest side of the sea and it has incredible significance number one there was a tremendous amount of historical influence from a military standpoint this was a thriving community in the 1920s 30s and 40s from a military standpoint but in addition the ecological factors also play a significant role when it comes to the pacific flyway being on the southwest portion of the sea this is a major area of habitat especially when it comes to birds and even fish but as you can see from some of the footage those days are long gone [Music] so as we break ground um on significant capital projects on the sea this soon will be an area for habitat projects there are areas of the sea that are creating more health concerns especially on the southeast side of the sea but this area is also in the queue which makes it unique is the depth of the water and the water traditionally is a lot deeper on the south end of southwest side and um and so there are projects that are in the queue and we're looking at this particular region however the the military influence also is significant so we do have to work with multiple partners especially when it comes to landowners the two major landowners out here is the iid and the bureau of land management so again these projects are important but we have to work with multiple stakeholders to make sure that these projects get across the finish line [Music] these are some very exciting times actually along the sea because we have broken ground on very significant projects one in particular is the species conservation habitat project this is almost a 4 000 acre project with a price tag of about 200 million dollars and this project is long overdue it's actually being financed through the state on iid property and this project is significant for two reasons one is providing habitat bringing back that habitat that we had back in the day the other part is that it's mitigating some of the dust emission issues that we have and that is along the southeast side of the sea actually a little bit north of uh westmoreland so um or in the westmoreland area it specifically involves the new river and um and that project is breaking ground so we anticipate that by 2023 that that project is going to be fully functional again from an ecological standpoint it's going to be significant but most important it's going to mitigate some of the health issues along the sea and we have put shovels in the ground already that project is going to get across the finish line so super exciting the good thing about that project aside from the restoration of the habitat is that the financial burden on that project really is on the state so the economic impact to local residents is is very minimal and it's actually going to create a lot of jobs it's going to improve the area and also contribute to improving the health along the sea [Music] [Applause] [Music] um obviously they're looking at all kinds of different concepts right now but this is an area that needs to be taken into consideration for two reasons one it's an area introducing the pacific flyway habitat to the um the situation regarding the dust so you have marching dunes here to the west that are marching towards the east you also have some exposed playa here a significant amount of exposed playa that's also contributing to some of the health hazards here in the sea so there's uh all kinds of different concepts that people are looking at but this is a ground zero location in terms of uh contributing factors to the health challenges that we have in the region [Music] executive director luis olmedo walks at the red hill bay marina along one of the many boat ramps which at one time saw a lot of recreational activity but now the water has receded far away from it and continues to do so alarmingly old metal points to a barren area south of red hill it is a dusty bowl measuring 530 acres it is the red hill shallow water habitat restoration project the plan was to pump and mix salt and sea water with alamo river water bringing the salinity down to acceptable levels by filling the dusty bowl with three feet of water it would suppress the harmful dust and create a habitat for wildlife there is infrastructure already in place to make this happen and there has been a large investment of money energy and time already spent on it these pumps sitting here cost about half a million dollars for now they're just sitting here and nothing is happening nothing apparently has happened for the past four years when the project started old meadow is unhappy about the situation and would like to see this habitat become a reality he's concerned how the blowing clouds of dust affect the surrounding communities it was a windy day when we met with olmedo at the red hill you can tell by how it affected the audio we apologize for that olmedo wants to know whose responsibility it is that the project seems to be stalled and it seems like there's consensus or transparency whether it's is it our id is it department of uh he says that if not for the recent rain there would be clouds of dust blowing everywhere right now and that's a big health problem he's concerned about contaminated water coming from south of the border to be used in the area but he says one of the best ways to contain the harmful dust is by putting water over it he says the money is there the equipment is there the infrastructure is there so why is nothing happening the projected cause of the habitat is about 10 million dollars so until those issues are resolved the dust continues to blow and for now there is no habitat there's just dust we will continue following this story for updates and more information please visit our facebook page saving the salton sea [Music] joe frank lives in redlands but he's in love with the salton sea his family owns a large property on the southwest area two miles long by one mile wide just a couple of miles south of salton city and he's upset that apparently little to nothing is being done to restore the sea to the economic majesty it once commanded in the region well the salton sea is as most residents know has been a agricultural runoff basically as some for their fertilizer pesticides other carcinogenic chemicals for years for years and years some of those chemicals have raised the salinity so high that a lot of the fish have died off as you can see in certain times of the year that line the shoreline the small corvinas and and perches and things they have got to stop doing this for several reasons not just for the health of the fish but for the health of the people the environment around it and to make this sea [Music] alive again i guess i want to say alive i mean at one time it had a fish a great fishing industry they had they had boats large boats that went out took people out from bombay beach and that wasn't that long ago when you think back 60 the 60s 40 years ago and there's no reason that the the government can't do it and they they certainly have to do it for the health of the people here the children here the agriculture here roy and i drove through the agriculture part of it today and it's amazing the beautiful crops that are that are growing here and i have heard that the uh the crop industry here is feeds about a third to two-thirds of the whole united states california is is one of the best growing places and imperial valley has some of the best land to grow in what you're looking at here uh it's pretty barren a lot of these bushes i'm not familiar with the names of them but the alkaline from the sea has come up and not a lot of things will grow here it's so viable and it's so it so important to southern california not just imperial county but to all of southern cal california because it has it has so many possibilities to to come back to that thriving uh metropolis that it that it could be when you think how much parts of southern calif california have grown out the housing this could be a wonderful spot for more housing but for some reason it's kind of forgotten land and i'm not real happy about that and i've i have put my own voice into it but i i can't say that i've really gotten anywhere or that anybody's listened other than the people on facebook i think the people in imperial county need to rise up and demand that the sea is saved and restored and made a recreational industry i mean it could be an industry could be fishing and if that means uh cooperating with mexico and digging a canal from the gulf which i think is the best idea has been proposed over the years i understand it would be pretty much flow on its own and it's only about 60 miles which would be nothing for today's technology so i'm hoping that in the near future uh that that's what would happen with the sea because if you look around it's it's the desert with the with a big body of water in it is it's mesmerizing i would like to see it restored to a recreational use some houses of course agriculture and industrial uh to make the impera imperial county boom uh i may not see it in my lifetime but i i truly believe that it will happen someday the sea used to be so so big and that's probably why they called it a sea instead of a lake but it went past highway 86 into those rocks up there which you can still see water line this picture is my great great grandfather horace monroe frank and horace is the one that had the wagon trains that hauled freight ammunition and gold from the san pedro docks in california to yuma arizona tombstone edinboro to the smelter there so he and he came through the salton sea he his trail was through the north end of the salton sea where he never really that i know of went through the sink i'm sure he probably did and found that it was it was too soft or something but he continued on east southeast direction went up through the chocolate mountains found some springs uh and cut off several hours for a wagon train uh getting to yuma if you can just imagine those pioneers out here in the middle of summer at 115 degrees or so and the the struggle that they just had to go through to get a mile and when we and when we think about it we jump in our cars and we go 90 miles 100 miles and takes us a few hours i'd like to mention that this gentleman horus was also a citrus farmer and built a an adobe house for his family in the redlands area which is now a historical place with the with the state and it needs it needs a it needs support quite a bit of work and we're trying to get that done through donations but he was a he was a quintessential wagon master trailblazer scout whatever you want to call him please join us next month as we bring you more updates on what's going on at the salton sea and for weekly updates please visit our facebook page saving the salton sea [Music] you

Channel: RD MEDIA

Views: 8,010

Rating: 4.7934275 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 2XLmbqnns1Q

Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021