This is the largest body of water in California. It is about 25 kilometers wide by 55 kilometers
long. You can't even see the other end of this lake. And it is home to the most diverse number
of birds anywhere in the continental US besides Big Bend in Texas. And here is the thing. This body of water is here by accident. Let me explain. Back in about the 1900s there were engineers
working on irrigating the fields of the American southwest. They were using the water from the Colorado
River, but they were also trying to prevent it from flooding, from flooding all this farmland. Now in 1905 they got it a little bit wrong
and also the Colorado River flooded its banks and used the channels they were building,
basically, to flood this whole plain. Now this plain is actually about 70 meters,
over 200 feet, below sea level. We are at one of the lowest points in North
America. So the water flooded in here, the entire volume
of the Colorado River flooded into this plain for about two years before they were able
to stop the flooding. And what you are left with is the lake that
you can see today. The low-lying area where the Salton Sea now
is was formed due to tectonic activity. We are very close to the San Andreas Fault. And that also means there is magma very close
to the surface here. Sometimes that heat boils up through mud volcanoes
like these. And we are actually taking advantage of this
heat using seven geothermal plants, which together generate enough electricity for over
100,000 homes. Now initially people thought that this lake
was just going to dry out. This is one of the hottest, driest parts of
the country. But it didn't. The water didn't go away. And so then people got the idea that they
would take advantage of this little accident and try to dress this whole place up like
a new Riviera. >> Here is truly a miracle in the desert,
a whole new outlet for the crowded millions in big cities, a Palm Springs with water. Here is where you can find the good life in
the sun. Today the Salton Riviera... >> And for a time it worked. In the 50s and 60s they started building towns
here and resorts and celebrities came to this place and people would enjoy the water. They actually added fish to this lake. And the fishing was so good you could throw
in a hook and pull out a fish without even putting any bait on it. Of course, there was lots of bird life and
people really enjoyed themselves. It looked as though everything was going great. Until, well, the lake started to turn a little
bit. You see, the only real inflows of water to
this lake are from agricultural runoff and they bring salt into the lake and there is
no outflow for this lake, because it is so low. It is already one of the lowest points in
North America. It is below sea level. So all that happens is the water then evaporates,
leaving the salt behind and the salinity of this water increases. It is now about 50 grams per liter, which
is quite a bit more than seawater. And that makes it hard for the fish to survive. So there are massive fish die-offs, which
create quite a smell. It is a bit stinky over here. And algal blooms have also occurred making
the water this ugly brown color. I wouldn't really want to go swimming in there. And the resorts have all closed up. There is only a few people left here. You know, when you drive around here you find
those old resort areas, places where people thought, you know, it was going to be the
next Riviera. And now they are deserted, ghost towns. And there is boats abandoned up on the shore. It is a kind of depressing place, which is
strange, given the kind of natural beauty. Some people might think that letting this
lake evaporate is the right thing to do, it is the natural thing to do. It returns it to its state from before we
accidentally flooded it back in 1905. But if you look back a bit further you find
that there really did used to be a lake here, a lake which came and went, but for the last
several thousand years the lake was here more often than it was not. And it was filled up to a higher level. This whole story makes me thing two things. First, as humans we have incredible power
to drastically shape the earth. We can cause entire seas to disappear and
we can create seas. And the other thing is that in the absence
of effort, in the absence of our caring, things tend towards disorder. Things naturally fall apart. And I feel like if we don't do anything here,
the natural result is going to be messy and ugly. I mean, if you just look around at what has
happened to the towns that have been abandoned and the homes, which are crumbling, it looks
like a disaster area. It looks as bad as Chernobyl, but there was
no nuclear accident here. There is just a lack of caring. And I think this applies to more than just
this sea. You know? We have this kind of duty to recognize what
we do matters and if we don't care, if we don't put in the effort, it is not going to
turn out very well. I think that is the lesson of the Salton Sea.
