The Power of Water: The promise and perils of California’s Salton Sea

the world is facing an unprecedented Water Crisis one in four worldwide do not have access to clean water and it's the power of water that's at the center of our reporting across the network tonight we bring you the first in a series of Prime Focus pieces honing in on just that water it is the largest Inland Lake in California it's also the most polluted but the Salton Sea is shrinking and presenting a dilemma for those who live there What Lies Beneath the water has put this largely immigrant community at risk but it also has the potential to transform how America gets a critical resource needed to help usher in a clean energy future Maria Villarreal has the story in tonight's Prime Focus [Music] thank you [Music] what was it about this area that made you want to come here [Music] Los Angeles is this was the American dream for Nancy del Castillo and her family A Home of her own warm sunny days and a massive Lake nearby that dream quickly turned into a nightmare [Music] what did it look like when you first got here is when you first moved here it's been nine years since Nancy and her family moved into this small modest Community minutes from the Salton Sea not knowing its history and the danger along its receding Shoreline and lurking beneath the water what happened is this place was an accident [Music] Salton Sea formed in the early 1900s when an irrigation canal off the Colorado River burst water rushed into the Salton Basin and created an oasis in the desert within a couple of years it became a playground attracting some of America's wealthiest vacationers to its beachy Inland Shores as a member of the North Shore Beach Yacht Club you will have this 300 000 Clubhouse and this beautiful 400 boat marina at your disposal but the area has gone from a Resort destination to this a ticking environmental Time Bomb back in the 50s this was the vacation Hot Spot hundreds of thousands of people would come out every year including some of Hollywood's Elites this though was a marina where hundreds of boats would come in and out today there is barely any water here and the Salton Sea is more than a football field away from me in the last 25 years the Salton Sea has become California's most polluted Inland Lake and has lost a third of its water in just the last decade it shrunk by 38 square miles from California tonight a radical approach to conservation the decline a direct result of a 2003 water transfer deal that several Southern California water boards signed that agreed to essentially cut off the water supply to the Salton Sea to send more water to San Diego and growing strains on the Colorado River brought on by climate change and political battles still being waged today the Interior Department has laid out three possible options for addressing record low water levels along the Colorado River including potentially docking a serious amount of water from the state of California the Region's water allocation now largely going to Farms the runoff sustaining the lake but also filling its underbelly with fertilizer and other toxic pesticides which are now being exposed the dust then spreads into surrounding communities which are mostly low-income migrant families at high risk for asthma and other serious health issues a wall of dust headed for the Coachella Valley Thursday its ominous approach captured by weather watchers from the Salton Sea to Palm Springs when there's wind storms it just picks up the dust and it brings it into people's homes and so children are breathing this in the homes that they're living in they're breathing it in their schools they're bringing breathing it in community centers toxic dust Dr Ann Cheney is a medical Anthropologist for the University of California Riverside and works alongside Conchita posar who is a community advocate problemasado or inclusive deportation what the community was telling us is our health matters too and the sea is affecting our health and one way we know that is we see it in our children Josh and Angel have asthma's our ABC affiliate kesq has been documenting the Salton Sea project sometimes um starts hurting when I start breathing the water used to come all the way over there cheray farzan a researcher for USC has been collecting samples from the air particles at elementary schools around the Salton Sea since 2017. we see that the rate of asthma in this specific area is 22 in our study and the U.S as a whole is around eight to nine percent a 10-year cleanup program is underway to improve the Basin and try to clean the air extreme weather in California over the past month but California's record Rainier Statewide barely touching the drought starve communities that dot the shores of the Salton Sea and now a new boom in business thrusting the struggling Community back into the spotlight lithium dubbed the Saudi Arabia of lithium this land is likely one of the world's largest lithium deposits a critical mineral in electric vehicle battery production we see this as one of the greatest economic opportunities of our lifetime lithium will be grabbed from the vast reserves deep below the Earth's surface and will be produced alongside the clean geothermal steam power plants that already exist in this region you inject water under the Earth and bring it out hot it's like a natural water heater of sorts and the byproduct is extremely valuable correct it is a state report estimates there's enough lithium here to produce 600 000 tons per year that would be the most in the world and could generate more than seven billion dollars a year locals are now demanding they reap the benefits of the white gold rush on their land every single geothermal right now is on public lands so technically the benefits should be coming to the community absolutely Luis olmedo has lived in the Imperial Valley all his life he's the executive director of civico Del Valle a group founded on the principle that informed people build Healthy Communities this is an impoverished low-income disadvantaged predominantly Latino Community we want these opportunities we want the good jobs we want the union jobs so just because we're enthusiastic doesn't mean that we're going to look away from all the potential environmental harm Governor Newsom has signed legislation that will allow Imperial County to tax every metric ton of lithium produced we're talking about Partnerships we're talking about real inclusion we're talking about economic opportunities but the promise of a better future won't change the current reality all of this used to be underwater is the one element that can maintain all this dust from being airborne and impacting our health the hope of more water coming is slowly dwindling the California natural resource board has provided hay bales that are supposed to suppress the dust storms in this area it is a Windbreak it can help leave you a little bit it's not going to be a hundred percent the drying seed now revealing an unintended windfall with lithium extraction but at what cost to those that called this place home basically a sacrifice on at this point quite a dilemma there are thanks to Maria for that our coverage on the power of water will continue all week long here on Prime hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 117,902

Keywords: abc, california, exposed, hazards, inland, lake, live, mine, news, of, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-98651722, power, prime, salton, sea, the, toxins, water

Id: SoTsjj13MyU

Length: 10min 6sec (606 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 18 2023