Published June 17, 2014
The Army Corps of Engineers is budgeting $200,000 next year for work relating to the Salton Sea, a step that local officials say may clear the way for more federal government involvement in projects aimed at protecting habitats and keeping dust down as the lake recedes.
Although the amount of proposed federal spending next year is relatively small, the inclusion of a Salton Sea study for the first time in the Corps of Engineers' work plan signals that the federal government is increasingly making the lake a priority, said Phil Rosentrater, deputy director of the Riverside County Economic Development Agency.
"They're working on restoration projects like the Everglades and Chesapeake Bay, so they have a lot of expertise in these areas that can be transferred to the Salton Sea and help us turn this whole thing around," Rosentrater said in a telephone interview Monday.
The Obama administration proposed $200,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers' study earlier this year in its fiscal 2015 budget request to Congress. That item awaits approval in the Senate.
The Salton Sea was created in its current form starting in 1905, when an irrigation channel off the Colorado River was breached and water flooded into the basin. The water kept flowing in until 1907, when engineers put a stop to it.
Since then, the lake has been sustained largely by plentiful runoff from Imperial Valley farms. But that runoff has been decreasing and is set to decline dramatically after 2017, when more water will be transferred to San Diego and cities in the Coachella Valley under the nation's largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer.
As the lake's level drops, officials have proposed restoration projects that involve building wetlands to provide habitat for fish and birds, and to prevent large amounts of hazardous dust from blowing from the increasingly exposed shorelines.
The proposed spending, Rosentrater said, fits with larger objectives laid out in the newly approved Water Resources Reform and Development Act that President Barack Obama signed last week. That law directs the Army Corps of Engineers to give priority to ecosystem restoration projects that also would provide benefits for public health — such as proposals that would reduce dust around the Salton Sea.
He and other local officials hope the Army Corps of Engineers' involvement could help open the door for future financial support from Washington.
"It is the key that unlocks the door for the rest of the funding," said Bruce Wilcox, environmental manager for Salton Sea projects for the Imperial Irrigation District.
He said the federal government's growing role also fits with other initiatives, including a plan promoted by IID to develop more geothermal energy plants around the Salton Sea.
In March, the Salton Sea Authority also approved $1.7 million for a study of potential options that would address environmental problems at the Salton Sea.