Initial work begins on North Lake Salton Sea project

A long-envisioned project that would create a separate lake along the north shore of the Salton Sea, providing recreational opportunities and habitat for fish and birds, is slowly inching closer to reality.

Local and state officials gathered on Thursday to celebrate a key milestone on the North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project: the beginning of geophysical surveys to study the area’s soil, which will be used to make decisions on the project’s design. The project is still at least a year away from an official groundbreaking, but officials are keen to celebrate any progress on efforts at the Salton Sea, where the receding shoreline has left residents breathing in toxic dust for years while important bird and fish habitat also shrinks.

Plans for the North Lake project envision an approximately 156-acre lake with both shallow and deep-water habitat, revitalizing recreational opportunities at the lake and restoring habitat for fish and birds while also controlling dust. The project is planned for the northern shore of the Salton Sea in Riverside County, adjacent to the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club. While other restoration projects are underway along the south end of the sea in Imperial County, this would be the first major project alongside the Salton Sea’s northern shore in Riverside County.

“(The community) has participated in conversations about the Salton Sea, and for many of them, the motivation of not seeing an actual project within eye view has been very frustrating,” said Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, noting that the largest project on the sea to date is located along the southeastern portion. “That project is out of sight, and when something is out of sight — for many people — it’s out of sight, out of mind.”

The project is a joint project of Riverside County and the Salton Sea Authority in collaboration with the state’s Salton Sea Management Program.

The idea of a “perimeter lake” surrounding the north side of the Salton Sea to preserve shoreline and cover lakebeds that would otherwise be exposed and release dust into the air has been floated by local officials for years. In 2018, Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez launched a proposal that called for a 4,200-acre lake, roughly double the size of Big Bear Lake.

Coachella Valley Water District Vice President Cástulo Estrada said when officials looked into a larger perimeter lake project a few years ago, budget calculations showed the entire project would cost about a billion dollars. Instead, officials pivoted to the North Lake project as an initial demonstration project, with a price tag of $19.25 million covered by state funding through Proposition 68, a $4 billion state bond for parks and environmental projects voters approved in 2018 that allocated $200 million for Salton Sea projects. On Thursday, officials touted a giant check with “Salton Sea Investments Delivered” in the memo line at the press conference.

“What seemed to fit was starting up with a demonstration project that would help us understand what kind of water quality and water supply was available to us. And by answering those questions, we can potentially move on to more projects at the sea,” said Coachella Valley Water District Vice President Cástulo Estrada.

The lake project will require about 2,000 acre-feet of water per year. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, and a typical California household uses one-half to one acre-foot of water per year for indoor and outdoor use. Estrada said Thursday that potential sources of that water could include pumping water from the ground or using canal or drainage water. The eventual water quality of the lake will dictate whether or not it can be used for recreational opportunities like swimming.

“Ultimately, if we don't do anything about this, not only is it going to have a major impact economically for our region, which a lot of people think is already so, if the Salton Sea continues to recede as it has been year after year after year as a result of the Quantification Settlement Agreement, we’re going to see more dust in the air, an environment that we’re beginning to see already with a lack of fish and wildlife, you’re going to see more people getting sick,” said Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez.

The Quantification Settlement Agreement — known in the region as the “QSA” — took effect in 2003 and saw hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water per year transferred from the Imperial Irrigation District to the San Diego County Water Authority and other parties. The agreement decreased the amount of agricultural runoff into the Salton Sea.

“I want to plead with the state of California and with my colleagues, that although this is a milestone, let's complete the project,” said Perez.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Salton Sea North Lake project is officially underway