Dear CalMatters reader,

Over the past few decades the Salton Sea has gone from a saltwater playground to a polluted slough. It’s nearly twice as salty as the ocean and contaminated by agricultural runoff, but is still a biodiversity hotspot to more than 400 bird species. 

To reverse the sea's deterioration and preserve its ecological value, California formed a new Salton Sea Conservancy with nearly half a billion dollars to revive the deteriorating water body.  

“The Salton Sea is one of the most pressing environmental health crises in the state of California,” said state Sen. Steve Padilla, who authored the bill to create the conservancy last year. “It’s a public health and ecological disaster ... The Salton Sea Conservancy will provide permanency in our investments for cleanup and restoration.”

A mix of federal and state money, including the recent California climate bond, will jump-start efforts to plant native vegetation and build networks of ponds, creating shelter for birds and suppressing toxic dust that sickens nearby residents. 

The conservancy will convene a governing board of 15 members to manage land and water rights and oversee restoration work spelled out in the Salton Sea Management Plan, a 10-year blueprint for building 30,000 acres of aquatic habitat and water features.

At the south end of the sea, the state’s Species Conservation Habitat project has added nearly 5,000 acres of ponds, basins and other water features. Images of the site look like a sci-fi waterworld, where earth-moving equipment reshapes the shoreline into a network of 10-foot-deep pools. 

By mixing water from the Salton Sea with freshwater, workers can maintain salinity levels to support fish and attract seabirds. Covering exposed soil with water should also improve air quality by suppressing dust.

An expansion to that project would add 14,900 acres of aquatic habitat for fish-eating birds, with “nesting and loafing islands” and ponds. The management plan also includes planting native vegetation around the shoreline or encouraging plants that are already there. 

Bombay Beach is an artisan hamlet on the east side of the Salton Sea and the site of a restoration project spearheaded by Audubon California, which will add 564 acres of wetland. It will create shoreline berms to enable water to pool naturally, forming shallow ponds that draw waterfowl and shorebirds, said Camila Bautista, Salton Sea and Desert Program Manager with Audubon California.

“The message of this project is to make this as self-sustaining as we can, and to work with nature-based solutions to make it not super engineered,” Bautista said.

Read the story here. 

In more news from the Salton Sea area, an energy company planning a massive lithium mining operation faces a setback after environmental groups appealed a court decision to OK the project, the Desert Sun reported.

It’s been stop-and-go for Controlled Thermal Resources, the parent company to Hell’s Kitchen, expected to be one of the world’s largest lithium mines. A year ago two nonprofits, Comite Civico del Valle and Earthworks, sued the company, arguing that the environmental review for the project didn’t fully address its impact on water supply and air quality, and that the company didn’t consult with local Native American tribes.

Then in January an Imperial County judge dismissed the suit, clearing the way for construction to begin on Hell’s Kitchen.  Last week the nonprofits appealed, saying they won’t give up their fight for the environmental protections they’re seeking. 

Lithium is in high demand worldwide and is essential to electric car batteries, cellphones and other electronics. Hell’s Kitchen and other energy projects aim to extract it from hot, high-pressure brine found in underground reservoirs near the Salton Sea.

The VA Loma Linda Healthcare System has reported Legionella bacteria at several spots within the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, the Press-Enterprise reported. 

In an email last week the hospital Chief of Staff Dr. V. Franklin Sechriest II said Legionella was found during routine water testing. He ordered healthcare testing for any patients showing symptoms of pneumonia.

Legionnaires’ disease, a severe and sometimes fatal form of pneumonia, spreads through microscopic drops of water vapor. The bacteria thrive in freshwater, and can appear in indoor water systems such as hot tubs and air conditioners. The hospital found bacteria in five sinks, a shower, a backflow and two water cooling towers.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened; in 2018, two VA Loma Linda doctors and six nurses filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging officials covered up a Legionella bacteria outbreak for months. 

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Thanks for reading,