Salton Sea Case Study

History:
In 1905, a massive flood caused by the engineers of the California Development Company contributed to the formation of the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is located in the southern part of California, between the Mojave Desert and Sonoran desert. It is the biggest lake located in California, 35 miles long and 15 miles across.
Throughout the decades researchers have discovered that lakes have formed and dissipated years later in the Salton Sea location. They came up with the idea to bring water to the desert, in order to sustain the large amounts of people settling from the gold rush. The California Development Company’s plan was to connect the Colorado River to the base where these past lakes have once flowed. Everything went as planned, water became available in one of the driest areas in California. However, the only thing the engineers did not foresee was the large amounts of salt that the Colorado River carried. The pipes that connected the Colorado River to the Salton Sea exploded due to large amounts of salt clogging the holes of the pipes. This resulted in water rushing into the foundation of the lake. For two years, the full force of the Colorado River poured into the current Salton Sea.
Overview of the Problem: On March 10, 2011
The desert is a place with high temperatures, which causes water to evaporate faster than water being put back into the foundation. The dissipated water results in large amounts of extra salt in the lake. If this continues to go on, the water in the lake will be useless. The entire ecosystem that surrounds that lake will not stand a chance. If the lake dries up, we will then be faced with figuring out how to minimize the effects of bad air quality. Beneath the lake lays waste that has been covered over by the water. Once dried up winds can create clouds of toxic dust to appear in southern