The Salton Sea, created just over a century ago, “is now in danger of shrinking by half,” says the Los Angeles Times. At 370 square miles it is the largest lake in California. “Mandated water transfers to metropolitan areas along the coast and other factors will expose large swaths of lake bed and drastically increase salt levels in the lake — changes that will kill fish, interrupt bird migration, cause dust clouds and affect local tourism,” says the newspaper. Its story has an animated depiction of the projected loss in coming years.
Ornithologist Gregor Yanega says up to 35 percent of the large fish-eating birds in the West will die with the contraction of the Salton Sea and consequent die-off of its tilapia due to rising salinity levels, said the Santa Barbara (Calif) Sun. Experts discussed the shrinkage of the Salton Sea at a conference on Monday at UC-Riverside. One of them said there is no consensus on what to do to prevent it.