Researchers at UC-Riverside say desert winds are picking up dust from the widening beaches created as the Salton Sea shrinks, says public broadcaster KPBS in San Diego. The dust from the “playa,” as the former lake bed is called, is saltier and higher in some trace elements, although “it was not especially toxic compared to desert soils.”
The Salton Sea formed in 1905 when the Colorado River breached an irrigation structure and flooded the low-lying Salton Sink. It is sustained largely by agricultural runoff from the Imperial and Coachella valleys. Land around the sea also is predominantly used for agriculture. The inflow of “mitigation” water from the Imperial Irrigation District is to end this year, so the sea will continue to shrink, says KPBS.
Researcher from UC-Riverside looked at the chemical content of dust near the sea to find out if pesticide runoff from farms would make the dust more hazardous to people. The concentration of toxic elements was far below the thresholds set by the California EPA, except for nickel, which exceeded the state limit during three of the 25 sampling periods, said KPBS.