Southern California government agency pays $200,000 for "stink monitoring" system

[Dan Druff]

Not sure if any of you have ever been to the Salton Sea (which is somewhat near Palm Springs), but it's a unique experience.

The Salton Sea is a large but mostly-unknown body of water in inland California, between Palm Springs and San Diego.

In the 1950s, it was considered a fun vacation spot. It had yacht clubs, a large fishing and boating community, and was busy year-round.

In subsequent years, water was diverted from the Salton Sea to support area farms. This increased its salinity, and killed off most of the fish. Runoff from fertilizer has also caused the algae and bacteria levels in the lake to rise. The result was a lot of dead fish and a really bad smell. Needless to say, the "resort" atmosphere quickly evaporated, and the exclusive communities that sprung up in the '50s were abandoned.

Here is what one of them looks like today:



If you want a real laugh, go to Mapquest or Google Maps and look up "Salton City". Zoom in, and you will see an extensive system of roads that make the town look populated and vibrant. Then switch to satellite view, and you'll see the real story. You'll be shocked.

The only fish that survive in the Salton Sea nowadays are Tilapia. There are many millions of Tilapia in the Salton Sea, but they also die at an alarming rate due to the algae sucking up all the oxygen. The result is this:



The above is not an unusual scene at the Salton Sea. It looks like this on a regular basis.

Anyway, on September 9, which was a particularly hot day in southern California, the stench from the Salton Sea was so bad that it drifted 150 miles to the famed San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. People panicked and called 911, and local officials had no idea where the smell was coming from. Once they realized it was the Salton Sea, they sprung into action and bought a "stink monitor" for the Salton Sea, which will let the area emergency organizations know whether the stench is coming from there or elsewhere.

http://shermanoaks.patch.com/article...uspatc00000001

Only in California.

You can't make this stuff up.

[mulva]

no wonder tilapia is an inexpensive fish at the market. i don't particularly care for it. much like catfish for the most part.

[PLOL]

Go watch, "Plagues and Pleasures on The Salton Sea". It's a pretty good documentary on the Salton Sea.

[NaturalBornHustler]

Go watch, "Plagues and Pleasures on The Salton Sea". It's a pretty good documentary on the Salton Sea.

Link?

[4Dragons]

Go watch, "Plagues and Pleasures on The Salton Sea". It's a pretty good documentary on the Salton Sea.

Link?

http://www.torrentreactor.net/torren...-2004-Xvid-AC3

EDIT: Stream links - http://www.1channel.ch/index.php?sea...arch_section=1

I didn't check it but give it a try.

I would like to make a documentary of how we turn the water in the Hoover Dam into vodka. Hekka bong showers.

[desertrunner]

12/4/23 Update on the Salton Sea-

This dying lake could be the site of California’s next ‘gold’ rush

[ftpjesus]

12/4/23 Update on the Salton Sea-

This dying lake could be the site of California’s next ‘gold’ rush

It will help but it nothing compared to the massive lithium deposits they believe are up in Northern NV. Literally Millions of tons of LI thats recoverable (without using child slave labor unlike Africa).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...%20on%20Earth.

[gauchojake]

I camped at the Salton Sea to see Haley's comet. It was pretty nasty back in the 80's - the "sand" was all of these little mollusk like shells. A few years ago I drove through the area heading to/back from Borrego and it was like something akin to The Hills Have Eyes although there was a large contingent of off-road enthusiasts. Building a lithium mine seems pretty apropos.

[Dan Druff]

I camped at the Salton Sea to see Haley's comet. It was pretty nasty back in the 80's - the "sand" was all of these little mollusk like shells. A few years ago I drove through the area heading to/back from Borrego and it was like something akin to The Hills Have Eyes although there was a large contingent of off-road enthusiasts. Building a lithium mine seems pretty apropos.

Believe it or not, I went on a "date" weekend there -- sort of.

In October 2009, I took my fairly new girlfriend (relationship had been going 2 months) to Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs. Then I got the idea of going to the Salton Sea, because I had never seen it before, and I heard it was unique. I didn't read up about it, and didn't know what to expect.

The Salton Sea is big and there's various entrances to it. We went to the side with the visitor center. Similar to what you mentioned, the "sand" was just fish scales. There were many millions of Tilapia floating dead in the water, and it smelled like it.

In one area, I sunk into the "sand" and some weird mud-like substance (but not mud) got all over my shoes, which took awhile to clean.

On the way back, we went by some of those areas which were meant to be built up, but instead were mostly empty, with lots of marked streets which were just dirt roads with no homes.

The weekend worked out because that girl was the one I'm still with today, and is Ben's mom.