Originally Posted by
BixBees505 
Desertdawg....do they have to “do” anything about Salton? It isn't the first “dead sea”. What will happen if left alone?
The problem is that the Salton Sea is not a natural body of water. It was created by accident in the early 1900s when a dike on the Colorado River broke and flooded the Salton Sink (a low lying salt flat). It has no outlets and the only inlets are a couple of small rivers that are heavily polluted. I believe the inflows are just enough to counteract the evaporation and keep water in the Sea. It's a heavily polluted eyesore quite saltier than the ocean, and authorities don't know whether to try to clean it up (expensive) or cut off the inflows & let it evaporate or there was even an idea floated to connect it via pipelines to have an inflow and outflow to/from the Pacific Ocean, but I think that is pie-in-the-sky thinking. It is actually visually quite beautiful and scenic, but really unsuitable for swimming, boating, or fishing...I think some people still kayak in it, though.