CIVIL EATS - As drought dries up the shallow sea, near a half-million farmable acres in the Imperial Valley, farmworkers living nearby are exposed to toxic dust and airborne pollution from algae blooms. Asthma, allergies, and other health impacts are rising at alarming rates.
There are no EPA regulatory air quality monitors in the region, but agencies, tribes, and local community groups have monitors sprinkled throughout the region. Of the 2022 data available, “last year was exceptionally dusty,” says William Porter, a U.C. Riverside environmental scientist.
At the same meeting, Tim Lyons, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Riverside, laid out the elevated levels of selenium, molybdenum, and nutrients—and what he sees as the biggest hurdle. “This is not just a money problem,” he said. Rather, he expressed frustration at the lack of coordination across so many state agencies. He likened the Salton Sea discussions to a monster with 20 heads. “Half of those heads are eating each other and the other half aren’t talking to each other.”