The Salton Sea (Niland, Salton City: real estate, homes, neighborhood)

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by classic art

"Geothermal vs the Dead Sea" The experts are claiming there is 150-270 GW of electrical energy, to be generated, by all the steam, in the area. That's a lot of $'s income and jobs created. What about giving-back, to the area, Salton Sea, that makes it possible ? Riverside Supervisor Benoit envisions "Travertine City", to be built 20 miles away from any other city, based on the economy created by geothermal energy. Of course this "must" be built in Riverside Co.(tax base). Perhaps Imperial Co. doesn't have enough electoral votes/clout, to prevent the resource stripping of fresh water, to San Diego and geothermal benefits. Islands like Kilomos of Greece and others are using geothermal steam, to desalinate saltwater. Why not Salton Sea ? It seems like a natural soulution, to a man made problem. Perhaps this steam could be used to force evaporate salt water, in isolation ponds, faster than sun alone. What if it was enough volume to cause "rain" ? Isn't rain the most efficient form, of desalination ? Perhaps this desalination also removes other harmful chemicals and minerals/ metals ? If Lockheed gets their graphene based, desalination process perfected, could be another good option. Without a reliable source of salt or fresh water, to replenish, the dead sea, truly will be, with consequences far worse than Owens lake. To be continued.

Quite true!

[TristramShandy]

There's a pretty good documentary about the place:

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2004) - IMDb

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by TristramShandy

There's a pretty good documentary about the place:

Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2004) - IMDb

Thanks for the link!

[classic art]

I suspect Plagues and Pleasures is about 6+ years old now ? I would have prefered it focused on Bombay Beach-less, and more about the positive in the past, and what could occur, to turn it around. It's great to have the wildlife preserve-but...what about the humans ? If the powers that be, continue to ignore the tremendous potential for paradise or disaster, all life, for many miles around, will suffer needlessly.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by classic art

I suspect Plagues and Pleasures is about 6+ years old now ? I would have prefered it focused on Bombay Beach-less, and more about the positive in the past, and what could occur, to turn it around. It's great to have the wildlife preserve-but...what about the humans ? If the powers that be, continue to ignore the tremendous potential for paradise or disaster, all life, for many miles around, will suffer needlessly.

The humans had their chance and blew it on this one.

[rednas]

My grandmother lived there for over a decade until she passed a few years ago. I would never want to live there but it definitely is an extremely interesting place with a unique history.

[Jayman1974]

For any vacationers traveling through the area or families wanting to try something a little different, here's another odd attraction located near the east shore of the Salton Sea.

Salvation Mountain - Official Website - Niland, California

If anyone is entertaining thoughts of taking their boat out for a spin on the salty lake, this tidbit of information might cause you to reconsider.

Toxic river Becomes Path To USA

Despite all the weirdness and nastiness of the region, it really is a fascinating place.

[aboveordinary]

It is indeed an interesting place. I've driven by it a few times. It amazes me that people actually live there. The smell of rotting fish and sulfur coupled with high temperatures in the summer make it unbearable to me. If those weren't bad enough for you, the Salton Sea is where the southern end of the San Andreas Fault starts!

[Des-Lab]

The Salton Sea is indeed a weird and fascinating place. It's been awhile since I've been there but despite it's nastiness, it holds a strange attraction bordering on the supernatural. Just something really sublime and mesmerizing about the whole region. I'm saddened that it's drying up and that we simply lack the political and social will to save it. There is so much lost potential out there for a mix of commercial and recreational development while still leaving much of the scenery intact. That that would involve reconnecting it to the Gulf, which is 120 or so miles to the south. I guess either via canal or better yet, blowing some of the Colorado River Delta Dam to smithereens. Of course that presents its own problems. Inasmuch as the Sea sits over 200 feel below sea level, I don't know how that would be done without suddenly quadrupling the size of the sea (not that I would mind; although everything from Calexico to Imperial to Mecca to Anza Park would suddenly go Atlantis on us). Keep in mind that the entire basin that the Salton sits in WAS once part of the Gulf till the Colorado River choked it off with silt and sediment carried down from the Grand Canyon. And even after that, the basin was submerged numerous times when it served as the terminus of the river. It's really a fascinating geological story. There are several hillsides in and around there where you can clearly see the water lines of where it was once both part of the ocean as well as a massive lake. It is in this context that the idea of "beachfront property in Arizona" isn't so farfetched; if the Imperial Valley was still submerged as it once was, La Quinta, Blythe, and Yuma would indeed all be beach towns.

It is strange indeed. To be standing anywhere out in that torrid desert and think "until just a few hundred years ago, this was part of the ocean".

Perhaps it's that incongruity that gives it part of its fascination.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by aboveordinary

It is indeed an interesting place. I've driven by it a few times. It amazes me that people actually live there. The smell of rotting fish and sulfur coupled with high temperatures in the summer make it unbearable to me. If those weren't bad enough for you, the Salton Sea is where the southern end of the San Andreas Fault starts!

All of which surely must lead to...affordability!