Salton Sea Documentary - Exposing California's Dirty Secret

Salton Sea Documentary - Exposing California's Dirty Secret!!! Today we're pulling back the curtain and exposing one of California's dirty little secrets, the ecological nightmare at the Salton Sea. In this mini documentary we reveal exactly what California has done over the last 40 years to clean up what could soon be one of the worst environmental disasters in California history.

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[SightseeingSally]

Hey Sightseers! Here’s the final vid from our time at the Salton Sea. I know it’s out of sequence. I just really wanted to make sure I captured the essence of what’s going on here. Hope you find it as eye opening & interesting as I did. Thanks for watching, love ya ✌️

[hellocupcakeitsme]

So you've got several things wrong about this. It's not "man made" that's the "official statement" but it was a flooded bason and "reflooded" when the construction of the Hoover Damn took place. At its deepest point the sea is 250ft below sea level. The water only started drying up when LA had an emergency water shortage and Imperial Irrigation District sold the farmland run off. If the farmlands were asked to flow back into the sea the water would restore itself. Same with the New River coming out of Calexico/El Centro. The toxicity of the dust comes from the sulfur rich clay and mineral deposits found on the bottom of the sea. The fish bones and barnacles that you scooped with your foot is from the naturally occurring "die offs" of the Corvina and Tilapia when the sulfur vents open twice a year. That "polluted" water that you pointed out was not polluted it was "dead water" because it's cut off from the rest of the water. The pink hue the water in some areas takes on is Red Alge that develops naturally due to the salinity and other biological factors. As for the abandoned buildings and unfinished houses, yes most were due to funding drying up, and the lack of support by the county and state officials. 99% of the fire crew and ambulance drivers are volunteers and the small police force is locals and persons living in Brawley/El Centro.

The Hispanic population is mainly illegal and migrant workers. When IID and other development firms found Lithium deposits out there, that became a goldmine. Which is why development stopped in many places because IID bought all the land surrounding the water, and forcing long time residents and businesses to close.

Your topical research paints a very negative picture of what it's like to live and survive there. You never showed the new businesses right behind where your cameraman was standing. You didn't show the Red Earth Casino, the dollar tree, family dollar, AM/PM, Subway, or any of the other establishments. You called it a "dirty secret" which the only aspect of it that's "dirty" is the fact that there are hundreds of WWII planes that crashed into the sea never too be retrieved. That there is a fully loaded "Fat Boy" A-Bomb (minus the firing pin) on the bottom of that water, and a now defunct military base just 2 miles behind where you started the video. You neglected talking about the schools in that area, nor how it is a major agricultural hub that provides most of the produce for America in the form of grapes, dates, grapefruit, oranges, honey, Turf, and more.

You also neglected to mention the diverse native American tribes that populated that land and how you can find artifacts just above the salt ring that encompasses most of the Santa Rosa Mountians and the mountains along the San Andreas fault. Or the Geothermal Power Plants found in the North Shore.

What you did address was them wanting to establish new water coming into the sea from either San Diego or the Sea of Cortez in the form of an aqueduct (which based on the number of earthquakes in that area daily, not to mention the fact that it would cause hyper salinization to either of those ocean areas causing massive damage and aquatic death, but would cost billions to create when it would be easier to just irrigate back into it) no one really wants to refill the water because they can rape the untapped resources out there.

And yes many celebrities had homes out there and played they're. Groucho and Harpo Marx both had residents there and so did "Bozo the Clown". And the community events such as Howdy Neighbor Days, Treasure Trails, and the Easter and Christmas Parade all stopped about 1995 after the passing of Helen Burns.

But thanks for your exposé

[orionwarren]

The Salton Sea has always intrigued me. A rotting stinking poisonous remnant of a period in American history that while the best times ever, will never be repeated. We can hope they do something to at least contain the toxic dust but, don't hold your breath...no pun intended!

[VintageCarHistory]

As a child in the 1970's, we would go fishing there. Croakers were easy to catch. We'd catch fish and have beach-side fish fry. The water was warm and the people were friendly. To see the condition of it now, nearly 50 years later, is simply a shame.

[twilliams]

The Salton Sea was an accident back in the day! It was unsustainable!

[nofeartrek]

Back in the 70’s, I had a friend from work, who had immigrated from Hungary after WW2 (and had stories about his army days fighting WITH the Nazis and SS in Russia), would go fishing at Salton Sea almost every weekend. That is, the weekends he didn’t cross into Mexico to bet the horses at Agua Caliente Racetrack in TJ. He always returned from Salton Sea and had great fish stories at work on Monday.

[ericf]

The Salton Sea has been in a state of perennial crisis for at least 30 years. In the 70's it came up in the news from time to time about the dropping level, the fish die offs and of course the amount of pesticides and fertilizers dissolved in the mud and water. As a lake, as it stands right now, its doomed. There's too much stacked against it. It sits in two counties with differing agendas, the current 10 yr drought situation and it's toxic. To save it now by adding water would be seen as monumentally irresponsible and it would still have the pesticides and fertilizers. As one person put it, " It's the 800lb gorilla that nobody wants to tangle with".

[davedeiler]

This is what happens when you depend on the government to save you

[michelledailey]

I lived here for about 6 months around 2002, I was 15 years old. There wasn't anything to do other than eat at a Mexican restaurant and a burger place. There was one school K-12, graduating class had around 20 students. There were sports through the school so traveling became something we looked forward to. The school was small but nice with a new gym. It was dreadfully hot and the smell was quite bad at first but you get use to it. There is a small store with groceries but just about everyone went "into town" (Indio) which is about 30 minutes away. Indio is where you went for groceries, the movies, the mall for clothes etc. I made friends pretty fast, everyone is curious about the new kid. I didn't hate it because of some of the people that I met are really great people. The cheer coach and her husband the police officers house was a sanctuary and always full of after school snacks. There was a very small church and on occasions we would attend youth group but the group was usually our car load. People were on drugs (like any place) but I think it was so hot that they stayed inside and kept to themselves. After 6 months I was over it and went back home, I haven't been back since but I'm always curious if it's grown. After looking at this video I see it's pretty much the same, a few new buildings and a few new houses but looks the same as I remember.

[True_Knight]

One word- politicians. They'd rather spend money (& line their own pockets) on a bullet train to nowhere

[charausten]

Saw a recent documentary that suggested there is rare earth buried underneath and that the Salton Sea could become the lithium capitol of the world. So you'd think some wealthy investors would develop a mining company and eliminate China.

[stoneylonesome]

I didn’t know Marty was your husband for a while. First few episodes I saw I thought he was just a homeless guy tagging along!

[michaelwillis]

Look lady I get what your saying, I think we all would like to see that place restored but exactly what are you suggesting? Do we waste a bunch of water from the Colorado River that is also drying up and needed for drinking water? Do we stop agriculture so people go hungry? That would be an utter waste of resources. I feel bad for folks that live there but they are the ones that chose to live at a lake that was terminal.

[cindyrose]

Very well done! I’ve been there, toured the entire lake, absolutely devastating. I hope I live long enough to see it come back. 😔

[factsoverfeelings]

"The point of no return". Good, the Salton Sea should not even exist anyway.... It was literally an accident.

[cherylrouton]

What would you suggest? We already don’t have enough water in California, how should we fill it? Lots of judgement with no suggestions for a viable solution…there really isn’t one. It’s just nature and saving it goes against nature.

[NOBUxDrillz]

I've been there twice in my life as a child in the 90s. The 1st time I went there were kids in the water, boats in the water, pelicans, and all types of birds there. The second time I went there in the 90s it was going downhill. My father took us there to go fishing and the 2nd time there was dead fish all along the coast and the smell was putrid. I think it was a 2-3 year gap in the 2 times that I went there.

[tcboes]

It reminds me of the Aral Sea. I'm in my 50's and can still recall having to identify the Aral Sea on Geography Class maps. Try to find it on any map today. If you don't know what I'm talking about its because you're too young to actually learn anything useful in schools anymore. Buy an old set of Brittanica at an Estate Sale and spend a weekend being enlightened.

[mikemcclernon]

I just subbed after seeing this vlog because I was there with my rv @ the Recreation site on the east side.
Incredible to see the sea and to get turned onto your content. Thanks, say hi to Marty. It's fertilizers runoff as well. ✌️

[Psche]

This place deserves to be fixed. There are viable solutions with out even over engineering.
This is a travesty. A relatively small investment would not only divert terrible disaster; it would create a viable tourism spot…JOBS JOBS JOBS, housing!