The Imperial Valley’s New River

The New River flows north to the Salton Sea delivering a potent cocktail of chemical pollution from industrial and agricultural runoff as well as illegal dumping. The end result is that tens of thousands if not millions of fish and birds are killed in and around the ancient "sea." It is undeniable that pollution enters the river and the river enters the lake.

The New River has been considered the most polluted river in the country. It originates in Mexican territory around the city of Mexicali carrying untreated industrial pollutants northward into the Imperial Valley in Southern California. The river then picks up the runoff from 500,000 acreas of agriculture grown in the valley. Every soil-absorbing chemical used in the production of crops end up in the New River.

In addition, illegal dumping along the river and urban runoff serve to further pollute the river until it reaches the Salton Sea that has no outlet or means to purify itself. The Salton Sea can be likened to the Dead Sea which also has no outlet and the New River is the River Jordan. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea except bacteria and fungi due to its high salinity. The Salton Sea's salinity is 25% greater than that of the ocean. This serves to limit what life the lake can sustain.

The Salton Sea was created by a man-made accident between the years 1905 and 1907. Back then, both the New river and Salton Sea were bone dry and had been that way for some time. And they would have stayed that way if it weren’t for the aspirations of certain entrepreneurs to bring water and thus agriculture to the Valley. In 1901, the yet untamed Colorado River water was diverted westward through an irrigation canal by way of a diversion gate.

Eager farmers came to the newly named Imperial Valley and started vast agricultural farms. The Southern Pacific Railroad laid lines down to bring the produce to market. But what was not known about the Colorado River was the immense amount of silt it carried downstream, and by 1904 the canal channel was damming up. That actual spot of the diversion of the Colorado was located four miles south of the border in Mexico. It happened in 1905 that the whole system failed as the silt completely blocked the river's forward motion sending the entire flow toward Mexicali. It started eating at the outskirts of Mexicali taking down structures and threatening the entire city. The Colorado was a torrent that year.

Incredibly two major and ancient river channels were now filled once again with Colorado River water and flowed northward towards the Salton Sink as it was known. The two rivers were the New River and the Alamo. For 18 months the full strength of the Colorado flowed through these rivers into the ever-growing Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea was formerly called Lake Cahuila by the indiginous peoples and witnessed as full by Spanish exploreres 500 years ago. But it had long since dried. In its day, it was fed by the Colorado River. But how can the Colorado River which normally flows south do a U-Turn and travel north? The answer is that the Salton Sea is 227 feet below sea level. During the flooding of 1905 - 1907, the Colorado River simply ran downward, or north, per the law of gravity. This still occurs today as New River is still the primary source of new water to the lake. The input equals the evaporation rate thus sustaining the level.

By 1907 when the flooding was stopped, the Salton Sea had grown from a dry lake bed to a "sea" of 376 square miles and over 50 feet deep, larger than Lake Tahoe.

In the 1950’s the lake was successfully stocked with fish and promotional brochures advertised sportfishing at the new Salton City. Residential communities such as Yacht Club Estates and North Beach sprang up.

But before long the Salton Sea was known for its horrid stench and for the killing of tens of thousands of birds to botulism. By the 1970's Salton City was a ghost town. And today, visitors are greeted by millions of dead talipia fish tapping at the shoreline. Their death caused by chemical reactions that suck oxygen out of the water, especially as the mercury rises.

Yet, despite the choking smell of rotting fish the Salton Sea has a good amount of permanent residents. The hopes of making this area a resort playground are a thing of the past though. In fact whether the sea will exist at all in the future is in question. Some say let it evaporate back to dust while others note its value as a wildlife refuge for endanged species of birds like the brown pelican.

Today, the Salton Sea attracts controversy but little else. It’s not a pleasant place to visit and most travelers go right on by at 80 miles per hour. For sale signs in front of houses advertise bargain prices. And my son Aaron vomited from the sight of millions of dead fish on the beach and their odor. And so is the future of this lake forced into existence by an accident of man.

Photograph 1 - Old Southern Pacific building remain empty at the railyard in El Centro. When the Colorado River flooded for two years at the turn of the century, it was the SP that plugged the breach.
Photograph 2 - The trains still run throughout the Imperial Valley bringing crops to market.
Photograph 3 - Canals bring Colorado River water for irrigation of crops in the Imperial Valley. The drainage runs to the Salton Sea.
Photograph 4 - Trash dumped along the New River between Calexico and El Centro.
Photograph 5 - A sign warns of the danger under foot and in the water.
Photograph 6 - The rotting carcass of a dead dog or coyote lies just feet from the New River.
Photograph 7 - The carcass is not removed but left to deteriorate into the soil and into the river.
Photograph 8 - Cattle is the Imperial Valley's biggest commercial crop. Here a farm spreads out along the New River with no barrier between. The river flows northward into the Salton Sea.
Photograph 9 - Dead talapia wash up against the unused boat ramp at the Salton Sea.
Photograph 10 - The skeletal remains of millions of tilapia.
Photograph 11 - Closeup of long dead, dried up tilapia. The stench is enough to drive away all tourist acitivity.
Photograph 12 - A dead gull. These can die from botulism outbreak but one of a number of hazards can kill a gull.
Photograph 11 - Rotting tilapia by the millions invade the shore of the Salton Sea.
Photograph 12 - Where there is water there is life. As long as there is water the birds will come. But whether this is for their better or worse is the question.