Heavy machinery is used to create the West Pond, a habitat pond, at the Species Conservation Habitat Project at the south end of the Salton Sea, Calif., Sept. 13, 2024.
Salton Sea, California – Water is finally flowing into one of California’s most ambitious environmental projects: the first expansion pond of a wetland complex at the southern edge of the Salton Sea. It’s a moment years in the making—and one state and local leaders hope signals real momentum after decades of promises and delays.
On May 22, officials from tribal, state, federal, and nonprofit organizations gathered to watch as water poured into a cracked, sunbaked basin in Imperial County. The event marked the filling of the East Pond Expansion—part of the Species Conservation Habitat Project, a centerpiece of California’s plan to reduce dust pollution and restore vanishing wildlife habitat around the shrinking lake.
Once complete, authorities expect the project to cover over 9,000 acres, or about 14 square miles, with engineered wetlands. That’s more than 7,500 football fields’ worth of shallow ponds, berms, and manmade islands to create new habitat and keep dust out of nearby communities.
“This is a moment to celebrate,” said JB Hamby, vice chair of the Imperial Irrigation District. “The East Pond Expansion represents real, tangible progress at the Salton Sea.”
The milestone follows the flooding of the original East Pond in early April. Together, these first two areas—roughly 2,000 acres—make up the opening phase of a project that was initially proposed to be much smaller. Groups once envisioned the project as a 4,100-acre, $200 million effort, but with an infusion of $245 million in federal funding secured over the past three years, the project has more than doubled in scope.
But this moment is less about celebration than it is about catching up. The Salton Sea has been shrinking for two decades, a side effect of water transfers from the Imperial Valley to urban areas like San Diego. As the lake recedes, toxic dust from the exposed lakebed is kicked up by desert winds, worsening already poor air quality in the Imperial Valley—a region with some of California’s highest asthma and respiratory illness rates.
For years, the state has fallen behind on its own goals. A 2017 plan called for 30,000 acres of habitat and dust suppression projects by 2028, but progress has been slow. The filling of these first ponds marks the most visible advance yet.
“We are proud to celebrate this pivotal milestone,” said Silvia Paz, executive director of Alianza Coachella Valley. “This progress, paired with the investment from the 2024 climate bond, gives the Salton Sea Management Program the resources to deliver lasting change.”
Whether that change will come quickly enough remains an open question. For now, water is finally hitting the ground—just a small beginning in a massive environmental undertaking.
