Bombay Beach at The Salton Sea

This modern lake called the Salton Sea, was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905. Beginning in 1900, an irrigation canal was dug from the Colorado River to the old Alamo River channel to provide water to the Imperial Valley for farming. The headgates and canals sustained a buildup of silt, so a series of cuts were made in the bank of the Colorado River to further increase the water flow. Water from spring floods broke through a canal headgate, diverting a portion of the river flow into the Salton Basin for two years before repairs were completed. The water in the formerly dry lakebed created the modern lake, which is about 15 by 35 miles at its widest and longest. A 2023 report puts the surface area at 318 square miles. During the early 20th century, the lake would have dried up, except that farmers used generous amounts of Colorado River water for irrigation and let the excess flow into the lake. In 2018, local agencies declared an emergency and, along with the state, funded and developed the Salton Sea Management Program. In 2020, Palm Springs Life magazine summarized the ecological situation as "Salton Sea derives its fame as the biggest environmental disaster in California history". Today the salinity has rose so high that large fish kills have occurred, often blighting the beaches of the sea with their carcasses creating an awful smell and lots of fly's. It's sad when you drive around this area to see the ghost towns and devastation caused by this disaster of water use. Most of the information was obtained from Wikipedia, I recommend reading the information for yourself.

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On the brighter side the few who still call Bombay Beach home made the best of what is left and turned the once thriving beach into an interesting place to see some interesting things you won't see on any beach anywhere else. One of our easter egg finds this trip this was a fun trip and we learned just how important water conservation is and if it is abused what can happen. When you visit check out the one place to get a drink in the town, they are great people with a lot of pride. If they had abandoned the area, it would just be another sad story.

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