I had been working hard lately. Can't beleive that 3 weeks straight was finally over. Its 5:45 Am as I pull up to the window. "I'll have a a Western bacon cheeseburger combo" I says to the speaker. "Son, wake up, what do you want to eat"?
As we drive down the highway, eating a burger, the question comes out, "How long until we get there Dad"? "About 3 hours", I reply. "Sun will be up in about 15 minutes, you gonna go back to sleep?", I ask. "I dunno" he replies. We sit there, eating Carl's, listening to Tom Petty. He tells me about the things going on at school. Asks me about my thoughts.
As the sun peeks the chocolate mountains we are headed down the 86/78. The sun reflects on the Salton Sea. "Dad, how did this lake form again", he asks. I explain about human error, canal walls giving. He always asks about the Salton Sea.
Halfway down, he asks, "Whats that smell?". Dead fish I reply. "How did they die?" Another discussion...
"How come they worry about closing Glamis when this lake is so bad"? "Why don't people fix this lake? How come they don't care about all the fishes, birds, and other animals dying?" he asks. I don't know how to tell him, so I says, "I dunno". "Maybe when you grow up you can become a scientists and work out here". "That would be cool he says. I could ride my quad to work"!!!
Yep, guess he could.
"Dad, why do they wanna close Glamis again?"
"there is some plant that people feel is gonna die out" I says. "But, I am not sure if its true"
"that is so dumb, they wanna close Glamis cause of a Plant, but, this place is full of dead things". "Yep", I says.
"So maybe when I have kids Glamis will be closed?", he asks.
"Possibly", I say.
"That is stupid. They wanna close sand dunes, where not much lives, and they dont care about all these animals in the lake. I mean, I haven't seen dead animals in Glamis, have you Dad?".
"No, i haven't", I says. "Thats just stupid", he says.
"They're called Enviro's son, they're called Enviro's"

I learned a lot through the simple perspectives of an 11 year old child. Long Live Mother G, and all her blessed rides she has given to me and my family.

Aint dat something big had? When we jump into da eyes of a child, we can learn quite a bit...You been puttin up some slapptacious pieces, and this one is no different...McScrappbook bound...

I like that BigHad, but the enviros are going to reply something like this:

The Salton Sea isn't POLLUTED. It actually has some of the best fishing. Sturgeon grow in there I think. But, because of agricultural water run off, it gets loaded with nutrients. It also gets a lot of nutrients from storm run off. I mean nutrients as in phosphates and nitrates, nitrites and stuff. That causes what is known as an algae bloom. You can literally sit there and watch the entire lake turn green in just a few minutes. Right then you'll see all the fish gasping for air at the surface. What's happening is the all those nutrients in the water is what Algae feed off of, the hot weather helps out the algae, but the algae blooms really fast. The Algae also uses oxygen, so it takes the oxygen out of the water, that's why the fish are breathing at the surface. The algae then dies off and creates a horrible odor. That's what you smell. Sometimes they are small blooms.

But, recently there has been some bird die off and Talapia die off. But they aren't sure what it is, maybe Avian Botulism in the birds. But it is true, all the chemicals that come from the farm run off is what is the biggest problem with the lake. Adds a lot of salt. The lake is at 44ppm, the ocean is at 35ppm of salt.

Its Nasty anyway you put it!

great story big-had

The Salton Sea has a very interesting history... http://www.iid.com/aboutiid/env-salton.html

quote:

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Periodically, the river overflowed its natural levees and filled the valley between the mountain ranges to form a vast lake, Lake Cahuilla (about 30 feet above sea level). Traces of Lake Cahuilla, named after the ancient tribe of Indians who inhabited the shoreline, can still be seen along the mountains to the west of the northerly end of the sea and in the sand dunes toward Glamis.

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I've always liked this picture and how it shows that the entire valley is really the Colorado River Delta...
A subject well worth looking up!

Vor