A ghost town in the making: How the Salton Sea - California's ‘miracle in the desert’ - went from bustling resort to a stinking 'public health disaster' where the remaining residents choke on toxic dust

• The Salton Sea, California's largest lake, was created by accident in 1905 and was transformed into a vacation hotspot by developers who built up the shoreline with resorts, hotels, yacht clubs and more
• By the 1950s and 60s thousands flocked to relax at the Salton Sea, including celebrities like Frank Sinatra, but during the 70s tourism declined and the resort towns around the lake were left in disrepair
• The lake had a series of problems: there was no way for it to drain, runoff water contaminated with pesticides from nearby farms flowed into and salt levels increased making it saltier than the Pacific Ocean
• Plus, it is shrinking - the retreating shoreline has left about 20,000 acres of dry lakebed exposed – which is a growing surface that spews toxic dust into communities that's causing health problems
• One in five children in Imperial County suffer from asthma and have lung related illnesses compared with a national average of 1 in 12, according to the latest government data
• Dr. Tim Krantz, the recognized authority on the geography of the Salton Sea, said it is a ‘public health disaster’ in the making and that millions could be affected by the toxic dust when heavy winds blow
• Last week, voters in California approved a bond measure that will provide $200million in funding to help control the dust in the area by building wetlands, but many residents don't think that's enough

With sandy beaches and warm water year-round, Salton Sea in California was the perfect family getaway of the 1950s and 60s. It attracted Hollywood’s elite - Rock Hudson water-skied there, Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lewis visited their friend Guy Lombardo’s yacht which was moored there. The Beach Boys were members of the North Shore yacht club, Sonny Bono was a visitor and President Dwight Eisenhower golfed there.

Business was booming - hotels, motels, casinos and yacht clubs popped up along the lake’s 116-mile shoreline helping to create enclaves including Bombay Beach and Salton City. Residents and developers quickly reaped the benefits of the influx.

Back then it was called the ‘miracle in the desert’. Today, it is described as an ‘ecological nightmare and disaster’ - a ghost town in the making.

The Salton Sea was accidentally created when in 1905 the Colorado River swelled, breached its levees and flooded into the Salton Sink desert valley. For two years the water flowed, creating the Salton Sea – a 15-mile by 35-mile freshwater lake 45miles outside of Palm Springs. By the 1970s it was in decline due to there being almost no rainfall, no way for the lake to drain and runoff water contaminated with pesticides from nearby farms flowed into it. Salt levels increased making it saltier than the Pacific Ocean, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Thousands of fish died annually and washed onto the shore where they shriveled up and decayed in the extreme heat.

Where holidaymakers once sunbathed, the sand is littered with sun-bleached fish carcasses. On hot summer days when the temperature can reach up to 120F (48.8C), a pungent sulphur odor hangs in the air that can be smelled 150 miles away in Los Angeles. In short, the Salton Sea smells of rotten eggs.

The once-bustling hotels are derelict, broken wooden frames of buildings stand in some spots as other structures are badly decaying with graffiti spray painted over the boarded-up windows and doors.

But it isn’t just the smell and the ecological impact that people are concerned about. The most pressing issue for residents near the Salton Sea is the continued threat of toxic dust that sweeps up from the dry lakebed containing harmful pesticides, heavy metals and powdery-fine particles that are linked to asthma, respiratory diseases and even cancer.  

Stunning drone footage shows the shrinking Salton Sea

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Located in southern California about 150 miles from Los Angeles, the Salton Sea is the state's largest lake, but it's an ecological nightmare. For decades the lake has been shrinking, resulting in record-high salinity levels, fish die-offs, and fewer migrating birds. But even worse than the ecological issues is the toxic dust that is predicted to become an 'air quality disaster'.  Pictured above is an aerial view of the lake showing how the water has significantly evaporated from it's shoreline

One in five children in Imperial County suffer from asthma and have lung related illnesses compared with a national average of 1 in 12, according to the latest government data. Dr. Tim Krantz, the recognized authority on the geography of the Salton Sea, said it is a ‘public health disaster’ in the making. 

Krantz, who served as the Salton Sea Database Program Director, said: ‘Our real concern changed from the ecology and the loss of that which is important, but our real focus became what’s going to happen to these toxic dry lakebed sediments once they are exposed to the desert winds?

‘It will be an air quality disaster unparalleled in the world. Millions of people as far south as Mexi-Cali will be affected by this.’

But the area – though a near ghost town, is home to a band of vocal residents who are determined to effect change. 

Last week voters in California approved a bond measure that will provide $200million in funding to help control the alkaline toxic dust by building wetlands on the dry lakebed. But some residents don't think that's enough, since even those efforts won't cover the entire playa.

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Over the past few decades, millions of fish have died in the lake caused partly when oxygen levels drop in the water during heatwaves.  Severely decayed fish can be found scattered around the shoreline of the Salton Sea, baking even more in the sun until their bones deteriorate completely. Pictured above left is a fish rotting at the former Bombay Beach pier and right are dead fish on the ground at Desert Shores

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The Salton Sea is known as the 'accidental lake' because it was created by accident. At the beginning of the 19th century, government officials and land developers discovered that the fine-grained fertile soil in the area and hot climate would produce bountiful farmland if water could be irrigated to the region from the Colorado River. Pictured above is an aerial view that shows vacant plots of land in Desert Shores community

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Irrigation canals were quickly built and water began flowing in from the Colorado River. Thousands began relocating to the area to work as farmers while developers reaped the benefits of utilizing 100,000 acres of land. But extreme rains in 1905 caused the Colorado River to flood and break through the irrigation canals filling the Salton Sink for the next 18 months. It would later be called the Salton Sea by officials. Pictured above is the exposed lakebed drying out near Niland as farmland can be seen nearby

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The above graphics show the exposed playa from 2003 to what it is expected to resemble in 2047 - which would make the lake significantly smaller than it once was due to the receding rapidly receding shoreline

‘The miracle in the desert’: How an accidentally flooded desert valley became a tourist destination, then an ecological wasteland

The sea occupies what was once known as the Salton Sink – an ancient dry lakebed. At the beginning of the 19th century, government officials and land developers discovered that the fine-grained fertile soil in the area and hot climate would produce bountiful farmland if water could be irrigated to the region from the Colorado River.

Irrigation canals were quickly built and water began flowing in. Thousands relocated to the area to work as farmers while developers reaped the benefits of utilizing 100,000 acres of land.

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The Salton Sea is located in Southern California about 150 miles from Los Angeles and 45 miles outside of Palm Springs

But extreme rains in 1905 caused the Colorado River to flood and break through the irrigation canals filling the Salton Sink for the next 18 months. It was stopped after the Southern Pacific Railroad intervened by dumping tons of debris into the water to divert its flow.

The Colorado River went back to its natural flow path of flowing into the Sea of Cortez, but what was left behind was a massive lake that covered nearly a thousand square miles of land. Just south of Palm Springs and north of the Mexican border. Officials called it the Salton Sea.

Thanks to the increasing popularity of nearby Palm Springs as a desert resort town, developers tried making the Salton Sea area the new ‘it’ place to be. Resorts were built along the lake’s shoreline in newly created towns including Salton City and Bombay Beach offering a plethora of water related activities. 

Officials introduced fish to the lake to create an opportunity for fishing and by the late 1950s the Salton Sea had become the most productive fishery in the state and had established itself as a tourism destination.

As developers and officials poured money into building up the desert oasis cities, few resources were used to actually manage and maintain what was called the ‘accidental lake’. 

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Eventually, developers and officials saw an opportunity to bring tourism to the area so they began building fancy properties and yacht clubs around the Salton Sea. Business was booming along the lake’s 116-mile shoreline helping to create enclaves like Bombay Beach and Salton City. Pictured above is a post card showing people enjoying the lake and shoreline in the 1950s

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Residents and developers quickly reaped the benefits of the influx. Back then it was called the ‘miracle in the desert’ as the area became a popular tourism destination. So much so, it beat out Yosemite as the top place for families to vacation. Pictured above is a deteriorating sign advertising the former Bombay Beach Resort near the Salton Sea

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During the 1950s and 60s, celebrities flocked to the area to kick back and relax with some fun in the sun for vacations. Hollywood A-listers from Frank Sinatra, who is pictured above right with comedian Jerry Lewis, to actor Rock Hudson, who is on the left all came to hang out at the Salton Sea

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Hudson, who was known for his turns as a leading man in films, could frequently be found hanging out at the Salton Sea with fellow actor George Nadar. The pair enjoyed a plethora of water related activities at California's biggest lake, including water skiing (pictured above).

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With business booming along the shore of the Salton Sea during that time period, it didn't seem like the area would slow down. However, little resources were used to actually manage and maintain what as called the 'accidental lake' since developers and officials poured money into building up the desert oasis cities. Pictured above is a postcard showing people enjoying the Salton Sea in the 1950s

There is no outflow for the Salton Sea and during the late 1970s, heavy rain from a series of tropical storms caused the level in sea to increase and flood its banks. Surrounding towns were instantly flooded and the businesses along the shore were severely damaged. Tourism quickly faded away, and so did the residents who called it home.

But it went from one extreme to another because by the 1980s and 90s, the lake, which is less than 60 feet at its deepest point, started to recede rapidly and it became clear that the area was in bad shape.

HISTORY OF THE SALTON SEA

California's largest lake, the Salton Sea, was created by accident in 1905 and was transformed into a vacation location by developers who built up the shoreline with resorts, hotels, yacht clubs and more.

By the 1950s, thousands flocked to vacation there, including celebrities like Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys. At one point, it was the most visited destination in the state - beating out Yosemite National Park. 

But the area fell into disrepair in the 70s and 80s due to a series of problems - there was no way for it to drain, runoff water contaminated with pesticides from nearby farms flowed into and salt levels increased making it saltier than the Pacific Ocean.

In addition, the Salton Sea is shrinking: the retreating shoreline has left about 20,000 acres of dry lakebed exposed. The growing surface now spews toxic dust into communities that's causing serious health problems. 

Last week, voters in California approved a bond measure that will provide $200million in funding to help control the dust in the area by building wetlands, but many residents don't think that's enough. The water would have eventually evaporated because the region’s mean annual evaporation is 70.8 inches while its mean annual precipitation is only about 2.3 inches. But the runoff from the Imperial Valley’s large farm areas offset the usual evaporation rate. However, what once kept the Salton Sea viable actually contained high quantities of salt, fertilizer and pesticides and the water grew more saline by the year, becoming twice as salty as the ocean. Fish started to drown, the algae blooms starving the water of oxygen. The decomposing bodies of the fish fed more algae, which re-started the cycle again.

In 1996, roughly 20 per cent of the Western population of white pelicans died at the Salton Sea. About 150,000 eared grebes had died that same year, with the remaining population ‘so disoriented that they stood still while gulls tore into their flesh and began eating them on the spot,’ according to Robert H. Boyle who reported for the Smithsonian.

During the summer of 1999, more than 8million tilapia died in a single day, leaving them to wash along the shore in a band that was about three miles wide and 10 miles long. A variety of species no longer exist in the lake – only tilapia and the desert puff fish, which is an endangered species, remain, according to Krantz.

‘There are some indications that the tilapia is already hitting their salt limits and not producing anymore. So the fish that we have there are all older fish and probably in the next several years, they’re going to hit their own salt limits and we will have a massive die off of tens of millions of tilapias,’ he said. ‘And with that will go all of the ecological support for the migratory fish-eating birds – the white pelicans, the eared grebes and other birds that depend on them. It’s going to get real crazy.’

To make matters worse, a complex agreement which shares water from the Colorado River came to an end on January 1, 2018, leading to an expected further decrease in water flowing into the Sea and speeding up the evaporation rate even faster, Krantz added.

But in addition to the environmental disaster currently underway, Krantz says the problems are going to get worse.

‘Millions of will be affected by the toxic dust when strong winds blow, especially if they already suffer from asthma,’ Krantz stated. ‘This is a public health disaster if nothing is done to fix it. ‘ 

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There is no outflow for the Salton Sea and during the late 1970s, heavy rain from a series of tropical storms caused the level in sea to increase and flood its banks. Bombay Beach, Salton City and other surrounding towns were instantly flooded and the businesses along the shore were severely damaged. Tourism quickly faded away, and so did the residents who called it home. Pictured above is an aerial view that shows the receding shore of the Salton Sea in the Desert Shores area of the community 

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Bombay Beach, Salton City and other surrounding towns were instantly flooded and the businesses along the shore were severely damaged. The area around the lake quickly fell into decline. By the 1980s and 90s, the Salton Sea, which is less than 60 feet at its deepest point, started to recede rapidly and soon enough it became clear that the area was not in good shape. There was no way for the lake to drain and runoff water contaminated with pesticides from nearby farms flowed into it for years. Pictured above is a deteriorated seat from a car along a dried up coastline of the lake near the town of Bombay Beach

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Plus, the salinity increased in the Salton Sea over the years to the point where it is nearly twice as saltier than the oceans. Because of these factors, the seawater grew more saline by the year. Fish started to drown since the algae blooms starved the water of oxygen. The decomposing bodies of the fish fed more algae, which re-started the cycle again. Pictured above are fish bones scattered along a beach at the Salton Sea

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During the summer of 1999, more than 8million tilapia died in a single day, leaving them to wash along the shore in a band that was about three miles wide and 10 miles long. Different species of fish have died and no longer exist in the lake because of the increasing salt levels in the water combined with farm runoff. Pictured above is what's left of a pier at the dried up coastline at Bombay Beach

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Dr. Tim Krantz is the recognized authority on the geography of the Salton Sea. He told DailyMail.com: 'Our real concern changed from the ecology and the loss of that which is important, but our focus became what's going to happen to these toxic dry lake bed sediments once they are exposed to the desert winds?'. Pictured above is what's left of a pier at Bombay Beach

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Krantz says the problems are going to get worse. He said: ‘Millions of will be affected by the toxic dust when strong winds blow, especially if they already suffer from asthma. This is a public health disaster if nothing is done to fix it.' Pictured above is a deteriorated crane sitting along the dried up coastline at Bombay Beach, as Salton Sea can be seen in the distance

‘If nothing happens, it’s going to be a disaster’: In an area where one in five children has asthma, communities continue to rally to save their neighborhoods

The threat of health problems is all too real in the communities dotted around the Salton Sea’s 116-mile shoreline.

Over the past 15 years, the surface of the Salton Sea has declined 7.6 feet and the retreating shoreline has left about 20,000 acres of dry lakebed exposed – which is a growing surface that threatens to spew more toxic dust into communities. The dust has already started affecting the health of people living near the lake, which is split between Imperial and Riverside counties. Imperial County has the highest rate of asthma-related emergency room visits for children in California.

In Imperial County, one in five children suffer from asthma and respiratory illnesses compared with a state average of one in eight and a nationwide average of one in 12 according to the latest date from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the local schools.

For many residents, the option of packing up and moving to another city is not on the table. One in four people in Imperial County live in poverty.

Imperial County is also one of the state’s poorest. According to census data from 2016, 23 percent of the county’s 180,000 residents live in poverty with the per capita income at $16,311. With the housing demand in California increasing, middle and lower-income families are being forced to move to more urban areas in the state. 

It was a hot afternoon when DailyMail.com visited with residents gathered at a lakefront home in Desert Shores for a community rally. Even though there’s a myriad of problems plaguing the area, their spirit is strong.

Seaview Elementary School teacher Heidi Pelonski was one of the two dozen people gathered for the event. The longtime resident grew up on a nearby citrus farm, moved away for college and began her teaching career out of state before returning back to the lakeside community she’s always loved. 

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DailyMail.com visited with community members, Jeni Bate (left) and Dale Johnson (right) who were gathered at a lakefront home in the Desert Shores neighborhood. Besides the ecological nightmare the Salton Sea has become, Johnson said the main issue is dust control. ‘If nothing happens, it’s going to be a disaster. It’s going to be a toxic waste and it’s going to go everywhere,' he said

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Several plans have been proposed by officials over the years, but none of them have seemed to take shape and truly help the lake until now. In March 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration released a 10-year $410-million plan that calls for building ponds and wetlands on sections of the exposed playa. However, the projects will only cover up less than half of the more than 60,000 acres of lakebed that will be left dry over the next decade. Pictured above is a newly painted sign near Bombay Beach

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Water focused think tank The Pacific Institute estimated in a 2014 report that without significant steps to fix the Salton Sea, the costs over the next 30 years could range from $29billion to $70billion including higher health care costs for illnesses and lower property values. Pictured above is an aerial view showing vacant plots of land in Desert Shores

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Furthermore, The Pacific Institute estimated that the cost of unchecked dust blown in the wind on public health problems like asthma, lung cancer and cardiac disease could reach as high as $37billion by 2047. Pictured above is a sign advertising land that's for sale in the Salton Sea beach area

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The think tank warned that the exposed lakebed could be releasing as much as 100 tons of dust into the air per day within 30 years. The costly issues the Salton Sea is not the first time the state has faced such an expensive health hazard. Pictured above are the few waterfront houses that remain in the Desert Shores community near Salton Sea. Water used to reach the docks, but they are now left exposed due to how quickly the water has evaporated from the lake

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With the increasing cost of living in California, it's difficult for residents who live in the small communities around the Salton Sea in Imperial County to pack up and move. One in four people in Imperial County live in poverty. Pictured above are dozens of homes and trailers at what's remaining of the Bombay Beach neighborhood

Pelonski told DailyMail.com about how her students are being affected: ‘I’ve known known them since they were kindergartners so I’ve watched some of them develop difficulties with asthma. I know that there is a notable difference in the kids who come here from elsewhere and the kids who have been living here and their struggles with respirations.

‘There is this one ailment that’s an incessant coughing that is somewhat recurrent in my students. And they miss a lot of school for that. That one particularly is iconic of this area especially in the ratios that I’ve seen it.’

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Community leader and activist Kerry Morrison (above) has been a leader in the efforts calling attention to the issues with the Salton Sea

Pelonski, who teaches kindergarten, first and second graders and previously taught at schools in Nevada, Oregon and other parts of California, noted that she’s ‘never seen this volume of those respiratory related effects.’

‘So I’m looking at the health quality for the children who live here and what can be done to stabilize it,’ she stated. ‘I’m very concerned about my students who can’t afford to move anywhere else, that’s why they’re here. Just the way the cost of living is going in California, (this area is) an affordable place for them so they are here. I hate to see them suffer just because they are trying to get by.’

Sandra Ramirez - a stay-at-home mom of four children aged 15, 13, 11 and nine whose 13-year-old has asthma - is one of the many who moved to the area nearly 20 years ago because of the low cost of living. The mother-of-four, who passed out flyers about the Coachella Valley Farmer’s Group during the event, told to DailyMail.com: ‘When I came from Mexico 20 years ago, you could put your feet inside of the Salton Sea. But now it’s not okay.’

Among the residents is retiree Dale Johnson, 67, who moved to the area 13 years ago to help support his wife’s ailing mother. Sporting a sleeveless white shirt, blue jeans and dark sunglasses, he took residence of a lawn chair in his neighbor’s yard as the community gathering got underway and reminisced about the Salton Sea of yesteryear.  

He said: ‘It was beautiful here, there was a lot of habitat and all of these canals were filled up, boats were out there 13 years ago when we first got here. 

'I could take my canoe and go out if I wanted to. But over the years the water has just dropped and dropped. The birds aren’t coming here anymore, the fish have gone down and there’s not a lot of food in that water.’ 

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Morrison, who is the mayor of the West Shores community around the Salton Sea, believes that the area has been ignored by state officials for far too long and something must be done now to save it. Pictured above is his former waterfront home in Desert Shores 

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Many of the abandoned buildings and homes in the empty communities around Salton Sea have become covered in graffiti. Pictured above is an empty building with 'smells like fish' painted in purple below a face of an owl in Salton Sea Beach area 

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Besides buildings being left behind, so were dozens of campers and trailers that have also been covered in graffiti, like the one pictured above at Salton Sea Beach. The abandoned properties create what many call a ghost town atmosphere for the area  

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Wrecked cars from the 1950s and 60s can be found scattered in a lot at what's called the Bombay Beach Drive-in. Unclear if it still operates, but the area has now become a favorite site for those who tour the area since it is has high levels of aesthetically pleasing levels of urban decay

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A small community of those who remain in the Niland area, which is known to some as East Jesus, have transformed their properties into unique outdoor spaces. Pictured above is a man named Caribe who is pointing at something outside of his home that is full of a variety of signs  

Besides the ecological nightmare the Salton Sea has become, Johnson said the main issue is dust control.

‘If nothing happens, it’s going to be a disaster. It’s going to be a toxic waste and it’s going to go everywhere. 

'All of Palm Springs, Los Angeles and more will be affected from the dust because of the wind,’ he said. 

‘And they’re going to have to spend billions of dollars. I can’t even fathom how much they’d have to spend.’

Like Johnson, Jeni Bates moved here 14 years ago from the UK and she shares the same feelings as Johnson.

‘I understand in the Imperial Valley, this is now one of the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country,' she noted. 

'So a lot more childhood asthma and a lot more people getting sick with breathing problems. Eventually, it could get so bad that everyone will have to move.’

Bates is right about the toxic levels of dust in the air. The southeastern corner of the state has some of the worst air pollution in the United States due to the dirt from farmland and open desert mixes with the windblown clouds of the toxic dust that rises from the receding shores of the lake.

For years, residents have been calling for state officials to do something about the problems plaguing the communities around the Salton Sea.  

‘I think over the last 14 years there have been a lot of people thinking about it, studying it and thinking about it, but nothing has happened so far,’ Bates said.

‘It’s taken the grass root people to actually get something like this mitigation really done. The government has been thinking about it, and spent a lot of money on thinking about it. But not a lot has been done.’ 

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The few residents who do remain in the East Jesus area of Niland have transformed their desert properties to resemble an outdoor art exhibit using props that used to belong on the shoreline. Pictured above is a sign warning there's no lifeguard on duty propped up against a Firestone tire that's been painted white

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The property above was once a restaurant and club with a swimming pool that was likely booming with business in the 1950s and 60s before falling into disrepair with other businesses. It's now owned by the Imperial Irrigation District in Desert Shores and has been abandoned for years. It's set to be demolished sometime this year 

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Many abandoned and decrepit buildings are visible in many of the communities surrounding the Salton Sea. Pictured above is what used to be a swimming pool that is now filled with junk and the walls are covered in graffiti  

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Residents like Johnson and Bates fear the worst if nothing further is done by the state and government to control the toxic dust. The southeastern corner of the state has some of the worst air pollution in the United States due to the dirt from farmland and open desert mixes with the windblown clouds of the toxic dust that rises from the receding shores of the lake. Pictured above is an abandoned motel located near the North Shore of the Salton Sea

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For years, residents have been calling for state officials to do something about the problems plaguing the communities around the Salton Sea. ‘I think over the last 14 years there have been a lot of people thinking about it, studying it and thinking about it, but nothing has happened so far,’ Bates stated. Pictured above is the abandoned motel at North Shore

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Over the past 15 years, the surface of the Salton Sea has declined 7.6 feet and the retreating shorelines have left about 20,000 acres of dry lakebed exposed – which is a growing surface that threatens to spew more toxic dust into the air. Pictured above is a deserted railway covered with dirt near the Salton Sea State Recreation Area 

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Scenes of dead fish in murky looking water like the one pictured above near Niland can often be found in various areas of the shallow water areas of the lake. Residents like Johnson say they used to fish in the Salton Sea years ago, but won't do it now because they are fearful 

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Fish bones dried out from the blazing desert sun can be found littered along the shoreline of the Salton Sea in different communities. Pictured above are carcasses on the ground near the Desert Shores community of the area

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 An abandoned and dilapidated boat is seen near a receded shoreline in Salton Sea Beach. This is one of many discarded items that can be found throughout the area that was once the hotspot destination for families and Hollywood stars

After being ‘ignored’ for years, California’s 10-year plan brings hope to residents – but is it too late to save the Salton Sea?

Several plans have been proposed by officials over the years, but none of them have seemed to take shape and truly help the lake until now.

In March 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration released a 10-year $410-million plan that calls for building ponds and wetlands on sections of the exposed playa. However, the projects will only cover up less than half of the 60,000-plus acres of lakebed that will be left dry over the next decade.

Water focused think tank The Pacific Institute estimated in a 2014 report that without significant steps to fix the Salton Sea, the costs over the next 30 years could range from $29billion to $70billion including higher health care costs for illnesses and lower property values.

Furthermore, The Pacific Institute estimated that the cost of unchecked dust blown in the wind on public health problems like asthma, lung cancer and cardiac disease could reach as high as $37billion by 2047.

They warned that the exposed lakebed could be releasing as much as 100 tons of dust into the air per day within 30 years. The costly issues the Salton Sea is not the first time the state has faced such an expensive health hazard.   

In the 1920s water was diverted from Owens Lake in the Sierra Nevada to supply Los Angeles. But eventually the dry lakebed became a huge source of air pollution causing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to spend $1.8billion to control the dust in Owens Valley.  

‘I’ve seen what happened at Owens Lake, I’ve seen the giant dust gales that happen and all of that soot just becomes airborne and is carried on for miles and miles into other communities,’ Pelonski said.

‘And it’s going to be 10 times the size here, especially with the winds that we get here. So I’m very concerned about my students who can’t afford to move anywhere else, that’s why they’re here.’

Like others, she is scared for the outcome if the 10-year plan fails and nothing is done to help the area.

She said: ‘It’s been ignored and ignored and ignored and ignored and ignored, I think that it’s going to go the way of the Owens Lake and I don’t think that there’s any culpability about it. But if it goes the way of the Owens Lake, it’s an anti-humanitarian.’

Some hope for the future was provided for residents last week when voters in the state passed Proposition 68 approving $200million as part of $4billion to benefit various environmental, conservation and parks projects around the state. 

The bond measure for Salton Sea will provide funding to build thousands of acres of wetlands around the shrinking lake. But many residents don't think that's enough to save the sea. 

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It's hard to imagine now that the Salton Sea was once a booming place that many people loved to call home. People would bring out their best boats to race on the vastly sized lake water. Pictured above left is a watercraft called 'Hot Rod' during the Salton Sea 500 boat race in the 1950s and on the right a woman sporting a pageant sash pouring champagne on a man 

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Long gone are the days where boat races were held on the Salton Sea. Hundreds of people would flock to attend the activities that provided fun and entertainment. Pictured above is actress Janet Leigh behind the wheel of a speed boat as others look on near the Salton Sea

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Officials also introduced fish to the lake to create an opportunity for fishing, and by the late 1950s the Salton Sea had become the most productive fishery in the state fully establishing itself as a tourism destination. Pictured above are two men fishing in the Salton Sea during the 1950s

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Pictured above is an amphibious helicopter during the Salton Sea 500 Boat Race in the 1950s where hundreds of people attended to watch the fun on the water. It doesn't seem like those glory days will eve

THE CLASH OF TWO EMPIRES ROME VS GREECE

In the Roman epic of Virgil, the Aeneid, Queen Dido, the Greek name for Queen Elissa, is first introduced as an extremely respected character. In just seven years, since their exodus from Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule. Her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the messenger god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido, but to sail to Italy to found Rome. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, she orders a pyre to be built where she falls upon Aeneas' sword. As she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas' people and her own: "rise up from my bones, avenging spirit" (4.625, trans. Fitzgerald) she says, an invocation ofHannibal. The details of Virgil's story do not, however form part of the original legend and are significant mainly as an indication of Rome's attitude towards the city she had destroyed, exemplified by Cato the Elder's much-repeated utterance, "delenda est Carthaga", Carthage must be destroyed.^[9]

[edit]Carthaginian Republic

Main article: Carthaginian Republic

Carthaginian held territory in the early 3rd century BC

The Carthaginian Republic was one of the longest-lived and largest states in the ancient Mediterranean. Reports relay several wars with Syracuse and finally, Rome, which eventually resulted in the defeat and destruction of Carthage in the third Punic war. The Carthaginians were Semitic Phoeniciansettlers originating in the Mediterranean coast of the Near East. They spokeCanaanite and followed a predominantly Canaanite religion.

[edit]Army

Main article: Military of ancient Carthage

According to Polybius, Carthage relied heavily, though not exclusively, on foreign mercenaries,^[10] especially in overseas warfare. The core of its army was from its own territory in north Africa (ethnic Libyans and Numidians (modern northernAlgeria), as well as "Liby-Phoenicians" — i.e. Phoeniciansproper). These troops were supported by mercenaries from different ethnic groups and geographic locations across the Mediterranean who fought in their own national units; Celtic, Balearic, andIberian troops were especially common. Later, after the Barcid conquest of Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal),Iberians came to form an even greater part of the Carthaginian forces. Carthage seems to have fielded a formidable cavalry force, especially in its North African homeland; a significant part of it was composed of Numidian contingents of light cavalry. Other mounted troops included the now extinct North African elephants, trained for war, which, among other uses, were commonly used for frontal assaults or as anti-cavalry protection. An army could field up to several hundred of these animals, but on most reported occasions fewer than a hundred were deployed. The riders of these elephants were armed with a spike and hammer to kill the elephants in case they charged toward their own army.

[edit]Navy

Roman trireme mosaic from Carthage,Bardo Museum, Tunis

The navy of Carthage was one of the largest in the Mediterranean, using serial production to maintain high numbers at moderate cost. The sailors andmarines of the Carthaginian navy were predominantly recruited from the Phoenician citizenry, unlike the multi-ethnic allied and mercenary troops of the Carthaginian armies. The navy offered a stable profession and financial security for its sailors. This helped to contribute to the city's political stability, since the unemployed, debt ridden poor in other cities were frequently inclined to support revolutionary leaders in the hope of improving their own lot.^[11]The reputation of her skilled sailors implies that there was in peacetime a training of oarsmen and coxswains, giving their navy a cutting edge in naval matters.

The trade of Carthaginian merchantmen was by land across the Sahara and especially by sea throughout the Mediterraneanand far into the Atlantic to the tin-rich islands of Britain and also to North West Africa. There is evidence that at least one Punic expedition under Hanno sailed along the West African coast to regions south of the Tropic of Cancer, describing how the sun was in the north at noon.^{[citation needed]}

Polybius wrote in the sixth book of his History that the Carthaginians were "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people."^[12] Their navy included some 300 to 350 warships. The Romans, who had little experience in naval warfare prior to the First Punic War, managed to finally defeat Carthage with a combination of reverse engineering captured Carthaginian ships, recruitment of experienced Greek sailors from the ranks of its conquered cities, the unorthodox corvus device, and their superior numbers in marines and rowers. In the Third Punic War Polybius describes a tactical innovation of the Carthaginians, augmenting their few triremes with small vessels that carried hooks (to attack the oars) and fire (to attack the hulls). With this new combination, they were able to stand their ground against the numerically superior Roman for a whole day.

[edit]Fall

Ruins of Carthage

The fall of Carthage came at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC at the Battle of Carthage.^[13] Despite initial devastating Roman naval losses and Rome's recovery from the brink of defeat after the terror of a 15-year occupation of much of Italy byHannibal, the end of the series of wars resulted in the end of Carthaginian power and the complete destruction of the city byScipio Aemilianus. The Romans pulled the Phoenician warships out into the harbour and burned them before the city, and went from house to house, capturing, raping and enslaving the people. Fifty thousand Carthaginians were sold into slavery.^[14]The city was set ablaze, and razed to the ground, leaving only ruins and rubble. After the fall of Carthage, Rome annexed the majority of the Carthaginian colonies, including other North African locations such as Volubilis, Lixus, Chellah, and Mogador.^[15] The legend that the city was sown with salt is not mentioned by the ancient sources; R.T. Ridley suggested that the story originated from 1930 in section of the Cambridge Ancient History written by B Hallward whose influence might be an account of Abimelech's salting of Shechem in Judges 9:45.^[16][17] Warmington admitted his fault in repeating Hallward's error but mentions an example of the story that goes back to 1299 when Bonaface VIII destroyed Palestrina.^[18]

[edit]City of survivors

[edit]Byrsa

Main article: Byrsa

Punic ruins in Byrsa

On top of Byrsa hill, the location of the Roman Forum, a residential area from the last century of existence (early 2nd century) of the Punic city was excavated by the French archaeologist Serge Lancel. The neighborhood, with its houses, shops and private spaces, is significant for what it reveals about daily life there over twenty-one hundred years ago. .^[19]

The habitat is typical, even stereotypical. The street was often used as a storefront; cistern tanks were installed in basements to collect water for domestic use, and a long corridor on the right side of each residence led to a courtyard containing a sump, around which various other elements may be found. In some places the ground is covered with mosaics called punica pavement, sometimes using a characteristic red mortar.

The remains have been preserved under embankments, the substructures of the later Roman forum, whose foundation piles dot the district. The housing blocks are separated by a grid of straight streets approximately six metres wide, with a roadway consisting of clay; there are in situ stairs to compensate for the slope of the hill. Construction of this type presupposes organization and political will, and has inspired the name of the neighborhood, "Hannibal district", referring to the legendary Punic general or Suffete (consul) at the beginning of the 2nd century BC.

[edit]Other alternatives

Roman Carthage

When Carthage fell, its nearby rival Utica, a Roman ally, was made capital of the region and replaced Carthage as the leading center of Punic trade and leadership. It had the advantageous position of being situated on the Lake of Tunis and the outlet of the Majardah River, Tunisia's only river that flowed all year long. However, grain cultivation in the Tunisian mountains caused large amounts of silt to erode into the river. This silt accumulated in the harbor until it became useless, and Rome was forced to rebuild Carthage.

By 122 BC Gaius Gracchus founded a short-lived colony, called Colonia Iunonia, after the Latin name for the punic goddessTanit, Iuno caelestis. The purpose was to obtain arable lands for impoverished farmers. The Senate abolished the colony some time later, in order to undermine Gracchus' power.

After this ill-fated attempt a new city of Carthage was built on the same land by Julius Caesar in 49-44 BC period, and by the 1st century A.D. it had grown to be the second largest city in the western half of the Roman Empire, with a peak population of 500,000^{[citation needed]}. It was the center of the Roman province of Africa, which was a major breadbasket of the Empire.

Carthage also became a centre of early Christianity. In the first of a string of rather poorly-reported councils at Carthage a few years later, no fewer than 70 bishops attended. Tertullian later broke with the mainstream that was represented more and more in the west by the bishop of Rome, but a more serious rift among Christians was the Donatist controversy, whichAugustine of Hippo spent much time and parchment arguing against. In 397 AD at theCouncil at Carthage, the biblical canon for the western Church was confirmed.

[edit]Vandals

Vandal Empire in 500 AD, centered in Carthage.

The political fallout from the deep disaffection of African Christians is supposedly a crucial factor in the ease with which Carthage and the other centres were captured in the 5th century by Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, who defeated the Romangeneral Bonifacius and made the city his capital. Gaiseric was considered a heretic too, an Arian, and though Arians commonly despised orthodox Catholic Christians, a mere promise of toleration might have caused the city's population to accept him. After a failed attempt to recapture the city in the 5th century, the Eastern Roman empire finally subdued the Vandals in theVandalic War 533-534.

Thereafter the city became the seat of the praetorian prefecture of Africa, which during the emperor Maurice's reign, was made into an Exarchate, as was Ravenna in Italy. These two exarchates were the western bulwarks of the Roman empire, all that remained of its power in the west. In the early 7th century it was the exarch of Carthage who overthrew emperor Phocas.

[edit]Islamic conquests

The Roman Exarchate of Africa was not able to withstand the Muslim conquerors of the 7th century. Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik in 686 AD sent a force led by Zuhayr ibn Qais who won a battle over Romans and Berbers led by Kusaila, on theQairawan plain; but could not follow that up. In 695 ADHasan ibn al-Nu'man captured Carthage and advanced into the Atlas Mountains. An imperial fleet arrived and retook Carthage, but in 698 AD Hasan ibn al-Nu'man returned and defeated emperorTiberios III at the Battle of Carthage. Roman imperial forces withdrew from all Africa except Ceuta. Roman Carthage was destroyed and was replaced by Tunis as the major regional centre. The destruction of the Exarchate of Africa marked a permanent end to the influence there of the eastern Roman empire.

[edit]Modern times

In the mid-19th century Nathan Davis and other European archaeologists were given permission to excavate the ancient city.

Carthage remains a popular tourist attraction and residential suburb of Tunis. The Tunisian presidential palace is located in the city.^[20]

In February 1985, Ugo Vetere, the mayor of Rome, and Chedly Klibi, the mayor of Carthage, signed a symbolic treaty "officially" ending the conflict between their cities, which had been supposedly extended by the lack of a peace treaty for more than 2,100 years

Detail of frieze showing the equipment of a soldier in the manipular Roman legion (left). Note mail armour, oval shield and helmet with plume (probably horsehair). The soldier at centre is an officer (bronze cuirass, mantle), prob. a tribunus militum.^[17] From an altar built by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul in 122 BC. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Rome vs Greece: a little-known clash of empires

The fate of Greek city states which had aided the Roman invasion was most ironic

[Editor’s note: Last week we were the recipients of one of the most laughably ludicrous assertions possible – that the glories of Ancient Greece and Rome were nothing more than a fiction conjured up by Irish monks. So when I saw this article, ironically the work of an Irishman, I could not resist reproducing it in order to redress the balance that had been upset by that ludicrous assertion that Ancient Rome and Greece were a fiction. This is real history, not the half-baked ramblings we have sadly seen from others. ]

__________

The Irish Times

Rome vs Greece: a little-known clash of empires

Ancient Greece. Ancient Rome. These words conjure up powerful images: the Olympic Games and the siege of Troy for the former; emperors, legions and gladiator fights for the latter. Two civilisations that impacted massively on world history, their effects are still evident today in language and legal structures, in sport, medicine and philosophy. It’s odd then that the clash between the two powers is so little-known today. Researching the period, I was amazed that no one had written, recently at least, about one of the most seismic moments in European history.

Clash of Empires is the result, and the first in a two-part series.

Let us set the stage. Before the outbreak of the second Punic war in 218 BC (the one with Hannibal and the passage of the Alps with elephants!), the Roman Republic controlled perhaps three-quarters of the Italian peninsula. Its only external territories were the islands of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. There were four other powers in the Mediterranean world, two of which were a great deal larger than Rome. In order of size these were the Seleucid Empire, which extended from modern-day Turkey to India, Carthage on the North African coast, which also controlled most of the Iberian peninsula, Ptolemaic Egypt, ruled by Greek-speaking descendants of one of Alexander’s generals, and Macedon, which dominated much of Greece.

By 168 BC, 50 years later, just two powers remained: Rome and a tottering Egypt. The others had been defeated by the military bulldozers that were the legions. Rome had changed identity forever. No longer the combative newcomer of the Mediterranean world, it was now a confident, brash superpower. The first paving stones of the road to empire had been well and truly laid.

The history of Rome and Macedon is a tangled one; to explain it in depth goes beyond the remit of this article. The two powers actually fought three wars, from 217 to 205 BC, 200 to 197 BC and 171 to 168 BC; the second was of most consequence. A short but brutal affair, it was also the conflict that saw Rome’s authority stamped on Greece, and is the one upon which we will focus.

The ruler of Macedon at the time of both the first and second conflicts was the mercurial and unpredictable King Philip V. Scion of a different family to Alexander the Great (whose line had been wiped out after his death), Philip was capable of individual acts of military brilliance and colossally rash decisions. Cursed by the fact that most city states in Greece loathed Macedon, as they had since Alexander’s time, he spent his reign dealing with political machinations against him, invasions from neighbouring territories and open war with many of his neighbours.

Philip seemed to live his life by the ancient Greek saying that a king who lived in peace was no king at all.

On all points of the compass then, Macedon had enemies, open, hidden or in the making, and when Philip wasn’t dealing with these problems, he was invading or fighting with other kingdoms and territories. Illyria and Epirus (modern-day Croatia/Montenegro/Albania), Thrace (Bulgaria), the Hellespont (the Straits of Bosphorus) and the western coastline and islands of Asia Minor (Turkey) all suffered his attacks on more than one occasion. Philip seemed to live his life by the ancient Greek saying that a king who lived in peace was no king at all. It’s hard not to draw the conclusion that he had aspirations of emulating the feats of his illustrious predecessor Alexander. Sadly for Philip, he never quite succeeded in that regard.

By the autumn of 202 BC, the 17-year war between Rome and Carthage was drawing to a close. The final act took place at Zama, not far from the city of Carthage; the battle resulted in a decisive defeat for Hannibal’s army. After a conflict that had lasted a generation, seen huge swathes of Italy go over to the enemy, and cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of its citizens, one might assume that the Roman Republic would have lost its appetite for war by this point. Not so. Less than two years after Zama, embassies sent by Philip’s enemies in Asia Minor pleaded for help against his attacks on their territories. Conjuring the idea of a possible Macedonian invasion of Italy, these emissaries won over the Senate. There was some resistance from the Centuriate, the people’s assembly, but the vote for war was carried in the summer of 200 BC.

Rome didn’t hang about, dispatching an army to Apollonia in modern-day Albania. Autumn had arrived before the legions could march inland; although they succeeded in taking a Macedonian town, a full-blown campaign was not on the cards due to the harsh terrain and imminent change in the weather. The war was renewed in the spring of 199 BC, the legions led by a seasoned politician and justice of the war with Hannibal, Sulpicius Galba. Smashing past Philip’s phalanx in a mountain pass without defeating it utterly, the Roman army marched eastward into Macedon. A game of cat and mouse ensued over the summer, with each side seeking battle on its own terms. A victory for the Romans at Ottolobus, when Philip almost lost his life, was countered by a Macedonian win at Pluinna. Harvest-time arrived without a conclusive outcome. Far from their base at Apollonia, with supply lines at risk of being cut by snow or the Macedonians, Galba took the sensible option and retreated to the coast.

In many ways, the politics of two thousand years ago were no different to today. The newly-elected man always likes to take control. Soon after his return to Apollonia, Galba found himself being supplanted by the consul Villius. He in turn was replaced just months later by a more formidable figure, Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Thirty years old, extraordinarily young to command a large army, Flamininus took the invasion in his stride. A lover of all things Greek, he could speak and write the language as well – something unusual for Romans of the time.

His initial attempts to enter Macedon failed, however, and in the spring of 198 BC a 40-day standoff in the narrow Aous valley (the modern-day River Vjosa) unfolded, with his legionaries unable to push past the Macedonian fortifications. In scenes reminiscent of Thermopylae, the deadlock was broken by a local shepherd who led the Romans around Philip’s position. Attacked from front and rear, his troops fell back in panic. Flamininus’ legions swept into western Macedon and onward to fertile Thessaly. Although Philip lost large swathes of territory, his phalanx delivered a mighty setback to the Roman army soon after at the fortress of Atrax. Once again, with autumn approaching, the war proper was put on hold until the following spring.

Prolonged negotiations during the winter months saw Philip’s attempts to broker a peace settlement thwarted by Flamininus’ trickery. When the campaign began again in the spring of 197 BC, a showdown was inevitable. After a few weeks of marching and countermarching by Philip and Flamininus in central Thessaly, battle was joined (almost by accident) at Cynoscephalae, hills known as The Dogs’ Heads. Invincible on flat ground as long as its flanks were protected, the phalanx was dangerously exposed on hillsides. Highly manoeuvrable, veterans of the Hannibalic war, the legionaries wreaked a terrible slaughter.

A negotiated settlement saw Philip remain as king of Macedon, in the main to serve as a buffer against the threat of the Seleucid Empire to the east, but the fate of the Greek city states who had aided and abetted the Roman invasion was the most ironic. Although their freedom was proclaimed by Flamininus at the Isthmian games in 196 BC, they were soon to realise that they had merely exchanged one master for another. Not for hundreds of years would the Greeks rule themselves again.