Monday Top of the Scroll: As California farms use less Colorado River water, worries grow over shrinking Salton Sea
… Imperial Valley farmers agreed to leave many hay fields unwatered for seven weeks this year in exchange for cash payments from a federally funded program designed to alleviate the water shortage on the Colorado River. Many farmers decided that the payments — $300 per acre-foot of water conserved — would pencil out for them this year, in part because hay prices have recently fallen. But while the three-year deal is helping to save water in the river’s reservoirs, some people in the Imperial Valley say they’re concerned it’s also accelerating the decline of the Salton Sea and worsening environmental problems along its retreating shores. With less water running off fields and into the sea, growing stretches of dry lakebed are being exposed to desert winds that kick up lung-damaging dust. At the same time, the lake is growing saltier as it shrinks, bringing changes to a habitat that is a vital stopover for migratory birds.
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