Why California's Biggest Lake Is Now Making People Sick

The Salton Sea is California's biggest lake, and it shouldn't be there. It sits about 240 feet below sea level in one of the driest corners of the state, and it exists because in 1905 an irrigation canal let the entire Colorado River pour into the desert for a year and a half. Here's how it happened, why the lake never dried up, why it's now shrinking and blowing toxic dust over half a million people, and what's hiding underneath it: a lithium fortune and the southern end of the San Andreas Fault. Chapters 0:00 A lake where no lake should be 0:27 It was an accident 1:03 A hole next to a river on a ridge 2:47 1905: the whole river breaks loose 5:34 Why it never dried up 8:30 The lake that was here before 10:53 The dust 15:06 Why not just refill it? 18:33 The fortune underneath 21:03 A basin that wants a lake Sources US Bureau of Reclamation, A Salton Sea Chronology (2016); Setmire et al., Eutrophic Conditions at the Salton Sea (USGS, 2000) G. Kennan, The Salton Sea: An Account of Harriman's Fight with the Colorado River (1917); T. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, 12 Jan 1907 Rockwell et al. (2022), Lake Cahuilla highstands, Quaternary Science Reviews; Hill et al. (2023), Nature; Brothers et al. (2011), Nature Geoscience M. Cohen, Pacific Institute (2008) and current Salton Sea data; California Legislative Analyst's Office (2018) Salton Sea Management Program progress dashboard (2026); IID playa exposure memo (2025); USGS gauge 10254005 UC Riverside (2022–2024) and UC Irvine (2025) Salton Sea dust and health studies; Orr et al. (2025), Waterbirds Salton Sea Independent Review Panel (UC Santa Cruz, 2022); US DOI (2022) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2023) lithium resource assessment; USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 USGS ShakeOut Scenario; US Bureau of Reclamation Colorado River post-2026 Record of Decision (2026); LADWP (Owens Lake) Maps: Natural Earth (public domain), US Census / us-atlas, world-atlas; shaded relief from AWS Terrain Tiles (SRTM-based). Projected lake outlines (2047) are schematic. Subscribe for more geography explained:    / @whereology   #SaltonSea #Geography #California