Case-In-Point Analysis
Geoff Manbeck
University of phoenix
Environmental Issues and Ethics
SCI-362
Brian Hoeft
December 31, 2012

Case-In-Point Analysis
The Salton Sea, once known as the accidental sea, became a popular tourist attraction which people would travel to for vacations (Ransriggs, 2011). People bought homes, built schools, restaurants, and yacht clubs; it was considered to be a miracle in the desert. Over the years the water at the Salton Sea became saltier than the ocean. Botulism poisoning killed millions of fish, and the heat, which reach the temperature of 120 degrees, made the air unbearable to breathe. A consequence was the sea began to flood (Ransriggs, 2011). The water at the Salton Sea was fed only by agricultural run-off, which increased the salt levels of the Salton Sea to levels that the fish could not survive. The death of 200 million fish had a large effect on the rest of the ecosystem, causing the death of the bird populations who rely on fish for food, increasing severe decaying of the dead fish, and creating a increased number of flies and other pathogens in their rotting carcasses (Ransriggs, 2011).
The loss and harm to the populations of wild species at the Salton Sea is critical importance of migrating birds. The sea supports over 90% of the North American population species such as eared grebes, 30,000 American white pelicans, 2,000 brown pelicans, 25,000 snow and Ross’ geese, and 120,000 shore birds, which consist of 44 species (Ransriggs, 2011). Over four million tons of salt is added to the Salton Sea every year. The Salton Sea authority has begun to restore the sea by controlling the immediate problems and improving the conditions at the sea. The recovery and rehabilitation of sick birds, especially the pelicans have been in process for several years, which have saved and released over two-thirds of birds (Ransriggs, 2011).
The Salton Sea Authority (SSA) practices for sustainability and conservation of natural resources and energy include an ongoing geothermal project consisting of 9 geothermal plants along with new solar projects to help revitalize and restore the ecosystem and produce renewable energy for most of southern California.
Salton Sea geothermal plants, the Salton Sea geothermal field is the largest of three major geothermal energy production sites in the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area, or SSKGRA, in Southern California's Imperial Valley. It consists of a network of deep wells drilled in the geothermal field which allow water heated by the earth's mantle to come to the surface and to power electrical generators. Geothermal power, which grew by 6% in the U.S. during 2009, makes use of naturally occurring subsurface magma formations to generate electric power. First steam is created by injecting water into the hot subsurface layers. The steam is then fed back trough turbine generators to create electricity.
Other forms of renewable energy are being tested by a company called HyperSolar, Inc. HyperSolar, Inc is the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen and natural gas using water and solar power, today announced that the numerous “mud pots” found in and around the Salton Sea emit mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). This harmful greenhouse gas can be captured and combined with hydrogen in the company’s proprietary process to make renewable natural gas. “The more we study and learn about the Salton Sea, the more we believe that it is ideally suited for the production of renewable hydrogen and natural gas using our technology,” said Tim Young, HyperSolar’s CEO. “It has an unlimited amount of sunlight, an abundance of organic wastewater from agriculture run-offs, and a large body of water for our solar powered vessels to produce significant quantities of renewable zero carbon hydrogen.
With the potential for the mud pots to provide a steady stream of CO2, some of this hydrogen can be reacted with the CO2 to produce pipeline ready methane that can be sent to nearby natural gas facilities (Beckerman, 2012). The benefits can be substantial. By deploying HyperSolar’s reactors on the increasingly exposed sea beds around the Salton Sea, we can produce energy for regional use, improve the water quality for wild life ecosystems, and decrease the rate of water evaporation to mitigate dust problems that contribute to poor air quality in the nearby area.
The impacts on agriculture are present as well. The Salton Sea is an agricultural that became a low space that gathers any often-unwanted water, in other words water from agriculture drains into it. In addition to becoming salty, the water carries other abilities that aren’t automatically welcoming to the structures of the Sea. Together the salt and nutrient cargo problems are very serious. Those two topics must be discussed and taken care of. Not being able to lessen the Sea’s nutrient level but dropping its salt capacity may only end in a less salty lake that fish and birds die in. Dropping the nutrient level and not addressing the salt will end up in a lake facing a system lacking of fish, and then fish eating-birds. This will perhaps have an overwhelming effect on the migrating bird inhabitants in the western states. These issues have to be spoken on for a healthy Sea.
The following is one management practice for sustainability and conservation of natural resources in the Salton Sea. For about 50 years people recognized that the Sea is in need of help. Those disturbed with the Salton Sea have tried to bring consideration to its trouble and solve its complications three times over the last thirty years. The first two tries failed, and environments worsened. The third effort has had some accomplishment.
There are some management practices in place for the Salton Sea. The first management technique used in this project was “irrigation water management”. This technique determines and controls the rate, amount, and timing of irrigation water applied with the aid of a computer software program called Alfalfa XLe developed by University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) faculty. The second management technique used in this project was “runoff reduction”. This technique reduces the amount of surface runoff, using a runoff reduction method developed by UCCE, in just a single irrigation per year when broadcast phosphorus fertilizer is applied. (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov)
Before science was fully realized, the Salton Sea may very well have proven to be an agricultural disaster, another dead plot of land with no hope for anything useful. It may very well have become another Death Valley, with no other good than brief visits by morbid tourists. But with research, science, and people willing to do the work necessary to make the Salton Sea something more than a dead patch of land, we may have a new and important ecosystem being born.

References
Shranz, B. J. (January 30, 2012). The Salton Sea May Prove Even More Valuable to HyperSolar. Retrieved from http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120130006384/en/Salton-Sea-Prove-Valuable-HyperSolar energyrefuge.com. (2011). Salton Sea Geothermal. Retrieved from http://http://www.energyrefuge.com/archives/salton-sea-geothermal.htm
Ranriggs, (2011, May). Accidental Sea- Salton Sea. Retrieved from http://documentary.net/the-accidental-sea-salton-sea westernfarmpress.com. (June, 2007). Western Farm Press. Retrieved from http://westernfarmpress.com/search/results/salton%20sea http://www.waterboards.ca.gov http://www.saltonsea.ca.gov/about/ssa101.htm