Salton Sea: The End is Nigh. by brother sundance / October 11

If you’ve ever wondered what the world would be like at the end of our civilization, you really needn’t go farther than the Salton Sea.

In 1905, the levees for a project to divert the Colorado River burst, spilling trillions of gallons of water into a prehistoric lake bed. By the time they plugged the leak, the Salton Sea covered 400 square miles. Things were looking up in the 1950s, when fishing and boating attracted the makings of any decent resort town—retirees and celebrities—but several years of tropical storms washed away investment dollars. Now, since no new water is flowing in, the Sea is stagnant (and slowly evaporating), causing serious problems for its aquatic ecosystem. Chemical reactions turn the surface red and lime green, causing massive, odiferous fish die-offs, and sick fish poison the more than 400 species of birds that live here.

If you visit the Salton Sea now you’ll find abandoned homes, hotels, and businesses. Dead fish literally form a ring around the lake. For reason’s unbeknownst to me, August seems to be the month that kills the most fish. August 4th, 1999 over 7.6 million fish died. That’s nearly 8 million fish in a single day. An alarming number of birds die daily as well. At one point over 600 birds were perishing per day. Death is definitely in the air. The smell should make that obvious.

The sea has it’s residents at various points around it’s shores. Salton City held a little under a thousand in 2000 and about 350 or so in Bombay Beach. Though you won’t find many of them outdoors in the summer months. Temperatures regularly climb above 110°F.

All these numbers are just to convince you that Salton Sea is weird as hell. For my money, it’s definitely the strangest place this side of Chernobyl. So, what better place to film a post apocalyptic piece than here?

So today we ventured to the northern shore to take some test shots as well as scout a few locations for our dystopian piece. Next round I’ll be sure to take some more varied shots of this surreal landscape. This was just a primer. Enjoy.

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