2020/06/01 by Lucia Levers, S. Drew Story, K. Schwabe · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Engineering · #Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies #Water resources management and optimization #Damages #Agriculture #Seawater #Environmental science #Water resources #Human health #Water resource management #Business #Natural resource economics #Oceanography #Ecology #Geology #Biology #Economics
paper · pdf · doi:10.3733/ca.2020a0009
published in California Agriculture 74(2), 73-79 (University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources)
openalex publication_date 2020/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Several ways to address the looming ecological disaster that is the Salton Sea have been proposed — including water importation. Here we considered two options: importing ocean water from the Sea of Cortés and leasing water from agricultural users in the Imperial Valley. We estimated the monetary costs for importing Sea of Cortés water to the Salton Sea and compared that with the costs of transferring water from agricultural users to the Salton Sea. We found that leasing water from agriculture would be substantially cheaper than ocean water imports. Additionally, all the infrastructure for leasing water from growers exists, which means water transfers could begin immediately. That is important given the present and increasing environmental and human health damages that are occurring at the Salton Sea.