Lithium Boom for the Salton Sea
Salton Sea has bounced from boom to bust, will this boom last?
The Salton Sea in the California desert has benefited and floundered, due to it’s geography and the area’s changing economy. Will a new resource change this?
The Salton Sea is a inland lake with no ocean outlet, however it is a bit different from previous discussions of terminal lakes that are drying up (see “Aral Sea, the Great Salt Lake and The Dead Sea”). In discussion of other inland seas, the main driver of reduction were the diversion of the rivers that fed into the lakes. But the Salton Sea is not drying up due to diversion of its head waters alone.
The modern creation of the Salton Sea and its subsequent abatement are due almost exclusively by economic drivers.
Creation: Whoops
South of the Salton Sea is California’s Imperial Valley. With the advent of irrigation, it is one of the most productive agricultural areas of the nation. It is a major source of winter fruits and vegetables, cotton, grains, and alfalfa. The long growing seasons allow two crop cycles a year. Without irrigation, it is a dry and rather foreboding desert. The original farmers in the region were highly dependent on natural rainfall, input rives and ground water for their irrigation water. Because the area is lower than sea level, the few rivers which drain into the lake could quickly be routed to farmland.
A unique feature of the region is the proximity to the Colorado River. Before development of dams on the river – and subsequent water diversion, the Colorado River would occasionally flood. The flood waters overran the banks and then ran into the Salton Sea, which is about 200 feet below sea level (approx. 70 meters), refreshing the lake periodically.
These geographic realities watered the region and keep the salinity levels in the Salton Sea from getting too salty for wildlife. The lake and its few inputs enabled a rich economy based on irrigation.
So, what happened? A mistake by nativists.
The Alamo Canal starting construction in 1900 and completed in 1902. It was a canal that connected the Colorado River to the Alamo River in Mexico via gravity flow. It originated in America but then the canal ran primarily through Mexico. the Alamo River then ran from Mexico into California, through the Imperial Valley.
The Alamo Canal / river system irrigated the Imperial Valley on both the American and Mexican sides of the border. The canal connection to the Colorado River was maintained mainly by American farmers, but it ran through Mexico border lands. It was created and maintained without Mexican authorities’ approval. Local American farmers wanted more water diverted than US authorities provided, so a second input to the canal was built on Mexican land, by the farmers and the state of California. this input was effective in the short term, but not well thought out.
Because of the seasonal flow of the Colorado River, varying levels of water left large amounts of silt which were deposited along the riverbed. A recurring problem, it resulted in rerouting the river often. And it caused the input channel to silt up repeatedly. This resulted in the costly need to dredge the new canal entrance regularly. Too regularly for the farmers, who required dependable supplies. From 1900 - 1904 the silting reduced the capacity of the canal and created a repeating pattern of dredging then silting occurred. In 1904 local farmers were at risk of bankruptcy and so a US Civil Engineer, Charles Robinson proposed a larger intake on the Mexican side of the river. He directed the dredging of a 4 mile long section to divert more Colorado River water to the region.
Then in 1905 heavy rainfall silted up the river and the Colorado River rerouted itself again. This time the Colorado River was completely diverted into the Alamo Canal system which overwhelmed the region. For two years, the entire Colorado River was directed into the Canal systems and ultimately into the Salton Sea. This turned the “Salton Sink” into the Salton Sea before it was corrected.
The First Boom
The creation of the Salton Sea was first seen as a boon to the area. The massive Colorado River flow not only increased the size of the lake, it replenished aquifers for the farmers. The new Salton Sea was a benefit to the region and created a more reliable source of water. But the farming areas grew and by the 1920s local farmers wanted a more stable source of water. Civil engineers proposed a new solution that did not depend on Mexico. The All-American Canal was approved and completed in 1930. This canal took water from a lake create by a dam on the American side of the border. A system for desilting the river was also built allowing for a dependable use of the canal. Water was diverted and farming grew even more.
The level of the Salton Sea stayed stable for decades because of farm water runoff replenishing the lake with fresh water.
By the 1950s, the Salton Sea became a resort destination. It was a warm lake in a hot and dry desert. The region was very popular. The Salton Sea area boomed, housing vacation resorts, expensive developments, and even Yacht Clubs. Tourism flourished.
The First Bust
A greater demand for water upstream in the 1960s began the destruction the Salton Sea. First, more water was diverted upriver from the All-American Canal by California and Nevada water projects to provide drinking and irrigation water to growing urban areas. This in turn lead to less water for the Imperial Valley farmers and therefore less runoff to the Salton Sea.
Then, the farmers adjusted their practices to use less water and using it more judiciously with fertilizers and additives. It is very successful method of water conservation. But for the Salton Sea it had a double negative impact. First, there was less water for the area and second the water that was delivered was much more polluted with chemicals and nitrates which destroyed the ecosystem of the Salton Sea.
Resorts were left high and dry – and with a stench as fish died due to a more poisonous lake. Over the long term, the combined effects destroyed the tourist ecnomy.
The New Boom: Lithium
The Salton Sea area is rich in lithium. Lithium is critical for electrical vehicle production. Traditional lithium mining methods requires open pit mining. High energy usage is necessary for extraction and then evaporation ponds are necessary to evaporate the brine. And there are rich lithium deposits underground in the Salton Sea area.
Initial efforts to mine this with traditional methods were tried and failed in 2015 (with a consortium including Tesla). The results were not profitable or ecologically friendly. However, demand for lithium has only continued to rise.
The Salton Sea region is different from many lithium rich areas because it generates not only lithium but geo-thermal energy. There are currently multiple geo-thermal energy plants in the region, which bring brine up from underground. The superheated brine is tapped and runs the steam is used created to produce energy (this CNBC report explains it in more detail).
The method to create energy from the brine produces physical tailings, and in the Salton Sea those tailings are rich with lithium as a byproduct. Producing lithium in this manor actually reduces the pollution footprint of current geo-thermal energy plants. And lithium is critical for manufacturing as noted above.
Production has started and lithium deposits are massive in the area. Presently China uses the most lithium in production of electronics and electric vehicles. China also controls most of the world’s lithium processing plants which process raw lithium ore from the world’s major producers: Australia, Chile, China, and Argentina. The United States produces and refines almost no lithium right now, despite the mineral’s critical necessity for electronics going forward. The newly found deposits in the Salton Sea area are estimated to be able to produce 600,000 tons a year – well over the current world total of 400,000 tons. And this will be a climate friendly method of creation.
Extraction will drive a new economy the Salton Sea and will enhance non-farming jobs and associated growth. As demand lithium will only grow in demand for electronics and vehicles, this areas will also reduce our dependence on China as the single source supplier.
What it will not due is rehabilitate the actual Salton Sea viability, but it will help to maintain the current ecosystems which are still critical for the Pacific flyway.
Next Bust?
Undoubtably at some point lithium will no longer be critical to manufacturing. Perhaps new minerals will be used, or perhaps a synthetic replacement will be created, but for the foreseeable future, this boom should continue. It is not as dependent on outside resources as farming or resorts are.
To wrap up, what is this?
A picture of me in the mid-1960s at the Salton Sea with my grandparents. I did not enjoy fishing.
