Salton Sea

Abandoned structure covered with salt, barnacles and rust (Photo: Edwige)

Dead fish on the beach (photo: Edwige)

Salton sea was an accident. Water from the Colorado River was being diverted to irrigate agricultural fields in the Imperial Valley desert, southeastern California. A dam broke and the water started pouring over railroads and villages. The "accident" created a sea in the middle of the desert. The "sea" has no outlets so its salinity keeps increasing, killing fish and birds (Salton Sea is 40% saltier than the ocean). The water is also laced with chemicals from the agricultural run offs which also contributed to the killing of a large amount of fish and birds. The beach sand is mainly composed of crushed fish bones. Kurt and I had to step around dead fish and birds.

On the beach, there were abandoned structures, trailers' frames, poles with electric cables going nowhere, shoes, decrepit chairs, it looked like a tornado had went through. Barnacles grew on poles, toilet, pretty much everything abandoned on the beach.

The temperature was cool enough that the smell from decomposing fish was bearable. The Hazmat crew were the only miniatures used at Salton Sea. Kurt found plenty scenes for the crew to investigate.

Kurt photographs the Hazmat Crew near an abandoned toilet