This report assesses the complex and growing air quality threats in the Salton Sea region of southeastern California and outlines more effective strategies to protect public health.

1. The Salton Sea has shrunk by more than 60 square miles (19%) in the past 30 years, exposing additional lakebed (“playa”) and accelerating dust emissions in a region already suffering from bad air quality and some of the highest respiratory hospitalization rates in the state. 

2. Air pollution in the region comes from a broad range of pollutants, with a diffuse and dynamic range of sources—including playa dust, desert dust, unpaved roads, farming practices, diesel emissions, burning fields, and confined animal feedlots—all contributing to a multi-pollutant burden on communities. 

3. The health of more than 500,000 people in the region is at risk, particularly in communities where median income is less than half the state average, poverty rates are high, and there is limited access to healthcare. 

4. The only existing multi-year estimates of Salton Sea lakebed emissions suggest that they account for less than one percent of total dust emissions in the region.

5. State and local agencies have spent tens of millions of dollars to control dust at the Salton Sea, despite the fact that such dust is but a small fraction of the total air pollution burden in the region. 

6. Managing or suppressing emissions at the source will not be sufficient, politically feasible, nor cost-effective. Exposure control measures—such as alerting people to expected dust storms, installing air filters, and weatherizing homes—are a more cost-effective and more feasible means of protecting public health. 

• Press Release
• Salton Sea Air Quality Map
• Learn More About Our Work in the Salton Sea