Salton Sea Project: Restoration, Dust Control, and Lithium Valley

The Salton Sea restoration project is a 10-year, state-led effort running from 2018 through 2028 to cover exposed lakebed with shallow ponds, wetlands, and vegetated dust-control sites, backed by more than $800 million in combined state and federal funding. California’s largest lake has lost roughly 19 percent of its surface area over 30 years, and the dried playa left behind releases fine particulate dust into surrounding communities. The restoration work is designed to blunt that dust and rebuild the shallow-water habitat migratory birds depend on, with the first major project filling in May 2025.

Why the Lake Needs Restoring

The Salton Sea has no outlet. Agricultural runoff from the Imperial and Coachella valleys kept it alive for a century, but a 2003 water transfer deal — the Quantification Settlement Agreement — redirected up to 300,000 acre-feet of that water per year to urban users. Mandatory mitigation flows ended in 2017, and the recession has accelerated since.¹ Projections suggest the water level could drop about 8 meters further by 2040.²

Two consequences drive the restoration work. The first is a public health crisis. The exposed lakebed is laced with heavy metals and pesticides from decades of farm runoff, and when wind picks it up, PM10 and PM2.5 drift into Imperial and Riverside counties. Imperial County is already a federal “serious nonattainment area” for PM10.³²⁴ Earlier research found nearly half of elementary school children in the area had asthma or asthma-like symptoms, and pediatric respiratory hospitalization rates ran at double the statewide average.⁵

The second is ecological collapse. The sea sits on the Pacific Flyway and supports more than 400 bird species. Rising salinity — now around 60 parts per thousand, nearly twice the ocean — has already killed off most of the fish species.⁶ Only tilapia and the endangered desert pupfish survive, and scientists expect the tilapia to crash soon, taking the food base for pelicans, cormorants, and other fish-eating birds with it.

The 10-Year Management Plan

California’s response is the Salton Sea Management Program, Phase 1, covering 2018 through 2028. The California Natural Resources Agency leads the work with the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, overseen by the State Water Resources Control Board.⁷

The plan projects roughly 48,300 acres of lakebed will be exposed through 2028. The state has committed to covering 29,800 of those acres with habitat or dust suppression projects. At least 14,900 acres must be aquatic habitat — ponds or wetlands that hold water and support fish and birds — and the remainder can be dust control using vegetation, gravel, or similar methods.⁷⁸ Construction began at the south end of the lake and is expanding outward.

Species Conservation Habitat: The Flagship Project

The centerpiece is the Species Conservation Habitat project along the southern shore. Originally planned at 4,100 acres, it has been expanded to over 9,000 acres — about 14 square miles — after additional federal funding came through.⁹

The engineering is straightforward in principle. A saline pump station pulls Salton Sea water into mixing basins while a diversion system channels fresher water from the New River into sedimentation basins. The two are blended to a target salinity of 20 to 40 parts per thousand, low enough to sustain both desert pupfish and tilapia and rebuild the food base for fish-eating birds.¹⁰¹¹

In May 2025, the 750-acre East Pond Expansion began filling with water, bringing roughly 2,010 acres of ponds into operation alongside the original East Pond, which filled a month earlier.¹² Governor Gavin Newsom called it “the first major restoration project the Salton Sea has ever seen.”⁹ Center and west pond expansions totaling roughly 4,500 more acres are under construction, targeted for completion in 2028.¹⁰

Dust Suppression on Dry Lakebed

Covering acreage with water is expensive, so the plan also uses a Dust Suppression Action Plan aimed at roughly 9,800 acres of exposed or soon-to-be-exposed lakebed. The main technique is establishing native vegetation with drip irrigation, which uses about one-tenth the water of aquatic habitat. Grass bales and furrows stabilize the surface while plants take root, with a goal of 30 percent vegetative cover.¹³

Three priority vegetation sites are at different stages:

Clubhouse, 399 acres, is complete, using deep and shallow groundwater wells for irrigation.
Tule Wash, 903-plus acres, is active, with bale placement, planting, and stormwater features under construction.
West Bombay Beach identified a water source in 2024, with planting expected to finish in 2025.¹⁴

Smaller projects fill in the picture. The 61-acre Torres Martinez Wetlands at the northwest shore, built on tribal land using solar-powered pumps to move shallow groundwater into ponds, was the first state-funded project completed at the Salton Sea.¹⁵ The 156-acre North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project near North Shore in Riverside County received $19.25 million in Proposition 68 funding and is being built by Riverside County on behalf of the Salton Sea Authority.¹⁶ Planned future work includes a 3,200-acre Alamo River aquatic habitat, an 800-acre North Lake Wetlands expansion, and a 4,072-acre dust-control and habitat project at Kane Spring San Felipe Fan.¹⁴

Who Is Paying

Funding is layered across state, federal, and local sources. As of early 2024, California had authorized about $448 million from bond measures and general fund allocations, and the federal government had committed about $250 million through the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest-ever federal investment in the Salton Sea.¹⁷¹⁸ In August 2024, the Bureau of Reclamation announced another $175 million, contingent on local water agencies reducing Colorado River consumption.¹⁹

Voters added more in November 2024 by passing Proposition 4, the California Climate Bond, which carries $160 million for Salton Sea restoration and management plus up to $10 million for the new Salton Sea Conservancy.¹⁴ Local water agencies contribute through the Salton Sea Restoration Fund, with the Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, and San Diego County Water Authority committed to $68.5 million in combined annual payments through 2047 under the Quantification Settlement Agreement.¹⁷

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is running a parallel Imperial Streams and Salton Sea Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study under a cost-sharing agreement signed in December 2022 with the state and the Salton Sea Authority. If the study, expected to finish in 2027, recommends a project for construction, it could qualify for 65 percent federal cost-sharing.²⁰ In November 2024, the Corps also finalized streamlined Clean Water Act permitting for projects within the 10-year plan.⁸

Who Maintains the Projects After They’re Built

Building ponds and vegetation fields is only half the work. California created the Salton Sea Conservancy in 2024 through Senate Bill 583, the state’s first new conservancy in 15 years, to operate, maintain, and manage completed restoration projects and to hold land and property rights in the region.²¹ This lets the management program team keep building rather than diverting staff to upkeep.

The Conservancy has a 22-member board with 15 voting members and 7 nonvoting ex officio members drawn from state and federal agencies, local water districts, tribal governments, and community organizations. Its inaugural board was announced in April 2026, and the board held its first meeting on May 14, 2026.²² Proposition 4 covers up to $10 million in startup costs over its first few years.²³

Lithium Valley and Long-Term Funding

Under the Salton Sea lies one of the world’s richest known lithium deposits, dissolved in geothermal brine. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the resource at more than 3,400 kilotons, enough for over 375 million electric vehicle batteries, while a 2023 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study put it at 17 million metric tons.²⁴ Three companies — BHE Renewables, Controlled Thermal Resources, and EnergySource Minerals — are developing extraction technology that pulls lithium from brine already flowing through the region’s 11 commercial geothermal plants.²⁵

The restoration link is a 2022 state excise tax on lithium extraction, set at $400 to $800 per metric ton of lithium carbonate equivalent, with 80 percent of revenue going to Imperial County and 20 percent to the Salton Sea Restoration Fund.²⁶ California’s budget plan envisions eventually shifting ongoing operational costs for restoration and the Conservancy to this Salton Sea Lithium Fund. The catch: no commercial-scale lithium production has started, and no tax revenue has been generated.¹⁷

The most prominent project, Controlled Thermal Resources’ $1.8 billion Hell’s Kitchen Lithium Project, was cleared for construction in January 2025 after surviving a legal challenge from Comité Cívico del Valle and Earthworks that alleged the environmental impact report inadequately analyzed air quality, water supply, hazardous waste, and tribal consultation. An Imperial County Superior Court judge denied the petition, finding the review sufficient.²⁷²⁸ Geothermal energy production is expected by the end of 2026, with lithium extraction to follow.²⁴

What Happens After 2028

The 10-year plan addresses the most urgent playa exposure, but the lake will keep shrinking. The state’s long-range planning process evaluated importing water from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico; a state-appointed independent review panel concluded in 2022 the pipeline approach was not feasible, estimating costs at $65.7 billion to $78.4 billion.²⁹

The panel instead recommended a voluntary, compensated fallowing program with the Imperial Irrigation District to reduce farm water use, paired with a desalination plant at the Salton Sea to treat lake water, at an estimated initial cost of $17 billion. The state has not adopted or rejected the alternative; it remains under consideration for the next phase of feasibility work alongside the Army Corps study due in 2027.²⁹³⁰ For context on the stakes of inaction, the Pacific Institute has estimated that a “do nothing” approach could result in damages ranging from $29 billion to $70 billion over 30 years.³¹

1
Legislative Analyst’s Office. Quantification Settlement Agreement and the Salton Sea
2
Pacific Institute. Breathing Hazard – Air Pollution in the Salton Sea Region
3
Imperial Irrigation District. Salton Sea Air Quality Mitigation Program
4
UC Irvine Public Health. Study Links Wind-Blown Dust From Receding Salton Sea to Reduced Lung Function in Area Children
5
Undark. Scientists Warned of a Salton Sea Disaster – No One Listened
6
Salton Sea Authority. FAQ
7
California Natural Resources Agency. SSMP Phase 1 – 10-Year Plan
8
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Salton Sea Management Plan
9
Salton Sea Management Program. State Reaches Historic Salton Sea Milestone
10
Salton Sea Management Program. Species Conservation Habitat Project
11
CalMatters. Salton Sea Imperiled Lake
12
Governor’s Office. California Reaches Major Restoration Milestone at the Salton Sea
13
Salton Sea Authority. Key Messages
14
California Water Library. SSMP 2025 Annual Report
15
Salton Sea Authority. First State Project Completed at Salton Sea
16
Salton Sea Management Program. SSMP Project Spotlight – North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project
17
Legislative Analyst’s Office. Salton Sea Management Program Report
18
Department of the Interior. Inflation Reduction Act Funds Landmark Agreements to Accelerate Salton Sea Restoration
19
Salton Sea Management Program. More Funding, More Habitat Improvement Through Expanded Salton Sea Restoration Project
20
Salton Sea Authority. USACE Funding Request Resolution
21
Salton Sea Management Program. Salton Sea Conservancy
22
Coachella Valley Independent. Saving the Sea – The Salton Sea Is the Focus of the First New State Conservancy in 15 Years
23
Department of Finance. Salton Sea Conservancy Budget Change Proposal
24
CalMatters. Salton Sea Lithium Mining
25
Imperial County. Lithium Valley
26
Imperial County. Lithium Excise Tax
27
Earthworks. Community Environmental Groups Issue Landmark Legal Challenge to Imperial Valley Lithium Project
28
Courthouse News Service. Judge Dismisses Environmental Justice Groups’ Suit Challenging Lithium Extraction in Imperial Valley
29
Los Angeles Times. Panel Rejects Idea of Filling Salton Sea With Ocean Water
30
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Salton Sea Feasibility Study Progress Takes Center Stage During Tier 1 Meeting
31
Salton Sea Authority. About the Salton Sea Authority