Why This Californian City Touted To Be The Next Palm Springs Could Never Become One

The city of Palm Springs, California is a resort city famous for its luxury residential homes. Palm Springs was considered a benchmark for a long time as a well-planned luxurious cosmopolitan city in both the US and beyond. There was another American city that was once dubbed the next Palm Springs but now this place has a sparse population because of the noxious air and the smell of dead fish is everywhere.

Once a sought-after tourist destination, the Salton Sea in Imperial County has transformed into a site plagued by perilous algae blooms, noxious air quality, and a continuous onslaught of dust. The prevalence of brown-beige dust in the Southern Californian region has reached such alarming levels that residents frequently find themselves waking up at night with skin tinted purple, struggling to breathe.

The Salton Sea is reportedly shrinking due to decades of climate change-induced drought and rising temperatures. Every year it gets smaller, and newly exposed arsenic-laden shoreline leaches into the atmosphere, killing fish and sickening humans. Hospitalization rates for children with asthma living near the ocean are among the highest in the state. This is twice the average, with one in five children suffering from this condition.

A significant portion of Imperial County’s population comprises Mexican American farm workers and outdoor labourers, residing in one of California’s most economically disadvantaged regions. These individuals are exposed to a hazardous combination of Salton Sea dust and pesticides daily. In towns such as Calipatria, Brawley, and Westmorland, located near the lake, adult asthma rates rank among the highest in the state.

In 1905, the Salton Sea emerged following the breach of an irrigation canal by the Colorado River, which subsequently filled an ancient desert basin. This event created a haven for migratory shorebirds, and by the mid-20th century, it had also become a hotspot for celebrities and dignitaries. The shores were adorned with palm trees by developers who constructed luxurious resorts around its edges, making it a favoured destination for icons like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and the Beach Boys. Soon, toxic runoff from surrounding farms and increasing salinity killed all the wildlife in and around the lake and much of the area resembles a post-apocalyptic world now.