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Environment & Climate Resilience

Continuing Public Health and Environmental Crisis at the Salton Sea Amid Gaps in Oversight

Contributors

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Isabella B. Arzeno-Soltero Experts
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Consuelo Alejandra Márquez Experts
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Alejandra G. Lopez Experts

Drawing from over a year of high-frequency data collected since August 2023 by the Salton Sea Environmental Timeseries (SSET), the briefs reveal widespread nutrient pollution, dangerously low oxygen levels in the lake, and frequent episodes of hydrogen sulfide emissions that exceed California’s health standards—conditions occurring among residents in areas that rank among the most burdened by pollution in the state.

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Contact: lppipress@luskin.ucla.edu

New UCLA Briefs Reveal Continuing Public Health and Environmental Crisis at the Salton Sea Amid Gaps in Oversight

LOS ANGELES (September 4, 2025) — Two new expert issue briefs—one on air-quality and the other on water-quality—published today by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute document how gaps in monitoring and enforcement have contributed to ongoing toxic conditions at the Salton Sea placing nearby residents at continued risk.

Drawing from over a year of high-frequency data collected since August 2023 by the Salton Sea Environmental Timeseries (SSET), the briefs reveal widespread nutrient pollution, dangerously low oxygen levels in the lake, and frequent episodes of hydrogen sulfide emissions that exceed California’s health standards—conditions occurring among residents in areas that rank among the most burdened by pollution in the state. These environmental hazards have persisted even as state and federal agencies work under a legal obligation to restore the Salton Sea.

The findings of the briefs include:

  • Air Quality: Hydrogen sulfide emissions, known for their strong “rotten egg” odor and harmful health impacts, exceeded California’s state standard for hundreds of hours in both 2024 and 2025. Existing government sensors, positioned around the Sea, captured only a fraction of these exceedances.
  • Water Quality: Nitrogen levels in the Salton Sea exceed those in 95% of U.S. lakes, fueling algal blooms that deplete oxygen and create conditions for hydrogen sulfide to form and escape into the air. Community monitoring shows low-oxygen or hypoxic events happen much more often than federal monitors indicate..

Together, the reports authored by LPPI faculty affiliate, Dr. Isabella B. Arzeno-Soltero, communication professional at the Desert Healthcare District Consuelo A. Márquez, and doctoral student Alejandra G. López, highlight how inadequate monitoring and enforcement compound longstanding environmental injustices. Despite the restoration commitments outlined in the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement, significant work remains to fully deliver on those responsibilities.

“The state and federal government are legally bound to restore the Salton Sea,” said Arzeno-Soltero, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA and Principal Investigator for the community-led project. “Our analyses show what that obligation must look like today: enforceable pollution controls, transparent monitoring, and funding mechanisms that ensure communities are protected.”

The authors recommend the following policy measures to address the crisis:

  • Establish and enforce hydrogen sulfide and nutrient limits through interagency coordination and develop enforcement mechanisms led by local groups, transparent reporting, and federal alignment. This will ensure the state can make H₂S regulations actionable and hold upstream water agencies accountable.
  • Strengthen coordination between existing agencies—county departments, tribal governments, and community-based organizations—to jointly oversee monitoring, enforcement, and public health interventions at the Salton Sea.
  • Expand access to healthcare in the region by deepening partnerships with local clinics, ensuring Medi-Cal coverage remains available to undocumented adults, and supporting resident-led health interventions due to the region’s high uninsured rates, chronic exposure to pollution, and limited access to care.
  • Fund nutrient bioremediation projects, enforce Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), and support community-led remediation of the exposed Salton Sea playa before it is repurposed.
  • Allocate revenues from state and federal programs—including the Salton Sea Lithium Fund and Deficit Irrigation Program—to compensate residents facing health burdens.

López, a PhD candidate in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, added, “Families live with chronic exposure to pollutants that would never be tolerated elsewhere. We call for enforceable standards and local-focused solutions that put residents at the center of restoration.”

“The research confirms what residents have known for years: government monitoring has fallen short and only tells part of the story,” said Márquez, a resident of the eastern Coachella Valley. “By failing to capture the full scale of pollution, agencies in charge have underestimated risk to communities and delayed meaningful action. The local population, who are predominantly Latinx, immigrant and Indigenous, has carried the burden of these conditions for too long.”

Read the full air-quality brief here and the water-quality brief here.

About UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute is a non-partisan research institute that seeks to inform, engage, and empower Latinos through innovative research and policy analysis. LPPI aims to promote equitable and inclusive policies that address the needs of the Latino community and advance social justice. latino.ucla.edu.