Super Bloom 2019, Salton Sea sidebar

The Salton Sea, born from an hydrological mistake, spent its formative years completely unsure of itself, but emerged from adolescence with aspirations of rivaling Palm Springs.  This desert oasis was supposed to thrive as a recreational destination for masses from the farther flung metropolises whose residents needed occasional escapes.  Platte maps had been drawn, parcels of land had been sold off, houses built and facilities for not-quite-all varieties of adult debauchery had been built: yacht clubs for the day drinkers, night clubs for the night drinkers, bars for drinkers who didn't like clubs and water recreation of all sorts.  Celebrities started arriving for vacations and it was a genuine tourism destination as it headed into adulthood.

As with any hard-charging lifestyle flinging itself forward in double-time, The Salton Sea's development couldn't be sustained.  Any artificial sea would normally dry out quickly, but irrigation run-off kept The Salton Sea watered.  This run-off wasn't closely monitored or managed.  Over time, it turned the Salton Sea saltier and saltier.  Eventually, sufficiently hot days normal in the region choked the sea of oxygen.  No oxygen, fish die.  Fish die, algae blooms.  Somewhere along the way, botulism has also entered the sea, causing large die-offs of migratory birds seeking some piece of the ever-diminishing wetlands on their routes.  The fish still die by the millions each year, but somehow the tilapia replenish themselves.  Active management has lessened the impact of botulism on the birds.

Even the irrigation run-off can not prevent the dwindling of water.  The sea is evaporating away year-by-climate-change-altered-year, with occasionally long periods of water diversion to various local municipalities accelerating the process.  Houses have been abandoned.  Towns have been hollowed out, growth stunted from the unfulfilled promises, ruins manifesting in empty commercial buildings with caved-in roofs.  These remnants take an unending beating from the desert sun and wind, mostly populated by the desperate or down-on-their-luck.  Farms do sustain some homes and businesses and some genuine desert-dwellers thrive, but the numbers are nowhere near the levels needed to keep these main streets ticking.  In hindsight, it's not clear why anyone thought something as contaminant-ridden as irrigation run-off would be able to sustain any kind of appealing life, but when the west was growing dreams and outgrowing them regularly, it's not hard to imagine grifters convincing wide-eyed newcomers what the next big thing would be.