Salton Sea restoration workhsops begin tomorrow

A series of workshops is set to begin Tuesday in Riverside and Imperial counties. The focus will be on the Salton Sea and its ten year restoration plan.

“Our involvement dates back 17 years, we started getting involved in environmental justice. We have been addressing the issues of asthma, we do have a higher prevalence of asthma in Imperial Valley than the rest of the state and in comparison to the rest of the nation,” said Luis Olmedo, Executive Director at Comite Civico Del Valle.

Comite Civico Del Valle is a farm worker founded organization that has been around for 30 years. They are partnering with various federal, state, and local organizations to provide a better understanding of the “10-year plan.”

“All the exposed playa, all the exposed area will now be vulnerable to high winds, and we do experience high winds here. All this dust is going to travel into our communities, which will again add an additional burden to the already poor air quality that we experience,” added Olmedo.

“We’re going to be working with DWR, The Department of Water Resources hosting a series of workshops for the community. They are free and they are open to the entire population, and the main purpose of this workshop is to inform the community the current situation of the Salton Sea,” said Israel Cruz, Communications Coordinator at Comite Civico Del Valle.

There will be a total of seven workshops, starting Tuesday and lasting through July 12th. The workshops will be presented by Bruce Wilcox, Assistant Secretary of Salton Sea policy at the California Natural Resources Agency.

The workshops are geared to help the community better understand the 10- year plan, with an opportunity to engage with the Salton Sea management team.

“We have a huge toxic stew that is happening here, live, and this is real time, and this is something that the community needs to get involved in now, there’s no more time and government can’t do it alone,” explained Olmedo.

For more information on the Salton Sea workshops and how to get involved, you can head to http://resources.ca.gov/salton-sea/