The largest and largest in California most contaminated lakeThe jumping sea, wears hydrogen sulfide, harmful gas, rates that far exceed the standards of the air quality of the state. Scary, a new study finds that California’s air quality monitoring systems may seriously underestimate how much toxic contamination reaches people living near the lake.
Hydrogen sulfide that smells like rotten eggs, is Attached to a multitude of respiratory and neurological symptoms. The new study, published in the newspaper Geohealthemphasizes the risk that Salton Sea’s emissions present to nearby communities, many of which are mainly Latin or Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian.
“The communities around the Jump Sea are on the front lines of a worsening environmental health crisis,” student co-author Mara Freilich, an assistant professor at Brown University, said in Statement. “Our study shows that emissions of hydrogen-sulfide are not only more intense than previous monitoring captured, but they are systematically underwater-precision when sensors are laid off the lake or outside aligning with prevailing winds.”
The Jumping Sea There are about 160 miles (258 kilometers) east of Los -English, just east of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. It was initially formed accidentally in 1905, when the Red River broke its irrigation channel. It has no natural inflows or outflows and is, according to state law, mainly supported by fertilizer-and-pesticide loaded agricultural outflow. The lake has since become nothing less than Environmental disaster. Climate change, drought and reduced water flows pushed the water of the jumping sea Lower and lower Over the past two decades, increasing the production of the lake of hydrogen sulfide and kicking toxic dust.
For the study, researchers from Brown University, UCLA, Loma Linda University, and UC Berkeley partnered with Alianza Coachella Valley, a local community organization, to examine the causes of hydrogen sulfide emissions of the lake.
To measure emissions, the researchers used data captured by monitors of South Coast Air Quality Management (SCAQMD), installed by a local agency, at three locations and put additional sensors in the lake. The study found that between 2013 and 2024, SCAQMD sensors at all three locations have consistently exceeded California’s air quality standards. The readings peaked in the summer months and in August for each year from 2013 to 2024, Torres Martinez, the closest place to the lake, had an average of over 250 hours of readings that exceeded state standards.
But even these scary measurements were probably underestimated, the authors wrote. An air quality sensor deployed in the shallow waters of the lake detected substantially higher concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, especially when the wind blew over exposed sediment and shallow water. This suggests that there can be significant and overlooked sources of hydrogen sulfide blowing into nearby communities.
“Our results indicate that an important part of [hydrogen-sulfide] Issues remain unaccountable, perhaps transported to communities without air stations, “the researchers wrote.
Among the many communities on the Jump Sea, only three have air quality monitoring locations.
The problem is likely to get worse. Mitigation efforts for the Jump Sea did not support water levels of water, the study authors wrote, causing “serious health effects” in an area that already has high levels of asthma and other lung diseases.
