Imperial Valley, California
On the front lines of climate change-related combo disasters and the renewable energy transition.
The Imperial Valley is California's hottest and driest county. It is the ancestral home to the Kumeyaay, Cahuilla, Quechan, Cocopah, and Pai Pai Indians and home to approximately 180,000 residents.
Despite the extreme climate, the Imperial Valley is a key agricultural region. Its warm winters--and water diverted from the Colorado River--allow it to produce more than half of the United States' winter vegetables.
As climate change continues to produce water scarcity, water has become incredibly valuable in places like Imperial Valley. In the valley, nearly all of the water that comes from the Colorado River is controlled by a handful of landowners. This has resulted in a "stark divide between the mostly white landowners and the mostly Latino farm workers who labor in their fields" in one California's most impoverished regions.
The Imperial Valley is also home to the Salton Sea, the largest inland body of water in California. It was created in 1905 when flooding from the Colorado River filled the Salton Sink, originally a low-lying basin in the desert in Riverside and Imperial County. The Salton Sea was then intentionally maintained by diverting agricultural runoff and water from the Colorado and became an attractive tourist and wildlife destination.
However, the Salton Sea is now shrinking. The water available from the Colorado River is decreasing rapidly, and farmers are no longer willing to divert water to maintain the sea. In addition, the Imperial Valley's high temperatures, which are being exacerbated by climate change, are driving the evaporation of the remaining water in the sea.
As the Salton Sea shrinks, the salinity and concentration of toxic chemicals deposited by decades of agricultural runoff increases. The sea is now too toxic for fish to survive. The salinity provides an ideal habitat for some kinds of algal blooms, which can contribute to air pollution.
As the lake dries, it exposes "playas," dry fields of dust that contain chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides. This dust is then picked up by the wind and blown into communities, causing serious respiratory conditions. Hospitalization rates for children with asthma in the Salton Sea region are nearly double the state average.
The climate crisis is an inequality magnifier.
—Elizabeth Weil and Mauricio Rodríguez Pons
Clearly, the Imperial Valley is already being impacted by climate change. However, it is also a battleground for the transition to renewable energy.
The climate crisis has led to water scarcity, and in times of uncertainty, some farmers are turning their land into solar farms.
Solar Farm in the Imperial Valley, March 2023
Not all farmers see these fields as a positive, however. Some see solar as a threat to jobs and to the region's agricultural identity.
Similar conflicts between agriculture and renewable energy are playing out across the country, especially in drought-stressed areas. As some farmers strike deals with solar and wind developers, their neighbors treat the industry like an invading force. —Roth, 2023
The Imperial Valley also has a unique resource: geothermal activity. The southern end of the Salton Sea contains the second largest geothermal energy field in California.
One of the geothermal plants on the south shore of the Salton Sea.
This geothermal field contains large amounts of lithium, which is a critical component of the batteries for electric vehicles. As California transitions away from gas-powered vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a steady supply of lithium will be necessary. The Imperial Valley deposits contain enough lithium to supply 40% of the world's demand, including all of the United States' needs. Imperial Valley could become Lithium Valley.
A pilot site for lithium extraction.
Extracting lithium from geothermal brine would be more environmentally friendly than the open-pit mining or evaporation ponds used to produce lithium in Australia, China, and Chile. It could also bring economic investment and opportunity to one of California's most neglected regions, and catalyze habitat restoration of the Salton Sea and surrounding area.
However, not all residents of the valley are sure that the benefits will be equitable. There are questions about who will be employed at these facilities, where the electric vehicles the batteries power will go, and whether there will be infrastructure for electric vehicles made available to Imperial Valley residents. There are also questions about the somewhat unknown environmental impacts of lithium extraction on the already-polluted Salton Sea.
Now, return to the Exploring Combo Disasters Map below to continue exploring the Imperial Valley.
Learn more:
- “Imperial County.” Accessed July 6, 2023. https://imperialcounty.org/ .
- Patel, N. “Salton Sea and Solar Panels: Imperial Valley Farmers Grapple with Drier Future.” KCRW Greater LA. Accessed July 6, 2023. https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/green-energy-moca/salton-sea-imperial-valley-solar .
- Roth, S. (2018, August 1). In the Californian desert, a farm baron is building a water and energy empire . Palm Springs Desert Sun.
- Roth, S. “Want to Solve Climate Change? This California Farm Kingdom Holds a Key.” Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2023, sec. Climate & Environment. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-01-17/want-to-solve-climate-change-this-california-farm-kingdom-holds-the-key .
- Weil, E., & Pons, M. R. (2021, August 17). Postcard from thermal: Surviving the climate gap in Eastern Coachella Valley. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/postcard-from-thermal-surviving-the-climate-gap-in-eastern-coachella-valley https://imperialcounty.org/
