| KATE WILSON “THE SALTON BOIL” TFM 110 | |
| VIDEO | AUDIO |
| PANORAMIC SHOT OF THE SHORE OF SALTON SEA. SLOWLY ZOOM IN UNTIL THE DETRITUS ON THE SHORE IS COMPLETELY VISIBLE. | LIVE SOUND: WAVES LAPPING ON SHORE NARRATOR (OFF CAMERA): Imagine yourself in sunny Southern California. You go for a walk on the beach, feet crunching in the sand as the wind whips through your hair and the sun beats down on your face. If that shore happens to be in Salton City, the wind will smell like your freshman roommate’s gym bag. You look down and your feet aren’t crunching the sand, they’re helping pulverize a few of the thousands of fish skeletons that lie on the shore of California’s dying sea, and you think, ”Maybe today I shouldn’t have worn flip-flops.” END WATER NOISE |
| LONG SHOT OF SALTON SEA IN THE BORREGO DESERT COMPUTER GENERATED MAP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, HIGHLIGHTING THE SEA AND IMPERIAL VALLEY. LONG SHOTS OF IMPERIAL VALLEY’S IRRIGATION, CANALS, FARMS. LONG SHOT OF SALTON SEA. STOCK FOOTAGE: OWEN’S VALLEY DUSTBOWL. | NARRATOR (OFF CAMERA) The Sea is located in the Anza Borrego desert, north of California’s Imperial Valley. Currently, Imperial Valley supplies the United States with a great deal of their winter produce, including vegetables, citrus fruits, grains, cotton, and dairy products. With water losses due to water transfers from Imperial Valley and evaporation, the sea’s saline and particulate concentration are putting it at risk of being a dead sea. Further, the evaporation may vaporize the wastes that are now lining the mud on the sea’s floor, coating Imperial Valley and other regions of Southern California in a layer of toxic dust. |
| STOCK FOOTAGE: THE LEVEES BREAKING IN “THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH” THE GRAINY BLACK AND WHITE WESTERN DRAMATIZES THE WATER RUSHING THROUGH THE DAM, RUSHING OVER THE LAND AND CARRYING AWAY HOUSES, UNTIL ONLY THOSE LEFT AT HIGHER GROUND CAN TAKE IN A VAST SEA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT. | NARRATOR (OFF CAMERA) In the beginning, it was a sink. The depression left by ancient Lake Cahuilla was filled in 1905, when the backed up silt from the Colorado River broke down the dam that had diverted its path to feed the growing Imperial Valley. This damage was just repaired, when the dam broke again in 1906. The water created what is now the largest inland body of water in California. |
| B & W PHOTOS: WELCOME TO THE “SALTON RIVIERA”. BUILDING OF SALTON CITY STOCK FOOTAGE: OLD HOLLYWOOD AT THE BEACH: WATERSKIING, LOUNGING, SMILING AND WAVING AT THE CAMERA. | NARRATOR (OFF CAMERA): With the new waterway blooming in the boom of Southern California’s growth, developers dreamed of creating a balmy Riviera where Hollywood’s stars would come to frolic, water-ski, and smile for the cameras. While there were some tourists, Hollywood never came inland to Salton City. |
| STOCK FOOTAGE: BIRDS AT SALTON SEA | LIVE SOUND. BIRDS NARRATOR (OFF CAMERA): Who did come were birds. The sea has now been dubbed “California’s Everglades” since the flight path of sub tropical birds now takes them to Salton Sea, making it a great place for intrepid bird-watchers. That is, if they can brave the smell. END BIRD SOUND. |
| MEDIUM SHOT OF SALTON EXPERT #1 STOCK FOOTAGE: BACTERIA BREEDING STOCK FOOTAGE: AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY IN IMPERIAL VALLEY | SALTON EXPERT #1 Changing physical, biological, and chemical processes produce a variety of odors: from the familiar rotten-egg stench of hydrogen sulfide (produced by bacteria when oxygen is low), to the crisp sea-salt smell of the saline waters. Other influences in and around the Sea are agriculture, geothermal power plants, wetland habitats, and even decaying fish. Conditions such as wind, heat, sunlight, and water quality of inflow vary throughout the year, yielding the dynamic and unique smells characteristic of the Sea. |
| MEDIUM SHOT OF MARINE BIOLOGIST #1 STOCK PHOTO: SALTON SEA IN THE ANZA BORREGO DESERT STOCK PHOTOS: DEAD FISH & BIRDS FROM SALTON SEA. STOCK FOOTAGE OF BACTERIA REPLICATING MEDIUM SHOT OF MARINE BIOLOGIST #1 | MARINE BIOLOGIST #1: The birds and fish that have been transplanted to the sea are dying, not because of the pollution, ironically, but because the solute levels are so high. Some have adapted to deal with the salinity, but the water grows bacteria and phytoplankton. In the spring and summer, as you may be aware, Borrego is dryer and hotter than Death valley. The microscopic organisms begin to die and absorb the dissolved oxygen in the water, so the fish basically drown. The bacteria spiking on a dry year were what caused the massive plague for the birds back in the late 90’s where hundreds of the flock died off one year. It was really awful, but the one upside was it brought attention to the mounting problem with the sea. |
| STOCK FOOTAGE: SONNY BONO | SONNY BONO: Making an impassioned speech about imperial valley and Salton Sea. |
| MEDIUM SHOT OF SALTON EXPERT 2 COMPUTER ANIMATION OF CHARTS AND PROJECTED MAP OF SHRINKING SEA. STOCK FOOTAGE: DUST BOWL AT OWENS VALLEY. DUST IN THE WIND OFF THE LAKE BED. FARMERS IN HOSPITAL RESPIRATORY THERAPY SESSION. MEDIUM SHOT OF SALTON EXPERT 2 | Salton Expert 2: There are two problems with the sea, as it stands now. The water transfers, which divert the water from Imperial Valley and the sea, are causing the sea’s level to lower, and increasing its concentration. A reduction of inflow by proposed water transfers would lower the lake by 16 to 23 inches, but that means exposing up to 120 square miles of land, twice the area of the Owens Dry Lake. There are thousands of pounds of industrial and agricultural runoff at the bottom of the sea, including something called PM10, which are chemicals smaller than 10 microns- the leading cause of air pollution. When Owens valley lake dried, it released a significant amount of PM10, as well as a lot of fine dust into the air, leading people in imperial valley to have an asthma hospitalization rate twice the national average. The dust from Salton sea would reach most of Southern California, but the air quality in Imperial Valley would be incredibly bad. I would venture to say, almost unlivable. And for one of California’s chief food growers, that would cause a huge economic problem with the rest of California, and the states which buy their produce from Imperial Farms. |
| MEDIUM SHOT OF IMPERIAL VALLEY ASTHMATIC | IMPERIAL VALLEY ASTMATIC: Interview about experience with air quality after Owens Valley dustbowl. |
| MEDIUM SHOT OF SALTON EXPERT 1 | SALTON EXPERT 1: Projects have been proposed to keep the water levels stabilized and keep it from becoming a dead sea. All are will cost billions of dollars, but are necessary to prevent the environmental blight and an even more expensive clean-up like we saw in Owens Valley. |
| STOCK FOOTAGE: DESALINATION PLANT IN SAUDI ARABIA COMPUTER ANIMATION OF DESALINATION PROCESS | SALTON EXPERT 1: OFF SCREEN Desalination by using semi-permeable filters has been used by Saudi Arabia and other Arab republics for decades, and the new technology has cut the cost of desalination almost in half. Also, with further study and technology in the states, it may be even more cost effective. Desalination of the Sea’s water, in conjunction with solar evaporation ponds, may generate drinkable water for Southern California, while rapidly removing salts. Also, on-sea desalination may enable solar pond efforts to function more efficiently, even if water transfers take place. |
| COMPUTER ANIMATION OF INTERACTIVE MAP, SHOWING THE PATH OF THE NEW INFLOWS IN 3-D, SHOWING BOTH THE LENGTH OF PIPELINE, AND ALSO THE CLIMB THE PIPELINE WOULD MAKE. COMPUTER ANIMATED MAP HIGHLIGHTS HOW CLOSE YUMA, ET.AL ARE TO IMPERIAL VALLEY. | SALTON EXPERT 1: OFF SCREEN Options are limited for providing additional inflows to the Sea. With California needing to reduce its draw from the Colorado River, only two other sources are available: import from the ocean, or import from municipal wastewater streams. Gulf of California—importation of Gulf waters would require a 100-mile pipeline, and only a 40-foot lift, but would require complex negotiations with Mexico. Pacific Ocean—importation from the open Pacific would require a lift of several thousand feet. It might make more sense to simply desalinate on the coast in lieu of pumping it in hundreds of miles. Municipal wastewater streams are much more promising. Importation of tertiary treated wastewater from Yuma, the San Bernardino Valley, or Coachella Valley would augment inflows and improve water quality in the Sea. |
| COMPUTER ANIMATION: SHOW THE PROCESS OF THE SOLAR PONDS’ EVAPORATION BY GRADING THE SALINITY OF THE WATER FROM RED (MOST CONCENTRATED) TO BLUE (LEAST). | The project now underway is to build a retaining wall, creating solar evaporation ponds, where water is pumped into the pond, allowed to evaporate and the salts removed permanently. The ponds can be built in the Sea itself (displacing water and thereby allowing maintenance of higher lake elevations) or on land near the Sea. Approximately 100,000 acre-feet of water must be moved to the ponds to remove the amount of salt that enters the sea each year. |
| Stock footage: EES Computer animation showing red for salt and blue for water, salt stays in, water goes out. | EES are essentially giant snow blowers that take Seawater and vaporize it, causing more rapid concentration of salts. EES may be implemented in conjunction with solar ponds for more efficient salt removal. |
| Long shot of the sea, showing wildlife both living in the water and crunchy on the sand. CLOSE UP OF A HAND TURNING OFF A RUNNING FAUCET. MEDIUM SHOT OF A WATER EFFICIENT YARD. LONG SHOT: IMPERIAL VALLEY MEDIUM SHOT: PEOPLE COUGHING IN E.R. LONG SHOT OF THE SEA. | NARRATOR: OFF SCREEN The Salton Sea, though it started as an accident, is now an integral part of Southern California’s environmental and agricultural base. Restoration efforts will be complicated by the fact that the San Andreas Fault lies under the sea, requiring earthquake proofing all new structures. All restoration alternatives could and should be combined with statewide conservation efforts. Enormous water savings could be painlessly realized by implementation of simple water conservation methods. Though many who live within a hundred miles are ignorant of this problem, they will be effected by it goes on untreated, whether by the hit taken by Califonia’s economy when Imperial Valley is too toxic to grow food, or by the influx of people in the emergency room for illness caused by the vaporized wastes. This problem will not just go away, and the longer we wait, the harder it will be to fix. |
END.
