The Salon Sea in California is more toxic gas than we thought

Large in California and The most suitable lakeThe Salon Sea, hydrogen sulfide, which is harmful gas, is exuded at rates that largely exceed air quality standards in the state. Importantly, a new study finds that California air quality control systems may reduce the amount of toxic pollution that reaches people who live near the lake.

Hydrogen sulfide, from which the smell of rotten eggs emit linked For a set of respiratory and nervous symptoms. The new study, published in the magazine GeohealthIt highlights the risks posed by the Salton Sea emissions of nearby communities, which are often from Latin or Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian.

“The societies surrounding the Salon Sea on the front lines of the worsening environmental health crisis,” said Mara Frilic, an assistant professor at the University of Brown, in A. statement. “Our study shows that hydrogen sulfide emissions are not only more intense than the previously captured monitoring, but are systematically reported-especially when sensors are placed away from the lake or outside the alignment with the prevailing wind.”

the Sea of ​​Salon It is about 160 miles (258 km) east of Los Angeles, east of Palm Springs and Cochli Valley. It was initially formed by chance in 1905, when the Colorado River violated the irrigation channel. It has no natural flows or output flows, which are, under the law of the state, In the first place, they benefited from the surface flowing flowing filled with fertilizers and pesticides. Since then the lake has become less than An environmental disaster. It pushed climate change, dryness, and lowering water flows to the levels of Salton Sea Less and less Over the past two decades, increased lake production of hydrogen sulfide and Kicking toxic dust.

To study, researchers from the University of Brown, the University of California in Los Angeles, the University of Loma Linda, and the UC Berkeley partnership with Alianza Coachella Valley, a local community organization, to study the reasons for hydrogen sulfide emissions from the lake.

To measure emissions, the researchers used the data captured by South Coast Air Quality Management District screens (SCAQMD), which were installed by a local agency, in three locations and put additional sensors inside the lake. The study found that between 2013 and 2024, SCAQMD sensors in all three sites exceeded the California air quality standards. Readings reached its climax in the summer months and in August every year 2013 to 2024, Torres Martinez had the closest site to the lake, more than 250 hours of readings that exceeded the standards of the state.

But even these frightening measurements were likely to be less. The air quality sensor scattered in shallow lake water has discovered much higher concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, especially when the winds were blowing on open sediments and shallow water. This indicates that there may be important sources and ignore them for hydrogen sulfide blowing in nearby societies.

The researchers wrote: “Our results indicate that a large part of the hydrogen-sulfide emissions remains imperceptible, which is likely to be transferred to societies without air control stations.”

Among the many societies in the Salon Sea, only three have air quality control sites.

The problem is likely to get worse. The authors of the study wrote that the relief efforts of the Salon Sea did not keep pace with the levels of fallen water, which led to “serious health effects” in an area that already has high levels of asthma and other pulmonary diseases.