| Abstract |
The Salton Sea in California is a terminal lake with reduced inflow from the Colorado River and is facing environmental disaster. In several decades had been mentioned several proposal for the restoration of the Salton Sea by importing seawater, but they all failed to address: (i) salinity balance of the lake – proposing expensive processes such as reverse osmosis and distillers which require substantial amount of electricity, maintenance of filters, etc.; (ii) continuation of pollution from nearby farmland; (iii) practicality of the projects - implementing canals, tunnels, etc., and extreme cost which could not be repaid. The presented proposal is quite different – it includes an architectural element which harmoniously incorporates several new (patented) technologies into a self-sustaining organism. The presented proposal includes several options based on the same concept: 1) Dividing lake into three sections; 2) Importing seawater from the Ocean and 3) Harnessing prevalent geothermal energy. By dividing the lake into three sections (central and two smaller northern and southern sections) and importing seawater into the central section of the lake it prevents continuation pollution of the Lake and provides a condition for tourism (exclusive real-estate, beaches, resorts, hotels, etc.), and vast wildlife sanctuary. Presented proposal also implements several breakthrough technologies such as a) Harnessing hydropower during import of seawater; b) Harnessing solar energy in combination with pipeline system; c) Harnessing prevalent geothermal energy which is accessible in the Salton Sea area by using a completely closed-loop heat exchange system for generation of electricity; d) Desalinization of the lake and production of the potable water as a free by-product; e) Providing source for extraction of lithium and providing depot for waste material. Presented proposal transforms the situation of the Salton Sea from the liability which would exceed $70 billion (incoming environmental disaster – toxic dust storms, health issues, and economic fold) - to the tremendous assets (clean environment and hundreds billion dollars in revenue) – costing only about $10 billion. |