Looming catastrophe at the Salton Sea

An area of the Salton Sea that used to be covered by water is now a desert scene dotted with dead trees.

The picnic gazebos and tables are empty at Salton Sea State Park, where some people have described the body of water as an “environmental time-bomb.”

Old dock pylons, the remnants of a defunct yacht club, are seen at night in the water in Salton City, Calif.

A 1908 image of a salt harvest at the Salton Sea.

Dead tilapia are scattered along the shoreline of the Salton Sea where the state of California is attempting to save the onetime landmark body of water from an environmental disaster.

A picnic table at Corvina Beach on the north shore of the Salton Sea is a lonely place these days.

Cormorants are perched in an old dead tree on the shore of the Salton Sea.

A pelican paddles past Corvina Beach along the north shore of the Salton Sea.

An area of the Salton Sea that used to be covered by water is now a desert scene dotted with dead trees and debris.

Bruce Wilcox, environmental manager with the Imperial Irrigation District, looks toward the dry lake bottom of the Salton Sea at what’s known as Red Hill Marina.

Bruce Wilcox, Environmental Manager with the Imperial Irrigation District, scoops up a mud/algae sample from the hot, bubbling sulfur mud pots on the southeast shore of the Salton Sea.

Ducks fly in formation over the southeastern shore of the Salton Sea.