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SECTION	TITLE	PAGE
	EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	ES-1
1.0	INTRODUCTION	1
1.1	Background	1
2.0	PROJECT SETTING	3
2.1	History of the Salton Sea	4
2.1.1	Lake Cahuilla	4
2.1.2	Salton Sea	5
2.1.3	Agriculture	6
2.1.4	Beneficial Uses	6
2.2	Physical Description	8
2.2.1	Geologic Setting	8
2.2.2	Physical Characteristics	8
2.3	Hydrology	1 0
2.3.1	Inflow	10
2.3.2	Evaporation	12
2.3.3	Surface Elevation	12
2.4	Water Quality	12
2.4.1	Salinity	12
2.4.2	Other Dissolved Solids	15
2.5	Biological Resources	17
2.5.1	Vegetation Communities	20
2.5.2	Wildlife	23
2.5.3	Sensitive Resources	42
2.6	Socioeconomics

3.0	SALTON SEA MANAGEMENT TARGETS	42
3.1	Project Purpose and Need	54
3.2	Management Targets	55
3.2.1	Target Salinity	55
3.2.2	Target Elevation	56
3.2.3	Threshold Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Costs	56
3.2.4	Technological Feasibility	57

SECTION

TITLE

PAGE

4.0	DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED OF MANAGEMENT
	ALTERNATIVES	57
4.1	Diked Impoundments	64
4.1.1	Alternative Dike Structures and Design	64
4.1.2	Diked Impoundment Alternative Configurations	70
4.2	Pump-out	77
4.2.1	Pump-out Alternatives	78
4.3	Combinations of Impoundment and Pump-out Alternatives	88
4.3.1	Diked Impoundment/Evaporation Pond/Pipeline
	Alternative	88
4.3.2	Diked Impoundment/Solar Pond Power Generation/
	Constructed Wetlands	90
4.3.3	Freshwater Shoreline/Pumped Storage	90
4.3.4	Joint USA/Mexico Solar Power Generation/Pumped
	Storage Laguna Salada Salt Disposal	94
4.4	Removal of Salts from Inflow to the Sea	96
4.5	Water Imports	96
4.6	Other Proposed Options	97

5.0	ALTERNATIVES EVALUATION AND SCREENING	97
5.1	Diked Impoundments	97
5.1.1	Time to Reach Target Salinity	98
5.1.2	Elevational Changes	100
5.1.3	Operation and Maintenance Costs	101
5.1.4	Other Considerations	101
5.2	Pump-out	103
5.2.1	Time to Reach Target Salinity	104
5.2.2	Elevational Changes	106
5.2.3	Operation and Maintenance Costs	107
5.2.4	Other Considerations	107
5.3	Combination of Alternatives	109
5.3.1	Time to Reach Target Salinity	109
5.3.2	Elevational Changes	109
5.3.3	Operation and Maintenance Costs	109
5.3.4	Other Considerations	110
5.4	Removal of Salts Before Water Enters the Sea	110
5.5	Water Imports	110
5.6	Other Proposed Options	111
6.0	CONCLUSIONS	111
6.1	Alternatives Screening	111
6.2	Environmental Scoping	113
7.0	REFERENCES	118

LIST OF TABLES

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TITLE

PAGE

2-1	Salton Sea Inflow and Relative Contribution from Major Sources	10
2-2	The Ionic Composition of Salton Sea Water Compared to Ocean
	Water	15
2-3	Concentrations of Selected Nutrients in Bottom Sediments in the
	Salton Sea Area, August, 1986	18
2-4	Fish Species Found Occurring at the Salton Sea	26
2-5	Aquatic Habitat Dependent Birds Occurring at the Salton Sea	33
2-6	Terrestrial Wildlife Species Occurring at the Salton Sea	43
4-1	Proposed Alternatives to Manage the Salton Sea Salinity and
	Surface Elevation	58
4-2	Summarization of the Value Engineering Team's Recommendation
	for Alternative Dike Structures	66
4-3	Corrected Costs for Selected Dike Designs	70
6-1	Proposed Alternatives to Manage Salton Sea Salinity and Surface
	Elevation that Meet Screening Criteria.	114

LIST OF APPENDICES

SECTION

TITLE

PAGE

A Economic Profile Study	A-1
B Sensitive Resources	B-1
C Salton Sea Diked Impoundment Model	C-1
D Salton Sea Hydrologic Pump-out Model	D-1
E Letters of Comment	E-1

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