PALM DESERT — Over 100 community members joined a Zoom meeting Saturday, Feb. 5, to learn about the North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project in the first community outreach meeting for the future Salton Sea project.
The meeting included remarks by Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, State Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, Coachella Valley Water District Board Vice President Cástulo Estrada, Salton Sea Authority Executive Director/GM G. Patrick O’Dowd, and Riverside County Chief Operating Officer Juan C. Perez. Each panelist also helped respond to over 30 questions that were presented during the 2-hour discussion.
Riverside County Management Analyst Douglas Ordonez Jr., who is managing the project for Riverside County, gave a presentation on the project, which envisions an approximately 156-acre marina, offset from the Salton Sea by berms, that will create a deep-water reservoir that will provide habitat for species and a recreational lake for the public near the community of North Shore.
Riverside County, which is implementing this $19.25 million state-funded project on behalf of the Salton Sea Authority and in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, is seeking to begin work on the project by the end of 2022. Over coming months, the County will have ongoing discussions with its partner agencies regarding the water source and operations and maintenance of the North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project.
"The North Lake Pilot Demonstration Project is an important habitat and dust suppression project and a major investment in state funding to revitalize the northern end of the Salton Sea as well as the community of North Shore," Perez said in a statement.
Riverside County has launched a Web page for the project, https://rivco.org/community/salton-sea-north-lake-pilot-demonstration-project, which includes a 22-page technical memorandum on the sites being considered for the North Lake.
Videos of Saturday’s meeting can be found at:
English stream https://youtu.be/7osieK9gRpw
Spanish stream https://youtu.be/eytfixGl1pI
More community outreach meetings will be held, with the goal of planning in-person meetings in the communities surrounding the Salton Sea, according to the press release. The next meeting is anticipated in 2-3 months and will be announced and posted on the project website.
(1) comment
Looks like a kiddie pool
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