California’s drying Salton Sea harms the lungs of people living nearby, say researchers

As the Salton Sea shrinks, dust from its drying bed proliferates in the surrounding air. Photograph: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Chemical-laden dust from southern California’s drying Salton Sea is probably harming the lungs of people around the shrinking body of water, and the effects are especially pronounced in children, new peer-reviewed research from the University of California, Irvine, shows.

A separate peer-reviewed study from the University of California, Riverside, also found the Salton Sea’s contaminated dust seemed to alter lung microbiome, which could trigger pulmonary problems that have been reported around the lake.