Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Question: The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, didn’t exist a little over a century ago. How was it created?

Answer: By accident. In 1905, floodwaters from the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal built to supply California’s Imperial Valley. The river flowed into the dry Salton Sink for nearly two years before engineers closed the breach in 1907, creating the Salton Sea. The lake has persisted ever since, sustained largely by agricultural runoff.