Goals that focus on regional development or other questions of the local economy, while important, should be compatible with, and not detract from, the primary goal . The various problems being experienced by the Salton Sea are the result of continued human input of pollutants such as nutrients, pesticides, industrial waste, and microorganisms. Future exacerbation of these problems is threatened by potential loss of fresh water inputs due to water transfers. Any proposed restoration plan for the Sea must address all of these pollutants and the situations that cause them, both individually and with regard to their interrelated effects. It must not be forgotten that the Salton Sea is an interior, or terminal, drainage.
All interior drainages are subject to severe fluctuations in both surface level and salinity.
Although in theory both can be regulated by human intervention, the full costs, both monetary and ecological, of doing so should be carefully assessed. Any proposals for reducing salinity must adequately deal with the question of the disposal of the surplus or extracted salt, including full study of the effects on the region of relocation of the excess salts. Such facilities must be designed and sited such that neither wildlife habitat nor human activities are destroyed or adversely altered. Environmental studies of the harmful pollutants that enter the Sea should include as one alternative, and as an integral part of the solution, detailed plans for source reduction, and not just for removal or neutralization. Clean-up of the Sea will involve considerable work on both sides of the border.