The number of campers annually at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area has dropped by two-thirds in seven years. The number of fishermen and hunters at the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge is down by half. The New River, one of two rivers that empty into the Salton Sea, has been called the most polluted river in North America. Fluctuating water levels in the sea, caused by irrigation runoff and rain runoff from the Santa Rosa Mountains and the Chocolate Mountains, have flooded waterfront businesses, then left boat ramps high and dry. Motels, marinas and restaurants are abandoned, vandalized and graffitied.
Streets lead to seaside subdivisions never built.
Even the lowliest desert denizens had just about given up on the Salton Sea. That morning the wind was blowing a foul algae-sewage smell his way. Wambaugh was not the first to use the Salton Sea as backdrop for corruption. Whether the filmmakers knew it or not, the Salton Sea is an apt metaphor for human arrogance and conflicting desires. By all the laws of nature, the Salton Sea should not exist.