Researchers, policymakers, community organizations, and local residents are set to gather Friday and Saturday at the UCR Palm Desert building for the Fifth Salton Sea Summit, a free two-day event built around seven panels covering everything from Colorado River water trends to the region's slow-moving lithium boom. The gathering comes as the shrinking lake continues to generate dust, health, and water-supply concerns in the Salton Sea region.
The summit will be held at the UCR Palm Desert building at 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive, according to KESQ, which reported the event's schedule. The seven panels will address Colorado River trends, lithium and energy, habitat projects, public access and recreation, community health, dust and pollution control, and long-term planning for the sea's future, organizers say. The University of California, Riverside's event listing confirms the same Palm Desert address, down to the 92211 zip code.
Attendees can sign up for either remote or in-person attendance, the station reports, and registration gives access to more than just a seat in the room. Per the American Water Works Association's event page for the summit, participation also includes online viewing from home or at one of two satellite locations, in Imperial and Mecca, extending the conversation to communities that live closest to the lake's retreating shoreline.
Posters, Lunch and a Friday Reception
Friday afternoon will also feature a catered reception and poster session showcasing UCR research relevant to the region, the KESQ report notes. Short poster introductions are set to take place right before lunch, with the poster session itself scheduled to begin later in the day at 4:30 p.m. Prospective poster presenters are being asked to submit their abstracts this week and bring their poster to the event next Friday.
In-person attendees will receive coffee, refreshments, and a catered lunch on both days of the summit, according to the same account. The format echoes the fourth biannual Salton Sea Summit, which the UCR Salton Sea Task Force held October 18 and 19, 2024, at the same Palm Desert campus with a similar mix of research sessions, posters, and remote viewing from Imperial and Mecca. That earlier gathering split its sessions between Friday science panels on water, air, and health, and Saturday discussions on policy, planning, projects, and community needs, per the Salton Sea Summit website.
Lithium Projects Still Stuck in Limbo
The lithium and energy panel lands at a pointed moment. Companies have been racing to draw lithium from brine beneath the Salton Sea as demand grows for electric-vehicle batteries, according to Inside Climate News, which reports that at least six new mines are expected to begin extraction by 2030, with another 13 expected to follow. Yet a recent study cited by the outlet found that most lithium mining areas won't have enough water by midcentury to meet the industry's demands — a tension that sits at the heart of the region's so-called lithium valley ambitions.
On the ground, though, progress has been halting. Lithium resources at the Salton Sea remain untapped as extraction plans falter amid legal challenges and funding problems, CalMatters reports. An appeals court sent the environmental review for the Hell's Kitchen project back to Imperial County to correct deficiencies regarding water and air quality effects, even after a judge rejected challenges to that same review in January 2025 and cleared Controlled Thermal Resources to proceed. Two other lithium projects in the region remain in various stages of development, but none are near full operation, and the California Energy Commission has said the slower-than-expected pace owes largely to global lithium markets and prices even as developers secure funding to keep projects moving.
Dust, Health and a Shrinking Lake
The community health and dust panels build on growing research into what the retreating shoreline is doing to nearby residents. A UCR-led study examined air quality and respiratory health in communities surrounding the Salton Sea, according to UC Riverside, finding that outdoor dust events significantly affected indoor air quality, at times doubling typical indoor particulate matter levels for families living nearby. The retreating shoreline remains a focus of environmental discussions around the Salton Sea.
Water policy will also get its due on the agenda. The Imperial Irrigation District has said its conservation agreement with the federal government could leave up to 700,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through this year, funding programs from 2024 through 2026 meant to conserve up to 300,000 acre-feet annually for the drought-strained Colorado River. Those same conservation measures are expected to unlock nearly $250 million in federal funding for Salton Sea restoration efforts, the irrigation district says — money that could shape many of the long-term planning conversations organizers have slated for Saturday.
