US to spend $250m on cleanup at California’s toxic Salton Sea

Move could help restore drying lake, a former resort destination that has deteriorated into an environmental crisis amid drought

The US government said on Monday it will spend up to $250m over four years to help mitigate an environmental health disaster that has been brewing in California's Salton Sea for nearly two decades.

The inland lake, which is fed by agricultural runoff and wastewater, has slowly been shrinking, exposing a powdery shoreline laced with arsenic, selenium and DDT. Dust from the drying lake has wafted into surrounding communities, exacerbating pollution and consequently respiratory conditions in one of California's poorest and most environmentally burdened regions.