We’re back on the road this week, to California’s Salton Sea, a salty lake in the desert that was once marketed as “Palm Springs with water.” Today the water is receding and increasingly toxic. The community that once thrived here now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. 

But there is some hope. There’s a huge amount of lithium all around the Salton Sea in the bubbling hot brine deep underground. Some hopeful modern-day 49ers have big plans to get it out. If they can only succeed, the lithium here could meet 40 percent of the world’s demand.

The Resource

The Colorado River feeds us and powers our lives, irrigating millions of acres of farmland and generating billions of kilowatt-hours in hydroelectric power. Forty million people get drinking water from the Colorado River. Cities from Denver to Los Angeles couldn’t exist without it. It supports 30 Tribal Nations.
But we’re using more water than the river has to give. The Colorado River has already lost trillions of gallons to rising temperatures over the last two decades. Meanwhile, rampant growth and water-intensive farming have depleted groundwater supplies. This means Western states must fundamentally rethink how water is divided up and used. In the latest season of “How We Survive,” we unpack the water crisis in the American West and investigate the solutions that could help us survive.

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The Colorado River, vital to the American West, faces a crisis as demand surpasses its supply due to rising temperatures and unsustainable usage practices. As millions depend on its waters for survival, challenges like rampant growth and water-intensive farming further strain this precious resource. Across the region, communities must rethink water distribution and utilization to adapt to a drier future.
In this special, we follow Leigh Harris and her husband Franck Avril, residents grappling with water scarcity in their dream home built on a dry lot. Their journey underscores the urgency of finding affordable water sources amidst worsening drought. Additionally, we delve into technological innovations, from desalination to rain water, offering potential solutions to the crisis. We also examine a growing movement, rooted in Indigenous values, to give nature — rivers, fish, crops and trees — the same rights as people, and what that might mean for the future of the Colorado River.

The Worth of Water

We are working on another season of our series Burning Questions and we want to hear from you! What are your most pressing climate questions? Are you trying to figure out when to invest in an electric car? Or maybe you want to make climate-friendly changes to your diet?
Whatever your question is you can send us a note or a voice memo to survive@marketplace.org

Send us your climate questions!

We have a special episode for you today. We’re sharing an episode of the new podcast from APM Studios and Western Sound called “Ripple.”
The largest oil spill in American history captivated the public’s attention for the entire summer of 2010. Authorities told a story of a herculean response effort that made shorelines safe and avoided a worst case scenario. Was that really the whole picture?
“Ripple” is a new series investigating the stories we were told were over.
In Season One, the reporting team traveled hundreds of miles across the Gulf Coast to learn the ongoing effects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill — which are still impacting many coastal residents more than a decade later. Here is episode 1! And if you’d like to hear more episodes, you can find “Ripple” wherever you get your podcasts.

Introducing: Ripple (bonus episode)

Participate in the cycle of life and sequester some carbon while you’re at it — even if you don’t have a city-provided green bin! Caleigh Wells and Candice Dickens-Russell geek out about their own composting methods, and discuss what they’ve learned from an urban farm owner.

The Resource

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