Harnessing Energy and Water in the Salton Sea

The Salton Sea in California is a terminal lake with reduced inflow from the Colorado River and is facing environmental disaster. In several decades had been mentioned several proposals for the restoration of the Salton Sea by importing seawater, but they all failed to address: (i) salinity balance of the lake - proposing expensive processes such as reverse osmosis and distillers which require a substantial amount of electricity, maintenance of filters, etc.; (ii) continuation of pollution from nearby farmland; (iii) practicality of the projects - implementing canals, tunnels, etc., and extreme cost which could not be repaid.  The presented proposal is quite different - it includes an architectural design that harmoniously incorporates several breakthrough (patented) technologies into a self-sustaining organism. The presented proposal includes several options based on the same concept:

1. Dividing the lake into three sections;
2. Importing seawater from the Ocean and
3. Harnessing prevalent geothermal energy.

By dividing the Lake into three sections (central and two smaller northern and southern sections) and importing seawater into the central section of the Lake prevents the continuation of pollution of the Lake, provides a condition for tourism (exclusive real-estate, beaches, resorts, hotels, etc.), and vast wildlife sanctuary.

The presented proposal also implements several breakthrough technologies such as a) Redirecting New River and Alamo River back to Mexico and in return getting corridor for importing seawater from the Gulf of California.  b) Harnessing hydropower in the downhill routes during import of seawater; c) Harnessing solar energy in combination with a pipeline system; d) Harnessing prevalent geothermal energy which is accessible in the Salton Sea area by using a completely closed-loop heat exchange system for the generation of electricity; e) Desalinating the Lake and in process of desalinization producing potable water as a free by-product and brine which can be used for the production of Lithium; f) Providing a depot for waste material.

The presented proposal transforms the situation of the Salton Sea from the liability which would exceed $70 billion (environmental disaster - toxic dust storms, health issues, and economic fold) - to the tremendous assets (clean environment and generating revenue of several hundreds of billion dollars in a few decades and would continue so in the future) -  costing only about $17 billion.

Nikola Lakic
CEO/President
Geothermal Worldwide Inc.

Mr. Nikola Lakic, is Graduate Engineer, Architect. He is the inventor of several breakthrough technologies for harnessing renewable energy (Solar, Hydro, Geothermal) which he has modified to incorporate the local condition of the Salton Sea area. He is the author of the long-term solution for the restoration of the Salton Sea – a terminal Lake in California. He is also the inventor of the new system for the desalinization of salty water using solar and/or geothermal energy to generate electricity and having potable water as a free byproduct. His proposal transforms the situation of incoming ecological disaster into the situation of a clean environment and prosperity for nearby communities.