In 1901 the California Development Company, seeking to exploit the Imperial Valley's potential for unlimited agricultural productivity, dug irrigation canals from the Colorado River. In 1905 water broke through the engineered cut in the western bank of the river and nearly all of the river's flow rushed into the valley; by the time the breech was closed, the present-day Salton Sea was created. Moreover, commercial agriculture now has the lead in maintaining the sea, as it is sustained primarily by agricultural drainage from the irrigated fields (the green areas north and south of the sea).

The above images are NASA NTL LandSat7 (pseudo color) photos of the Geo Cover 1990 (left) and 2000 (right). 

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