Local filmmakers raise awareness of Salton Sea health risks
A group of young filmmakers who live near the Salton Sea are raising awareness about the environmental and public health crisis they and thousands of others live around every day.
Sahara Huazano was born and raised in Mecca, just a few miles from the Salton Sea.
“My family, my brothers suffer from asthma and for us, our concern is that if the lake shrinks, which it is, and if there’s not enough projects to mitigate the dust then it’s going to affect my family where they’re not going to be healthy,” Huazano said.
Huazano says it’s one reason she’s become part of the solution, through her work with “Alianza Coachella Valley.”
“We’re trying to work with the state under the Salton Sea management plan to make sure that ten-year plan will speak to public needs in the Coachella Valley,” Huazano said.
The goal of the ten-year plan is to make the making the Salton Sea and the surrounding into a thriving community and tourist destination.
The plan has received support from federal, state, and local stakeholders. Re-elected Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz said he is making it one of his main priorities in the 2019 Congressional year.
“We have a window of opportunity now that we have a new governor, to make sure that he visits and that we work as a team to implement the California water management project, the Salton sea management project, so we can get the results we want in the ten-year plan. We’ve had enormous momentum, enormous projects, and funding,” Ruiz said.
People featured in the Salton Sea documentary, “Estamos Aqui,” said the conversations behind California’s largest lake should be centered around protecting it’s neighboring communities.
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“There’s a vibrant community full of expertise, hope, full of greatness that should be the center point in any conversation about the Salton Sea,” said Nere Guadalupe Montes, a North Shore resident. “It’s our home, and it’s going to be our home forever.”
A screening of the documentary was held tonight at Veteran’s Park in Coachella. Attendees also had the chance to view demonstrations of scientific research happening at the Salton Sea and learn about community organizing work happening right now.
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Noticias en español: Telemundo 15
