Owens Lake

Owens Lake is a 100 square mile alkali lake that famously dried up after the city of Los Angeles diverted the region's water to its aqueduct. Dust blowing from the exposed dry lake bed makes OWens Lake the largest point source of PM 10 (10 micron Particulate Matter) airborne pollution in the country. After years of political campaigning by local residents, in July 1998 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District signed an agreement to attain federal air quality standards at the Lake by 2006. Dust control measures, already underway, consist of shallow flooding, cultivation of saltgrass, and spreading gravel on the lakebed.

The redness of the salt deposits is caused by salt loving halophilic bacteria. Their survival in this harsh and inhospitable environment makes them the subject of study by NASA, which believes that similar life could inhabit Mars and the Jovian moons Europa and Callisto. NASA is also studying the protein that gives the bacteria their intense color for possible “electronic ink” displays.