Slabs and other sorrows
For veterans of Slab City the water at Niland Chamber of Commerce is being shut off. You can still dump tanks there but can't take on water. Shut off 1 Jan '15. Two Rivers rest area Calpat also to clo...
Forum Discussion
Slab City isn't on my list of attractions, but I'm curious about it for the dynamic, and with the economy as it is, it can be likened to the canary in the coal mine of what will happen to the rest of most of America if we keep on this road.
If water is denied, the canal is water that isn't potable... but it can be made drinkable by boiling, filtering, or distilling it, and I'm sure that would be the way people would go if water is denied to them from Niland.
The real hurt on Slab City is going to happen in 2017 when the requirement for keeping water flowing into the Salton Sea expires, and the water gets diverted to San Diego or LA. Once incoming water is stopped, it will only be a few years before it becomes a dry lake bed again. Hopefully, LA residents will like the rotten egg smell from that area, since it will be coming at them in force in the years to come.
If I owned either the gas station or the restaurant, I'm sure land around there is inexpensive, so I'd buy a quarter acre, add a few sets of water and dump stations. The money spent for that would be far less than what it costs to get rid of garbage at the Slabs. The gas station would get a decent grocery store added with the essentials of outside life, such as basic things (tents, fans, solar panels) for survival out there.
I'm not a hippie, but if something can be done to make people's lives easier, it is a victory for everyone.
I thought the land belonged to the Federal government, but apparently it does belong to the state, which gets me wondering how long it will be before the land winds up sold or leased to some company whose only purpose in buying the land would be to shoo everyone away or turn Slab City into some "Into the Wild" theme park trying to sell to the "hip" crowd.
If water is denied, the canal is water that isn't potable... but it can be made drinkable by boiling, filtering, or distilling it, and I'm sure that would be the way people would go if water is denied to them from Niland.
The real hurt on Slab City is going to happen in 2017 when the requirement for keeping water flowing into the Salton Sea expires, and the water gets diverted to San Diego or LA. Once incoming water is stopped, it will only be a few years before it becomes a dry lake bed again. Hopefully, LA residents will like the rotten egg smell from that area, since it will be coming at them in force in the years to come.
If I owned either the gas station or the restaurant, I'm sure land around there is inexpensive, so I'd buy a quarter acre, add a few sets of water and dump stations. The money spent for that would be far less than what it costs to get rid of garbage at the Slabs. The gas station would get a decent grocery store added with the essentials of outside life, such as basic things (tents, fans, solar panels) for survival out there.
I'm not a hippie, but if something can be done to make people's lives easier, it is a victory for everyone.
I thought the land belonged to the Federal government, but apparently it does belong to the state, which gets me wondering how long it will be before the land winds up sold or leased to some company whose only purpose in buying the land would be to shoo everyone away or turn Slab City into some "Into the Wild" theme park trying to sell to the "hip" crowd.
