In a "green" state, an environmental disaster looms FEW people visit the Salton Sea these days, though when the wind is in the right quarter tens of thousands can smell it. The shores of California's biggest lake are studded with dead fish and dilapidated mobile homes. Photographers occasionally use it as an apocalyptic backdrop. It is slowly becoming more toxic, with the decline likely to accelerate. Yet the state that preaches environmentalism to the rest of the world appears oddly unsure of what to do. The Salton Sea was created in 1905, when a canal breach inundated part of the Mojave desert. Since then it has been supplied almost entirely by run-off from irrigated farms in the Imperial Valley. Because it has no outlet, the lake has gradually become saltier. By the 1950s it supported large populations of imported sea fish. Marketed as "California's Riviera", the Salton Sea briefly attracted more tourists than Yosemite National Park. Motels built during the boom are now boarded up. The lake is 30% saltier than the Pacific Ocean, and much more polluted. Since 2003 only one edible fish, the hardy tilapia, has been seen-and even that is prone to mass "die-offs". Algae thrives, accounting for the smell. Thanks to more efficient farming and water recycling in Mexico, run-off is reduced and the lake is slowly shrinking. Its surface will begin to drop much more quickly from 2017, when the local irrigation district is no longer compelled to supply it with water. Then the real problems will begin. The Salton Sea is shallow