Over the last 25 years, the Salton Sea has lost a third of its water due to an over-allocated Colorado River. As it shrinks, the sea’s salts plus pollutants from agricultural runoff reach higher concentrations. To protect the air and water quality, shoreline residents have become community scientists.

Tijuana’s Citizens’ Flood Monitor offers a model for data collection in the flood-affected West.

A new research and monitoring program aims to conserve threatened but overlooked saline ecosystems.