Shrinking lakes, air pollution, and human health: Evidence from California's Salton Sea

Due to increased water withdrawals and ongoing climate change, many inland lakes around the world are shrinking and dry lake beds can be significant-sources of particulate matter air pollution. Using a natural experiment provided by the shrinking Salton Sea in California, this paper shows that each one-foot drop in lake elevation is associated with a 0.28 mu g/m(3) (2.6%) increase in PM2.5 concentrations. IV model results then show that Salton Sea-induced changes in PM2.5 over 1998-2014 led to increases in respiratory mortality of 1.4/yr.-15.6/yr. in the counties surrounding the lake, generating $13.2-$147.3 million in annual health costs. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.