By Janet Raloff
For as long as most people can remember, much of California’s 110-square-mile Owens Lake has been dry as dust. In fact, the area’s desiccated lake bed has been the nation’s largest source of dust (SN: 10/6/01, p. 218: Ill Winds). It’s not just any dust that billows off the site, but particles of arsenic-laced silt and salt small enough to be inhaled deeply.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/11/812.jpg?resize=109%2C150&ssl=1)
That’s about to change, with some of Owens Lake’s parched expanse slated to become mud.