During the first 15 years after the sale of the Imperial water to San Diego County, the Imperial Irrigation District has been required to put water into the Salton Sea to compensate for the loss of agricultural runoff needed to replenish the sea. As the 2017 deadline for ending the additional mitigation water approached, the district, along with Imperial County, petitioned the California State Water Resources Control Board in 2014 with a demand for state action to fulfill its obligation after years of delays and unfulfilled plans. Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank, was warning that the lack of replenishment water was leading to a "period of very rapid deterioration." The rapidly shrinking sea was a "looming environmental and public health crisis". With the increased shrinkage, dust storms would increase and the rotten-egg smell would reach the coastal cities more frequently.