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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Arial><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>CALIFORNIA <br>
Contaminated valley drain water a problem yet unsolved <br>
Public comment on controversy closes on Aug. 1</span></font></b><b><font
size=6 face=Arial><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:
bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=author1><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><!-- START WRITER CREDIT--><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'><a href="mailto:glenmartin@sfchronicle.com"><!-- END HEADLINE/DECK & SUBHEADLINE/SUBDECK -->Glen
Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer</a></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=date1><font size=1 color="#cc3333" face=Arial><span style='font-size:
7.5pt'>Tuesday, July 19, 2005</span><!-- END WRITER CREDIT--></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<!-- end #contentheader --><!-- <hr> now part of stylesheet <hr noshade size="1" color="#CCC" />--><!-- START STORY -->
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<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Time is running out on the public's
opportunity to express itself about possible solutions to a problem that has
vexed environmentalists and <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType> farmers for decades -- the
disposal of selenium-tainted agricultural drain water from the <st1:place
w:st="on">Central Valley</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> Bureau of Reclamation is
looking at three alternatives to the drain water problem, all of them
controversial. One would discharge the waste -- which is a danger to birds and
fish -- into the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sacramento-San</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType>
Delta, a drinking water source for several <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">East</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
communities. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The public comment period will end Aug. 1. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Contaminated drain water has long plagued <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> agribusiness. The problem is caused
by irrigating western valley lands rich in selenium, an element that can cause
birth defects in birds or fish, or sometimes kill them outright. The western <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> sits on an impermeable clay base.
When land is irrigated, the salt, boron and selenium present in the land
dissolve, then concentrate in the upper layers of soil. Crops can grow in the
presence of selenium, but not salt and boron, so the land is periodically
flushed with additional water to remove the minerals. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>This selenium-impregnated drain water then
becomes a logistical nightmare; farmers must dispose of it to stay in business,
but there is no easy solution. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The problem came to the public's attention
in a spectacular fashion in the mid-1980s, when thousands of birds died at the
now-decommissioned Kesterson Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Merced</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
The refuge's marshes had been flooded with agricultural drain water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Congress had anticipated the problem when
it passed the San Luis Act of 1960, authorizing construction of water delivery
systems from the Trinity and <st1:City w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:City> rivers
to the western <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. The legislation
required construction of a disposal pipeline for the drain water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>With the delta planned as the original
disposal point, the San Luis Drain was built as far as the Los Banos area. At
that point, it was decided to plug the drain and flood Kesterson with the waste
water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>But after the wildlife catastrophe at
Kesterson, the federal Bureau of Reclamation reached an agreement with
environmentalists and farmers to re-open a portion of the drain so contaminated
water wouldn't seep out of croplands, poisoning other wildlife refuges in the
valley. That water is now dumped into tributaries of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
although fairly strict limits on selenium discharges are enforced. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Under the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Clinton</st1:City></st1:place> administration, momentum gained for
retirement of agricultural land as an alternative to a drain. By the government
buying land and irrigation rights, it was reasoned, the drain water problem
would be solved: No irrigation, no drain water. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>About 40,000 acres have been retired from
agricultural production. The lands can no longer grow crops, but the farmers
were allowed to keep their land and water rights. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>That still leaves about 350,000 acres of
land with drainage problems in the western <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
In 1995, federal Judge Oliver Wanger in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Fresno</st1:City></st1:place>
ruled that the Bureau of Reclamation had to file for state permits to complete
the San Luis drain. And in 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
based in San Francisco, upheld a significant part of Wanger's decision,
agreeing that the bureau had to provide some kind of solution to the waste
water problem -- though completion of the drain was not specified. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>In response to the courts' decisions, the
bureau has completed a draft Environmental Impact Statement outlining three
possible scenarios for the drain's completion: <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>-- Drainage into the delta, near either <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Chipps</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Island</st1:PlaceType>
near <st1:City w:st="on">Antioch</st1:City> or near the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Carquinez</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bridge</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>-- Drainage into <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Estero</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType> on the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Central</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Coast</st1:PlaceType>, near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Morro</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Bay</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>-- An "in valley" solution that
would involve some land retirement and some evaporation ponds. Depending on the
plan's configuration, the ponds would total from 1,200 to 3,300 acres. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Terry Young, a chemist, environmental
consultant and one of the negotiators in the drain agreement that allowed
discharge to the San Joaquin River following the Kesterson incident, said the
delta option raises significant Bay Area concerns. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"Both the Contra Costa Water Agency
and the Contra Costa Water District (which serve numerous East Bay cities) went
on the record at a (July 12) public meeting on the drain stating the Chipps
Island alternative could have deleterious effects on water quality," Young
said. "Drinking water quality wouldn't be as much an issue with the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Carquinez</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Strait</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> alternative, but it could still
have a major impact on fisheries and wildlife." <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>The in-valley solution has also raised
concerns among environmentalists that it could result in "Kesterson
II." <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>But Mike Delamore, the chief of the <st1:place
w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:place> Drainage Division for the Bureau of
Reclamation, said the agency will take pains to mitigate the threat to wildlife
if that option is chosen. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>All the drain water would be treated to
reduce selenium content to less than 10 parts per billion, said Delamore. The
selenium residue would then be taken to approved disposal sites, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"Even that level of selenium (in the
water) is a matter of concern, so we would make the evaporation ponds as
unattractive to wildlife as possible," he said. "For example, we
could give them vertical sides so there wouldn't be any shore bird or puddle
duck habitat." <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Tupper <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Hull</st1:City></st1:place>, a spokesman for Westlands Irrigation
District -- which at about 600,000 acres, is the largest district on the west
side -- said the bureau has done a good job of addressing the drainage problem.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"It is a difficult task, and there are
no easy solutions," <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Hull</st1:City></st1:place>
said. "It's a very, very tough nut to crack." <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>But most environmentalists continue to
disparage all the alternatives, saying they perpetuate the problem rather than
solve it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>"There is very little chance of
success for any of these alternatives in the real world," said <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Byron Leydecker</st1:PersonName>, the chairman of Friends of the
Trinity River and an adviser to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place>
Trout. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><b><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Following the close of the comment period,
the bureau is expected to choose one of the alternatives by July, 2006. It will
then issue a record of decision, which will go to Congress for authorization
and appropriation. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><em><i><font color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Consultant, California Trout, Inc.</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></u></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a><u>
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