<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:odc="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:odc" xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:rtc="http://microsoft.com/officenet/conferencing" xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:Repl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/repl/" xmlns:mt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/meetings/" xmlns:x2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ppda="http://www.passport.com/NameSpace.xsd" xmlns:ois="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sub="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/2002/1/alerts/" xmlns:ec="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#" xmlns:sp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" xmlns:sps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcs="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/soap" xmlns:udcxf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:udcp2p="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/parttopart" xmlns:wf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:dsss="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig-setup" xmlns:dssi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig" xmlns:mdssi="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/digital-signature" xmlns:mver="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" xmlns:spwp="http://microsoft.com/sharepoint/webpartpages" xmlns:ex12t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" xmlns:pptsl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/SlideLibrary/" xmlns:spsl="http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/PublishedLinksService" xmlns:Z="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" xmlns:st="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
h2
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
h3
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 3 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
h4
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 4 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
h5
{mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 5 Char";
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading2Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 2 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 2";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading3Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 3 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 3";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading4Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 4 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 4";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
font-weight:bold;}
span.Heading5Char
{mso-style-name:"Heading 5 Char";
mso-style-priority:9;
mso-style-link:"Heading 5";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
font-weight:bold;}
span.meta-date
{mso-style-name:meta-date;}
span.meta-author
{mso-style-name:meta-author;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:502091733;
mso-list-template-ids:-1462470878;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:\F0B7;
mso-level-tab-stop:.5in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:1.0in;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-.25in;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="2050" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><a name=documentContent></a><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>A November 2001 story on Westlands'
contaminated drainage problems. Meanwhile, more than $100 million, yes more
than $100 million has been spent on state and federal studies seeking a solution
to the problem. None has been found other than land retirement.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Byron<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt;display:none'>Info</span></b><b><span
style='font-size:24.0pt'>Will salt sink an agricultural empire?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=meta-date><a href="http://www.hcn.org/issues/215">From
the November 19, 2001 issue of High Country News</a> </span><span
class=meta-author>by Jim Downing</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.hcn.org/issues/215/10866/image_viewer"><span
style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=216 height=190
id="Picture_x0020_6" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CA9440.F4F4EB70"
alt="http://www.hcn.org/external_files/allimages/2001/nov19/graphics/011119.010.jpg"></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<h3><span style='font-size:20.0pt'>Feds still plugged up over disposal of
irrigation waters</span><br>
<br>
<span style='font-weight:normal'>FRESNO, Calif. -</span> <span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>From an unassuming office of the federal Bureau of
Reclamation here, Mike Delamore manages a problem that has felled empires since
biblical times: salt.<br>
<br>
Delamore is drainage chief for the largest, richest and most troubled
irrigation district in the nation. For much of his career, he has tried to
balance two incompatible demands: draining salt from one of the world's most
productive plots of farmland, and protecting water quality in the San Francisco
Bay Delta.<br>
<br>
He hasn't succeeded yet. "The agency has been dealing with this for more
than 40 years," he says.<br>
<br>
It might seem surprising the problem is that difficult. All irrigation water
carries some salt, but the water diverted from the Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers to farms in the San Joaquin Valley has lower salinity than typical
Southern California tap water * about one pound of salt for every 300 gallons.<br>
<br>
The problem here is volume. To produce more than $1 billion in crops each year,
the 1,000-square-mile Westlands Water District imports up to 400 billion
gallons containing 610,000 tons of salt. It's the equivalent of a train of salt
6,100 cars long, year after year.<br>
<br>
When, under the San Luis Act, Congress authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to
bring the irrigation water to the west side of the valley in 1960, geologic
surveys revealed an impermeable layer of clay beneath the area's sandy loam. In
soil like this, irrigation salts build up and will eventually sterilize the
land. So Congress told the Bureau to provide drainage from the valley to flush
out the salt.<br>
<br>
But, says Delamore, "I don't think anybody contemplated back in 1960 how
difficult" building such a drain would be.<br>
<br>
The Bureau started a 197-mile aqueduct to the delta, but the effort stalled in
1974, 112 miles short of its goal, when political opposition arose in the Bay
Area and funding grew tight. Drain water then poured into a holding pond,
forming Kesterson Reservoir, which proved to be an infamous killer of wildlife.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service linked deformed and dead birds at the
reservoir to selenium, a naturally occurring but toxic element that had also
been flushed from the irrigated soil. So in 1985, the Bureau closed the San
Luis Drain.<br>
<br>
Today, the drain is still plugged and the salt is still building up on the
farmland. The land's productivity is falling and, partly as a result, farmers
are going bankrupt. Environmentalists and the state water board, worried about
threats to wildlife and human health, refuse to consider completing a drain to
the delta, an area already impacted by pollutants.<br>
<br>
"Any increase in the amount of agricultural runoff coming into the delta
is going to bring in more salts and more pollution," says Jeff McLain,
fisheries biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "And that's
not good for the resident fish populations."<br>
<br>
Yet federal courts, ruling on a lawsuit by the irrigation district, have
reinforced the requirement that the Bureau of Reclamation has to do something
about the salt. With the courts, Congress and farmers on one side, and laws
such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act on the other side,
the Bureau is caught in the middle.</span><span style='font-size:20.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h3>Habitat hotspot<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The San Francisco Bay's
delta stretches up the two main river systems nearly to Stockton and Sacramento
and includes hundreds of miles of channels and islands. The delta receives
about half of California's total precipitation runoff. It is the state's
hydraulic hub: Water stored in the reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada flows to the
delta, then is pumped south to cities and farms. Contaminate the hub too much,
and you contaminate the whole system.<br>
<br>
The delta is also a habitat hotspot. Millions of migratory birds stop in each
year. Threatened and endangered chinook salmon, steelhead, delta smelt and
Sacramento splittail all migrate through or live in the delta. In all, 230
species of birds, 45 species of mammals, 52 species of fish, and 150 species of
flowering plants live in the delta, says Bill Jennings, director of
DeltaKeeper, an environmental group based in Stockton.<br>
<br>
"It really is a marvelous estuary," says Jennings. "And it is in
critical condition, suffering the death of a thousand cuts."<br>
<br>
Already, the delta suffers from high levels of pesticides, mercury, selenium
and other toxics along with low dissolved oxygen levels, due to runoff from
farms, cities and other sources, Jennings says. "The delta simply can't
assimilate increased amounts of salt," he says.<br>
<br>
Federal and state efforts to find other ways to deal with the salt have cost an
estimated $50 million so far, exploring a range of technologies and management
schemes, including desalinization plants and salt-concentration ponds. <br>
<br>
Every strategy has a drawback: Desalinization systems are energy-intensive and
leave behind mountains of salt. Evaporation ponds take up huge tracts of land,
and also leave salt behind. Researchers have come up with methods to remove
toxic selenium from the drainwater, but they also leave salts.<br>
<br>
All of the technical fixes would be expensive. The Bureau estimates that completing
the San Luis Drain would cost $850 million, while the cheapest in-valley
disposal solution, evaporation ponds, would run $1.5 billion. Under reclamation
laws, that cost would be borne by the project's beneficiaries, the district's
growers.<br>
<br>
"Farming can't support most of the options they've come up with so
far," says Thad Bettner, the district's resource manager.<br>
<br>
Though the district receives only seven inches of rain a year, the farmers grow
about 25 crops, including citrus, grapes, beans, lettuce, broccoli and
cauliflower, thanks to the irrigation diversions and pumped groundwater.<br>
<br>
A nontechnical strategy - inconceivable until recently - is to take farmland
out of production. The district and the Bureau have reportedly been talking
about the Department of the Interior buying 200,000 acres - a third of the
district - for $500 million. Such a massive land retirement would be a
confession that irrigating this portion of the arid West no longer makes sense.
It would also mean loss of crop production and a hit to the economy in one of
the state's poorest regions.<br>
<br>
"This concept of taking land out of production is almost sinful when you
think about how good that soil was, and how good it could be again with
drainage," says Lou Beck, a retired district chief for the California
Department of Water Resources.<br>
<br>
"If the government does nothing (about the salt buildup), then for sure
during my lifetime or my children's lifetime, the ground will go out of
production," says Ted Sheeley, who grows tomatoes, garlic, pistachios and
cotton on 1,000 acres. Salty groundwater is now within five feet of the surface
on half of his land and his yields are falling. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<h3>Suicide irrigation<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><b>With their only alternative to sell out at depressed
prices, the farmers continue what amounts to suicide irrigation. Last year, 10
percent of the district's farmers went bankrupt, which Sheeley says is due
partly to salt and partly to shifts in global markets. Sheeley, also a member
of the district's board of directors, is one of many people here who feel
betrayed by the Bureau of Reclamation. "The Bureau has become very
influenced by environmental groups. In the past, the Bureau looked out for our
interests."<br>
<br>
Mike Delamore calls the Bureau's approach these days "an evolution in
thinking," based on a succession of federal laws, court decisions and
evolving science. Under the most recent court order to settle on some strategy,
issued by the 9th Circuit Court last December, Delamore is working toward a
2005 deadline to do an environmental impact statement and decide what to do
with the salt. The reasonable alternatives to be considered include, once
again, completing the San Luis Drain.<br>
<br>
At DeltaKeeper, Jennings says any attempt to complete the drain will only
trigger a lawsuit in defense of the delta.<br>
<br>
"We may end up with competing court decisions," he says. From his
perspective, "Ultimately the San Luis Drain is an elusive dream. It's not
going to happen." <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<h4><span style='font-weight:normal'>Jim Downing wrote this story while taking
an environmental journalism course at the Graduate School of Journalism,
University of California, Berkeley.<o:p></o:p></span></h4>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land/fax (call first to fax)</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
mobile</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>