Problems

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Problems

• Clay layer beneath San Luis district kept water
  from percolating downwardpooled up near soil
  surface and evaporated concentrating salt in the
  soil
• Extra water from CVP made problem worse
• Farmers installed drains below fields to keep
  salt water from building up to root zone of plants

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San Luis Drain

• San Luis Drain authorized by Congress in 1960 to
  enable continued farming of Westlands District
• provided for concrete lined drain to carry
  agricultural drainage water to the Sacramento-San
  Joaquin Delta.
• Of the planned 188 miles of drain 87 miles of
  concrete-lined drainage canal were completed
• 1971-- the Kesterson Reservoir was a series of 12
  evaporation ponds within the Kesterson National
  Wildlife Refuge. The ponds were to function as a
  storage and control facility for the San Luis
  Drain. Eventually the San Luis Drain was to
  extend to the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

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Kesterson

• From 1971-78 Kesterson Reservoir received
  freshwater inflow (no agricultural drainage
  water)
• Beginning in 1979, saline agricultural drainage
  was used to enhance dwindling freshwater supplies
  at the refuge for the support of wildlife
  habitat.
• By 1981 all water coming into Kesterson Reservoir
  consisted of agricultural drainage via the San
  Luis Drain.
• Salt concentration in the Kesterson ponds began
  to rise.

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Problems begin

• Prior to 1981 Kesterson Reservoir contained
  several species of warm-water fish, including
  striped and largemouth bass, catfish, carp, and
  mosquito fish. After 1981 only the salt-tolerant
  mosquitofish was found in Kesterson Reservoir
• The tips of the cattails were turning brown
• Huge mats of algae were floating in the water.
• And, eeriest of all, the place was utterly quiet.
  The noises a person would normally expect to hear
  in a marsh--the croaking of frogs, the splashing
  of muskrats--were noticeably absent from
  Kesterson
• In 1983 the first deformities were noticed

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Selenium comes from the erosion of ancient rocks
in the Coast Ranges deposited millions of years
ago when the Valley was an inland sea.
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Scarecrow
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Lawsuits Begin

• because of the prohibitions of the Migratory Bird
  Treaty Act, immediate action must be taken..."
  Interior secretary Hodel instructed the Bureau of
  Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service to
  begin the process of shutting down the Kesterson
  reservoir. This process will result in plugging
  the San Luis Drain and stopping the delivery of
  irrigation water to the lands which drain into
  the reservoir.
• Westlands immediately threatened to take Hodel to
  court over the irrigation shutoff and succeeded
  in buying 2 more years of drainage to the
  refugeand two more years of bird deformities

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Sealing San Luis Drain
Reclamation halted the drainage flow to Kesterson
following a Nuisance and Abatement Order issued
by the State Water Resources Control Board The
San Luis Drain and Kesterson Reservoir were
closed in 1986 and the USBR cleaned up and
filled in the contaminated ponds.
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Back to court

• 1991 Bureau released a plan for drainage in the
  San Luis unitprimarily based on retiring land
• Landowners in the San Luis Unit promptly sued the
  Bureau, seeking completion of a drain to the
  Delta
• 1995Federal District court found for the farmers
  and ordered Bureau to apply for a discharge
  permit to complete drain to delta
• Bureau appealed to 9th Circuit court. That court
  found that the Bureau had to provide drainage but
  not necessarily through the delta.

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Bureaus plans

• 379,000 acres will require drainage. The average
  annual output will be 97,000 ac-ft
• Could build pipeline to ocean, inject it 200 feet
  below sea level
• Process water for selenium and discharge it to
  the western delta
• Dispose of water within the valley after
  processing by reverse osmosis to remove salts and
  selenium from 50 of the water
• Remaining 50 of the most concentrated water
  would undergo selenium treatment and disposed of
  in evaporation ponds

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Acreage retirement

• Three alternatives are retiring some of the
  acreage with the largest drainage problems and
  disposing of the remaining water within the
  valley.
• Acreage retired could be 92,600 194,000 or
  308,000 for a reduction from 70,000 ac-ft/yr to
  61,000 45,000 and 27,000 ac-ft respectively
• Some of the drainage water would be re-used on
  salt-tolerant crops before ultimately being
  treated and disposed of.

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Reverse osmosis system
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Costs

• From 1952 to 2000 California has spent 53.1
  million and is currently spending about 2.7
  million/yr
• Federal agencies have spent well over 100
  million on ag drainage problemincludes pre-1985
  costs, over 30 million in Kesterson cleanup
  costs, about 50 million on the San Joaquin
  Valley drainage program and over 100 million in
  drainage-related damage claims.

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• The initial plan was to retire 308,000 acres
  half of Westlands total acreage. But concerns
  were raised about the economic impact to the
  valley.
• Instead Bureau opted for retirement of 196,000
  acres
• The costs to implement this alternative is about
  2.2 billion.

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Recent developments

• Westlands Water District has proposed taking over
  the drainage treatment and disposal in exchange
  for
• The San Luis dam and reservoir
• Water rights (not contracts) for 1 million ac-ft
  of CVP water. A cut from their allotted 1.4
  million ac-ft. Extra water can go to
  environmental needs in delta
• With water rights, Westlands would not need to
  have their contracts reviewed and renewed every
  25 years. Water supply is more reliable

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Thorny issues with the deal

• Some say Westlands is only giving up water on
  paper. Most years, they only get 800,000 ac-ft.
  Now they have a right to 1 million ac-ft. Are
  actually gaining water!
• Because Westlands would be assured of its 1
  million ac-ft even during droughts, the cuts
  would have to come from other contractors to CVP
  water.
• San Luis Dam is also part of SWP. The CA Dept.
  of Water Resources is worried about the transfer
  disrupting SWP operations and raising costs.

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Westlands plans for drainage

• Acreage retirement is mentioned but no specific
  numbers were given.
• Waste treatment and disposal via a system of
  sprinklers distributing wastewater onto gravel
  beds to prevent birds from reaching it.
• Some note that previous sprinkler-on-gravel
  projects have not worked well due to clogging
  sprinklers.
• Ultimately, Bureau must evaluate and negotiate
  Westlands proposal.

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Aerial view of fields in central California
(western San Joaquin Valley) suffering from
severe salinization.