The San Joaquin Valley Westside Perspective
Salt management has been a challenge to westside farmerssince the rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the 1900 s. Thesoils in this area are naturally salt-affected having formed from marinesedimentary rocks rich in sea salts rendering the shallow groundwater,and drainage return flows discharging into the lower reaches of the SanJoaquin River, saline. Salinity problems are affected by the importedwater supply from Delta where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Riverscombine. Water quality objectives on salinity and boron have been inplace for decades to protect beneficial uses of the river. However it wasthe selenium-induced avian toxicity that occurred in the evaporationponds of Kesterson Reservoir (the terminal reservoir of a planned but notcompleted San Joaquin Basin Master Drain) that changed public attitudesabout agricultural drainage and initiated a steady stream ofenvironmental legislation directed at reducing non-point source pollutionof the River. Annual and monthly selenium load restrictions and salinityand boron Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are the most recent of thesepolicy initiatives. Failure by both State and Federal water agencies toconstruct a Master Drain facility serving mostly west-side irrigatedagriculture has constrained these agencies to consider only In-Valleysolutions to ongoing drainage problems. For the Westlands subarea, whichhas no surface irrigation drainage outlet to the San Joaquin River,innovative drainage reuse systems such as the Integrated Farm DrainageManagement (IFDM) offer short- to medium-term solutions while morepermanent remedies to salt disposal are being investigated. Real-timesalinity management, which requires improved coordination of east-sidereservoir releases and west-side drainage, offers some relief toGrasslands Basin farmers and wetland managers - allowing greater salinityloading to the River than under a strict TMDL. However, currentregulation drives a policy that results in a moratorium on all drainagereturn flows.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; US Department of Interior. Bureau of ReclamationAgreement 3-AA-20-10970
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 901036
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-60613; R&D Project: G4W086; BnR: 400406000; TRN: US200711%%763
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress.Environmental Water Research Institute Symposium on The Management ofTMDL S in the San Joaquin Valley, California., Omaha, Nebraska, May22-24, 2006
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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