Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 118-128
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From page 118... ...
The drainage issue in California has been unresolved for decades, and the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program (SJVDP) is only the latest in a series of attempts to study and solve this problem.
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From page 119... ...
, however, the participants in the San Joaquin Valley have not adequately defined the problem. The SJVDP articulated four goals-maintaining crop production, enhancing wildlife habitat, improving water quality, and ensuring public health but setting goals is not the same as defining problems.
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From page 120... ...
· Federal and state agencies responding to irrigation-related problems should develop an action plan that carefully evaluates the alternative responses available and that reflects increasing scientific understanding of ecosystems. They must work to promote public participation, reconcile competing societal needs, balance economic and non-economic costs, and consider the possibility of institutional and legal changes.
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From page 121... ...
In the San Joaquin Valley, for instance, the option of ocean disposal of the selenium-contaminated drainage water has been essentially ignored, and the option of land retirement has been treated cautiously at best. Although these options may be impractical for economic, legal, political, or social reasons, they should not be eliminated a priori as alternatives.
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From page 122... ...
Unpopular options should receive fair attention and objective study, and the local, regional, and national consequences should be openly assessed. The fragmentation of interests of the different institutional players has been a major management problem in the San Joaquin Valley situation.
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From page 123... ...
POLICY ISSUES RELATED TO IRRIGATION-INDUCED WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS · If any major irrigation projects are planned in the future, at the onset federal and state agencies should calculate the costs of drainage for irrigation return flows and should commit funds to build and maintain the system. Federal and state agencies should design and implement management systems that minimize the adverse impacts of irrigation, especially those that occur when irrigating land in closed basins, and acknowledge the inevitable ecological trade-offs that accompany irrigation.
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From page 124... ...
Federal and state agencies should be prepared to provide an adequate level of monitoring at all major irrigation projects as a way of anticipating future problems. Selenium was the natural contaminant that brought the problems in the San Joaquin Valley to public attention, but given the geology of the West, it is only one element among many (e.g., arsenic, boron, cadmium,
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From page 125... ...
Federal agencies responsible for facilitating irrigation typically do not-but should consider water quality degradation as a cost of water use. Federal and state agencies responsible for protecting and enhancing wildlife must redouble their efforts to protect and increase the supply of quality habitats.
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From page 126... ...
One fact made clear during this committee's oversight of the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program is that finding a solution to the valley's drainage problems, and to similar problems elsewhere in the West, is not merely a technical question. Indeed, the more difficult questions are
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From page 127... ...
The problems are not all caused by federal and state agencies, nor can they necessarily be solved at those levels alone. The federal and state agencies involved in irrigation are mandated to carry out the will of the public, and so the ultimate responsibility for solving these types of problems is one that the public shares.
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