Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

Executive Summary
Pages 1-10

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... Thus the discovery of Kesterson's very visible selenium contamination attracted national attention, and it set in motion a widespread effort to identify causes and remedies. The refuge's contamination was caused by a combination of natural and human factors including soils rich in soluble selenium and other trace elements, increased irrigation development with subsequent installation of subsurface drains, and the failure to install an adequate disposal system for the drainage water.
From page 2...
... assist in identifying conceptual alternatives available to deal with irrigation drainage problems. The committee met frequently with program managers and researchers from both the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program and the National Irrigation Water Quality Program (Appendix B)
From page 3...
... These sites are Stillwater Wildlife Management Area, Nevada; the Salton Sea area, California; Kendrick Reclamation Project area, Wyoming; and the Middle Green River basin area, Utah. Additional sites with similar problems, whether associated with federal water projects or private irrigation development, may be discovered in the future.
From page 4...
... When such enclosed water bodies are used to dispose of irrigation drainage water, they may, through evaporation and other processes, quickly become saline and can ultimately lose their capacity to support biological productivity and diversity. The accumulation of trace elements, some of which are toxic in low concentrations, and of agricultural pollutants, such as pesticides or nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers, can accelerate the deterioration of water quality.
From page 5...
... Institutional factors contribute to the creation and continuation of irrigation-induced water quality problems, and they sometimes impede appropriate responses. The most pervasive economic issue contributing to irrigation-related water quality problems and affecting the choice and success of solutions is the cost of water.
From page 6...
... Public participation brings competing interests together, communicates information, identifies research needs, and helps people understand the nature of scientific uncertainty. In fact, the success of any proposed solution will ultimately depend in large part on the public's confidence that the decision process was open and complete.
From page 7...
... Technical options for salt management, for example, fall generally into three categories (transport and disposal of the drainage water, source control, and treatment of the drainage water) and may include retirement of land from irrigated agriculture, better irrigation management, onsite evaporation ponds, desalinization technologies, chemical and biological removal techniques, ocean disposal, and deep-well injection.
From page 8...
... In undertaking this report, the National Research Council's Committee on Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems sought to help foster awareness of the problems that can be caused by irrigation drainage and to guide decisionmakers in seeking equitable, effective responses. It is virtually inevitable that additional irrigation-related water quality problems will appear in the future, as will other environmental problems of a similar nature, and it would indeed be unfortunate if the insights gained from the San Joaquin Valley experience were to go unrecognized and unheeded.
From page 9...
... Federal and state agencies that facilitate or regulate irrigation should periodically calculate and publicize the associated environmental costs as well as the agricultural benefits, and should work to accommodate the nation's increasing commitment to protecting environmental values. · Irrigation return flows should not be exempt from federal and state water quality regulations, and such regulations should be enforced.
From page 10...
... This would include, if necessary, phasing out production on particularly problematic lands. Responding to Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems: A Shared Responsibility 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 problem, and any such situation anywhere in the West or the world, is not a purely technical question.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.