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CSPA asks
Regional Board to halt discharge of salmon killing pollutants from San
Luis drainage into fragile San Joaquin River system
December 7, 2008 -- The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
(CSPA) and California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) have submitted joint
scoping comments to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control
Board concerning the Board's proposed amendment to the Water Quality
Control Plan for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins.
The amendment would allow the continuation of the Grasslands Bypass
Project and allow the project to continue to discharge toxic pollutants
into the San Joaquin River for another nine years.
The Grasslands Bypass Project is a regional drainage facility undertaken
by the San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority that discharges
selenium and salt-laden irrigation drain water from agricultural lands
on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley to the San Joaquin River.
While the project has had limited success, selenium and salts continue
to violate water quality standards and increase the mass loading of
selenium to the Delta where it bioaccumulates to harmful levels in
aquatic life. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have estimated
that the concentrations of selenium discharged to the river have been
high enough to kill up to a quarter of young salmon migrating past the
point of discharge.
CSPA and C-WIN have long recommended that the Regional Board adopt
rigorous waste discharge requirements for the project that ensure
compliance with water quality standards. The only long-term
effective solution is to retire the 379,000 acres of drainage-impaired
lands within the San Luis Unit. Land retirement would not only
reduce the fish-killing diversion of Delta water to irrigate impaired
lands but also largely eliminate the discharge toxic drainage back to
the river and Delta.
Its time that the Regional Board, charged with the statutory authority
of protecting fish and water quality, exhibit the same enthusiasm in
protecting our rivers that they have long demonstrated in protecting
agricultural polluters.
CSPA C-WIN Scoping Comments
for Development of an Amendment to the Water Quality
Control Plan for the Sacramento
River and San Joaquin River Basins (Basin Plan) to
allow the Continuation of the Grasslands Bypass Project 2010-2019
CSPA letter to Senator Feinstein on
San Luis drainage issue
Research Paper: Toxicity
of Selenium to Salmonids