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~ o tv -...} Bac groun Irrigation in the arid San J oaquin Valley began in the 1870's and grew steadily, The growth of irrigated farming in the valley was spurred by construction of the federal Central Valley Project which began in the 1930's, From that time to the present much of the used irrigation water, both subsurface drainage water and surface runoff, often heavy with salts, minerals, and pesticides, found its way into the San Joaquin River. Because of the filtering action of top soil, sub- surface drainage has less pesticides than surface water says Jerry Johns of the SWRCB. But Johns adds, "We are concerned about pesticides and requested the Bureau to study toxicity," The San Joaquin flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and on into San Francisco Bay, Even today there is little control of what flows into the San Joaquin River, Uncorrected drainage problems can cause further degradation of ground and surface water quality of the river, A drain will help alleviate this problem, Local farmers recognized early that as more water was brought into the valley, the drainage problem for certain areas would be compounded, A 1956 state report to the Legislature found the need to study a "comprehensive master drainage works system" for the valley, By the mid 1950's a drain to channel salty subsurface drainage water in an orderly manner was also being actively considered by the federal govern- ment. In 1957 a master drain was included in the Cal- ifornia Water Plan, the early version of the State Water Project, In 1960 voters approved the State Water Project authorizing state participation in a drain if drainage repayment contracts were signed by users, Also in 1960, Congress authorized construction of the San Luis Unit which, besides approving the joint state/ federal San Luis Dam, required a federal drain to be constructed to the Delta if the State of California did not provide a master drain for the area, There were no drainage contracts signed by 1961, so the state advised the federal government that it had no definite plans to begin building a valley drain, In fact, the state has not yet agreed to participate in a drain, In the mid 1960's DWR Director William Gianelli appointed a committee to look at state partic- ipation in constructing a drain, and the committee re- commended the federal goverment build the drain without state financial assistance because the agricul- tural community of the San Joaquin Valley could not agree to repayment costs by the state contractors, Many state contractors continue to feel state involve- ment in the project could be a financial drain, 8 Then as now money and politics, were involved in building a master drain. Meanwhile the federal govern- ment ended up building Kesterson Reservoir, Origi- nally conceived as a regulating reservoir to control drainage flow to the Delta, the reservoir has function- ed as a series of shallow ponds to collect and evaporate irrigation water from the federal service area, Kester- son Reservoir would still be used to regulate flow to the Delta if the drain is completed, The Federal gov- ernment also built the San Luis Drain extending 82 miles below the reservoir to southern Fresno county, Water flowsinto the drain by way of plastic, tile, or concrete underground collection pipes and the water is moved north for release into marshy Kesterson Res- ervoir, The reservoir has become a tremendous wild- life area according to Joseph Medeiros, a Merced Col- lege biologist, who says the reservoir supports rare San Joaquin alkali grassland and iodine bush scrub, These grassland areas will be lost, says Dick Daniel of the state Department of Fish and Game (DFG), if the northern extension of the drain to the Delta is built and more marshland develops at Kesterson, Westlands Water District Through the years the Westlands Water District has been pressing to get the federal government to finish construction of the San Luis Drain-that portion of the drain from Kesterson Reservoir to the Delta and on south to the southern end of Westlands. About, half the land in Westlands suffers from potential drainage problems according to William Johnston, Assistant Manager-Chief of Operations of Westlands. Johnston says more than 260,000 acres of land with- in the district have a saline perched water table less than 20 feet from the ground surface, and more than 130,000 acres have a perched water table less than 10 feet from the surface, "At five feet salt water buildup becomes critical," Johnston says, "and farming then becomes more and more uneconomical as productivity of the land is reduced due to the salt accumulation," Eventually the salt accumulates on the soil causing a whitish appearance, Johnston says in the critical 45,000 acres of West lands where the saline water table is caught at or above the five foot level, the crop los- ses amount to more than $200 an acre,