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l 00(\300 than a million birds. In general, the highest a;'ian use occurs in the south- ern and northern portions of the sea where the waters flow in.(Salton Sea EIS/ElR 1999). In recent years, the sea "as been plagued by massive bird and fish dle-offs. The bird deaths have been attributed to a variety of agents, including avian cholera, Newcastle disease, avian botulism and salmo. nella. The fish deaths are generally as- , sociated with oxygen depletion, which is caused by high levels of nutrients in the sea. So although the salinity of the 'ea has been rising and is presently more concentrated than an pcean, sa. linity has contributed little, if any, to the previous fish and bird deaths. Nevertheless, if salinity is allowed to increase it will eventually be too con. centrated to support fish. Restoring the Salton Sea to its "glory" of the 1960s has received con- siderable public and political atten- lion. The Salton Sea Reclamation Act of 1998 (H.R. 3267), established,a structure for determining the kind of project necessary to achieve restora- tion of the sea. The five characteristics most frequently identified as compo- nents of a "saved" Salton Sea are (1) continued use as an agricultural sump; (2) stabilization of elevation; (3) con- ",'01 of salinity levels; (4) elimination of preventable fish and bird dea ths; and (5) enhancement of water-based recre- ational activities, particularly sport fishing. The U.S. Bureau of Reclama- tion and the Salton Sea Authority are the lead agencies working to identify potential restoration alternatives, and a subcommittee was established to in- ,'estigate the scientific basis for a resto- : ation project. On Jan. 13, 2000, the U.s. Depart- ment of Interior released a rescue plan for the Salton Sea. Despite the five identified components of a "saved sea," the present plan focuses prima- rily on stabilizing salinity. The draft environmental impact statement pre- sented five options from which one "Iill be selected after a 90-day public comment period. Proposed approaches included the construction of evaporation ponds within the sea to concentrate the salts, and! or construction of an enhanced evaporation system (EES). The EES in- volves spraying water into the air to promote evapora- tion and dispersion of salts to .the ground. Some con- sider the focus on salinity to be too narrowly restrictive (Cohen et aL 1999). The studies commis- sioned by the science sub- committee reached several findings especially pertin;~'t to agri- culture: Pesticides and selenium were either not detected or detected at very Jow concentrations in the sea, nnd plant nutrient concentrations from [lg. ricultural and sewage drainage \\',1 ter in the seawater and sediments <lre relatively high and contribute to epi- sodes of oxyg~n depletion. Since the present restoration goal is .to st,lbilize the sea's salinity, the draft environ- ' menta,! impact statement concluded that farmland and its productil'ity would not be significantly affected by the proposed restoration actions, Western San Joaquin Valley Irrigation water has contributed to the western San Joaquin Valley's high agricultural productivity. Although salt concentrations in the imported water are relatively low, 1.9 million metric tons of salts are imported eaeh day from irrigation water and other sources (equivalent to 57 raliro"d cars of salt). Furthermore, the region's s()ils are derived from alluvium originating from the coastal mountains; since the mountains were once below sea le\'el and uplifted to their present state, the alluvium contains high concentrations of salts and elements typical of a m.'- rine environment. The need for a drainage system tl1 export salts from the West Side was apparent when the irrigation p")jeels were initiated during the 1950s and 1960s but a number of political. cco- The San Luis Drarn began transferring drainage water Into Kesterson Reservoir in 1981. A few years later, high concentra- tions ot selenium were linked to bird deaths and deformities, Water is carefully managed now to minimize wlldUfe impacts. nomic and other factors interfered v.,:ith constJ'udil.n, In 1975, the Inter- agency Dr'1in.lgc Program (lOP) \.\'a5 organized "with the combined efforts of the U.s, Bllreau of Reclamation, Cali- fornia Department of \Vater Resources and California State "'Vater Res'ourees Control BOMd, to plnn uti drainage progr.1m that C,1n O\'ereome the hurdles that ciltlsed predous efforts to f"lter." The lOP report in 1979 recom- mended staged COl1strLlction of a drain between Kern L,1kebed.cll1d SuislIn B.,y, estoblishment of 6-+,300 acres of wetl<1nd habiti'lL a cost~sharing and re- payment (lrr<1ngement, and a series of studies Llsed to develop the technical analysis for the St,1te ~Vatcr Resources Control Bo"rd \\'<lste-discharge permit. In 1981, dr<1in<lge water began flo\.y- ing through till' initi,11 82-mile segment of the San Luis Dr,1in between Laguna Avenue in southern Fresno County and Kesterson Reservoir. The drain was to Sen'e as a wildlife habitat and tempOri:1ry w'1ter~11OIding facility until the second Stc1gl' of the dr,1in was com- pleted. But bird d~oth$ and deformi- ties were obsern2d at the reservoir by 1<)82 i.1nd 1983, and J<Her attril'uted to high conLentr<1tk1ns of selenium in the d/\lin,'ge \\'11ter, which Jr.e toxic to birds, The end rl'5tdt '-"ilS closure of CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE, '.IARCH-APRIL 2000 45