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<br />001G~6 <br /> <br />Although water pollution problems associated with irrigation have been with us as long <br /> <br />as irrigation itself,25 the issue obtained currency in 1985 when the Sacramento Bee published a <br /> <br />series of dramatic stories reporting selenium poisonings in California's Kesterson Wildlife <br /> <br />Refuge and South Dakota's Bad River.26 . That story, which will be familiar. to most interested <br /> <br />persons, served to accent the connection between irrigation and water pollution. Additionally,a <br /> <br />report of the National Research Council titled Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems was <br /> <br />prepared in direct response to the Kesterson crisis and describes just how it is that this general <br /> <br />problem develops.27 It is essential reading for everyone interested in the issue. <br /> <br />REGULATION OF IRRIGATION RETURN FLOWS UNDER THE CLEAN WATER ACT <br /> <br />The federal Oean Water Act (CWA-r8 now exempts irrigation return flows from direct <br /> <br />regulation, but this was not originally the case. The 1972 legislation cast irrigation return flows <br /> <br />25 See Young & Horner, "Irrigated Agriculture and Mineralized Water," in National <br />Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, Resources for the Future, "Agriculture and the <br />Environment" 77-78 (T. Phipps, P. Grosson & K. Price eds. 1986) where we are reminded that <br />the breakdown of a number of irrigation-based societies, including the Anasazi and those in the <br />Tigris-Euphrates and the Indus basins, is attributable to a gradual decline in productivity caused <br />by salinization and waterlogging. See E. Hyams, Soil and Civilization (1952, paperback ed <br />1976). <br /> <br />26 Harris & Morris, "Conspiracy of Silence: Toxic Chemical Threatens West," <br />Sacramento Bee (Sept. 8-10, 1985). <br /> <br />27 Commission on Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems, Water Science and <br />Technology Board, National Research Council, "Irrigation-Induced Water Quality Problems: <br />What Can be Learned from the San Joaquin Valley Experience" 37-41 (1989) [hereinafter NRC <br />Irrigation Report]. Another excellent background source is Hertz, "Federal Law, Irrigation and <br />Water Pollution," 22 S.D.L Rev. 553 (1977). <br /> <br />28 Enacted in 1972 as the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments (FWPCA). <br /> <br />31 <br />