Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
aggravated by irrigation runoff. That's what happened in the 1980s
to the Kesterson Reservoir, which served California's San Joaquin
Valley. After studies showed severe deformities in wildlife as a result
of dangerous selenium levels, the reservoir was closed and buried
in the 1980s.
In Waukesha and New Berlin, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, the
natural contaminant in some of the region's deep bedrock aquifers
is radium, a colorless, odorless, tasteless element.
Man- Made Pollutants
Irrigation-induced groundwater contamination is a serious threat
across much of the western United States. With its semiarid climate
and extreme dependence on underground aquifers and groundwa-
ter for drinking water supplies, the West is especially susceptible to
man-made pollution. Arizona, for example, gets 40 percent of its
drinking water from underground aquifers. When that state's eco-
systems are disrupted or altered in some way—more water is taken
out than is replenished, or a portion becomes polluted for whatever
reason—supplies of safe water shrink.
With the pollution problems at Kesterson Reservoir still fresh,
the U.S. Department of the Interior initiated the National Irrigation
Water Quality Program in 1985 to look at possible irrigation con-
tamination of water supplies in 26 locations across the West.
Subsequent analysis of the data turned up selenium contamination
in 12 of those areas. Some sites that were found to be contaminated
are Belle Fourche Reclamation Project, South Dakota; Dolores-Ute
Mountain area, Colorado; Gunnison River Basin-Grand Valley
Project, Colorado; Kendrick Reclamation Project, Wyoming;
Middle Arkansas River Basin, Colorado and Kansas; Middle Green
River Basin, Utah; Pine River area, Colorado; Riverton Reclamation
Project, Wyoming; Salton Sea area, California; Sun River area,
Montana; Tulare Lake Bed area, California; San Juan River area,
New Mexico; and Vermejo Project area, New Mexico.
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On the East Coast, farmland runoff is a problem for Chesapeake
Bay's water quality because of excess nutrients from farm fertilizers,
says Philadelphia-based water expert Kenneth J. Warren, an attorney
