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Water-quality solutions outlined
Researcher says ponds can help with
pollution, can be put in unfarmed areas
By DENNIS POLLOCK
For the Capital Press
April 9, 2009
FRESNO - The San Joaquin River in California's Central Valley provides some of the water used in four of the top 10 agricultural counties in the nation, says an expert on the river and its challenges.
And farmers may be able mitigate many of the problems of pollution from water they send into the river without giving up large acreage, said William Stringfellow, director of the Environmental Engineering Research Program at University of the Pacific in Stockton.
Stringfellow discussed the impact of agriculture on the river in a seminar at California State University-Fresno. The title for his talk was an apt summary of the duality embodied in the river channel: "The San Joaquin River: Breadbasket and Basket Case."
Challenges to the river - which courses through farm powerhouses Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties - are of great concern, said C. John Suen, seminar coordinator and professor of earth and environmental sciences and chief of hydrogeology studies at the California Water Institute at Fresno State.
Suen said a drought has forced some Valley farmers to fallow substantial acreage, adversely affecting the nation's food supply and prices as well as the long-term viability of farms, farmworkers and the communities where they live.
Considerable controversy has surrounded efforts to revive the river as a fishery with salmon.
Stringfellow talked of "the importance of water quality to sustainable agriculture" and a study he conducted on the river's flow through Stanislaus County.
Stanislaus County is divided by the river, with clay soils west of the river and sandy soils to the east. Animal agriculture is more common on the east side of the river in that county and nitrate levels tend to be higher. But clay soils are a factor in accumulation of sediments in water to the west.
"Water quality is directly related to soil type," he said.
Stringfellow said suspended sediments in water absorb pesticides and "take up phosphates for example," he said. "If sediments are removed, it can take away toxic materials."
Use of ponds can separate sediments, Stringfellow said, and some of the separated nutrients can then be used on farms, while cleaner water is returned to the river.
He said there is some concern among farmers that using ponds to remove the sediments, for example, will mean idling significant acreage. But he showed a slide indicating that there is unfarmed area along the river that could be used for the purpose, in addition to natural wetlands.
Stringfellow has studied use of ponds and natural wetlands and believes that modifications can be made to make them more efficient at improving water quality.
"We can re-engineer these systems to be more efficient," he said.
Formerly chief scientist for a project on dissolved oxygen in the river, he has studied levels of pollution at various sites along the river and is looking at what might be the "best management practices" for mitigating that.
"This is something that's common to agriculture - to look at what your neighbor is doing," he said. "What are they doing that you might want to do? There are things farmers can do without having to implement specific regulatory requirements."
One of the areas he studied was built as a fish farm, then later turned into a "surge pond" for sediment collection. Another was an area of wetlands that had been abandoned by a duck club.
"We need to take advantage of natural processes," he said.
Tail water from farms can contain nitrates, pesticides, sediment, salt and organic carbon and can contribute to eutrophication, a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving streams receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth like algae and nuisance plants.
This enhanced plant growth, often called an algal bloom, reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decomposes and can cause other organisms to die.
Stringfellow said a regional and holistic approach should be taken to address the river's water quality. "A problem now is that there is what I call the 'whack-a-mole' approach of looking at a particular issue separately, for example one group looking at salts and another at pesticides."
Among those who attended the seminar was Sean Dempsey, chief development officer for Floating Islands West based in Lockeford. The company manufactures a floating wetland used for treatment. Dempsey explained that floating islands, commonly made up of peat, exist naturally in some regions. His company uses recycled plastic bottles to make the exoskeleton of an island that can be used to collect suspended solids and nutrients.
One of its floating islands was launched in February in Dutchy Lake in the Summer Lake Wildlife Area in Oregon. It provides nesting habitat for Caspian terns.
"I've talked with farmers," Dempsey said, "they are looking forward to continuing this dialogue (with researchers like Stringfellow).
"I think people can work together as a team," he said, to restore the river as a salmon fishery while maintaining its place as central in the production of crops and livestock.
FRESNO - The San Joaquin River in California's Central Valley provides some of the water used in four of the top 10 agricultural counties in the nation, says an expert on the river and its challenges.
And farmers may be able mitigate many of the problems of pollution from water they send into the river without giving up large acreage, said William Stringfellow, director of the Environmental Engineering Research Program at University of the Pacific in Stockton.
Stringfellow discussed the impact of agriculture on the river in a seminar at California State University-Fresno. The title for his talk was an apt summary of the duality embodied in the river channel: "The San Joaquin River: Breadbasket and Basket Case."
Challenges to the river - which courses through farm powerhouses Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties - are of great concern, said C. John Suen, seminar coordinator and professor of earth and environmental sciences and chief of hydrogeology studies at the California Water Institute at Fresno State.
Suen said a drought has forced some Valley farmers to fallow substantial acreage, adversely affecting the nation's food supply and prices as well as the long-term viability of farms, farmworkers and the communities where they live.
Considerable controversy has surrounded efforts to revive the river as a fishery with salmon.
Stringfellow talked of "the importance of water quality to sustainable agriculture" and a study he conducted on the river's flow through Stanislaus County.
Stanislaus County is divided by the river, with clay soils west of the river and sandy soils to the east. Animal agriculture is more common on the east side of the river in that county and nitrate levels tend to be higher. But clay soils are a factor in accumulation of sediments in water to the west.
"Water quality is directly related to soil type," he said.
Stringfellow said suspended sediments in water absorb pesticides and "take up phosphates for example," he said. "If sediments are removed, it can take away toxic materials."
Use of ponds can separate sediments, Stringfellow said, and some of the separated nutrients can then be used on farms, while cleaner water is returned to the river.
He said there is some concern among farmers that using ponds to remove the sediments, for example, will mean idling significant acreage. But he showed a slide indicating that there is unfarmed area along the river that could be used for the purpose, in addition to natural wetlands.
Stringfellow has studied use of ponds and natural wetlands and believes that modifications can be made to make them more efficient at improving water quality.
"We can re-engineer these systems to be more efficient," he said.
Formerly chief scientist for a project on dissolved oxygen in the river, he has studied levels of pollution at various sites along the river and is looking at what might be the "best management practices" for mitigating that.
"This is something that's common to agriculture - to look at what your neighbor is doing," he said. "What are they doing that you might want to do? There are things farmers can do without having to implement specific regulatory requirements."
One of the areas he studied was built as a fish farm, then later turned into a "surge pond" for sediment collection. Another was an area of wetlands that had been abandoned by a duck club.
"We need to take advantage of natural processes," he said.
Tail water from farms can contain nitrates, pesticides, sediment, salt and organic carbon and can contribute to eutrophication, a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving streams receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth like algae and nuisance plants.
This enhanced plant growth, often called an algal bloom, reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decomposes and can cause other organisms to die.
Stringfellow said a regional and holistic approach should be taken to address the river's water quality. "A problem now is that there is what I call the 'whack-a-mole' approach of looking at a particular issue separately, for example one group looking at salts and another at pesticides."
Among those who attended the seminar was Sean Dempsey, chief development officer for Floating Islands West based in Lockeford. The company manufactures a floating wetland used for treatment. Dempsey explained that floating islands, commonly made up of peat, exist naturally in some regions. His company uses recycled plastic bottles to make the exoskeleton of an island that can be used to collect suspended solids and nutrients.
One of its floating islands was launched in February in Dutchy Lake in the Summer Lake Wildlife Area in Oregon. It provides nesting habitat for Caspian terns.
"I've talked with farmers," Dempsey said, "they are looking forward to continuing this dialogue (with researchers like Stringfellow).
"I think people can work together as a team," he said, to restore the river as a salmon fishery while maintaining its place as central in the production of crops and livestock.
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