Judge Shuts Drainage Outlet Near Refuge

Overstepping the state Water Resources Control Board, a Merced County Superior Court judge ordered an immediate shutdown of farm drainage disposal at Kesterson Reservoir 15 miles north of Los Banos.

Judge Donald Fretz ruled Friday that the state board “failed to perform your legal duty” Tuesday by adopting a cleanup order instead of a cease-and-desist order for the ponds contaminated with selenium and heavy metals.

The state board gave the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates Kesterson, five months to draft its abatement plan and five years to put it into effect.

Acting on a petition from Robert James Claus, a landowner near Kesterson, Fretz said the board must shut down Kesterson by March 15 or appear before Judge Michael Hider that day to explain itself. The state is expected to take the latter option and defend its stance.

Bird Deaths

Claus’ petition charged that the board order “was a license for the bureau to continue contaminating the water, land and air of Merced County with deadly substances in exchange for an illusory abatement plan, which may not have any real effect in mitigating the threat to human life, wildlife and property.”

Scientists believe that the mineral selenium present in the 1,280 acres of evaporation ponds is causing bird deaths and deformities at Kesterson, part of which is a national wildlife refuge.

The state Fish and Game Department has warned children and pregnant women not to eat birds caught in Kesterson and cautioned all to limit their intake. Selenium is needed in minute amounts for human nutrition, but studies have shown that high levels can be damaging.

Water draining into Kesterson comes from 8,000 acres of farms in western Fresno County. Farmers claim that up to 42,000 acres with poor drainage would have to be taken out of production if the Kesterson drainage outlet is closed.