The State : Refuge to Get Fresh Water

After months of pressure from environmental groups, the Interior Department has agreed to provide fresh water for the polluted Kesterson Reservoir and three other wildlife refuges in Merced County. Under a one-year agreement, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will ship water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the refuges, the Fresno Bee reported. The previous source of water, runoff from valley farms, tainted Kesterson and the San Luis, Volta and Los Banos refuges with toxic selenium, which has been blamed for bird deaths and deformities. Interior Department officials will soon meet in Washington to work out plans for the water delivery, according to Larry Hancock, the department’s assistant regional director.