The State - News from March 11, 1986
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Plugging of the drains that carry selenium-tainted irrigation runoff to Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge is under way. The decision to quit using Kesterson in western Merced County as a ponding basin for the drain water came after complaints of bird deaths and deformities from selenium, which was leached from western Fresno County soil. Selenium, an element that is needed by humans and animals in minute quantities, can be toxic in large amounts. A construction crew installed the first of 115 earthen plugs along 108 miles of collector pipelines and 32 miles of closed pipelines near Mendota, said Liz Hudson of the Westlands Water District.
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