The State - News from March 23, 1986

Estimates for the cost of cleaning up the selenium-polluted Kesterson Reservoir have been revised downward sharply from an initial figure of $200 million, and now range from $1 million to $48 million, a bureau spokesman said. The 1,200 acres of ponds have been tainted by selenium-laced irrigation runoff from Fresno County farms, which has been blamed since 1983 for waterfowl deaths and deformities. The U.S. Bureau of Land Reclamation favors replacing the runoff with saline ground water and harvesting water plants to prevent birds from eating them. Other, more expensive solutions include a plan to bury the ponds’ sediment under clay and a proposal to excavate the tainted sediment layer, dump it in a double-lined pit and cover it with clay. Westlands Water District is plugging drains to halt the flow of drainage water to Kesterson by June 30, and the bureau is under state order to clean up Kesterson afterward. The bureau is scheduled to submit a draft environmental impact statement outlining its proposed solutions to the state board on April 18.