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Track: Environmental Management
Nigel Quinn
LENL/U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
2800 Cottage Way MP-450
Sacramento, CA 98515
Telephone: 916-979-2325
Fax: 916-979-2450
E-mail: nquinn@mp405a.mp.usbr.gov
A Compliance Monitoring System for Selenium Drainage Management
The Grasslands Bypass Project in the western San Joaquin Valley of California was implemented on September 23, 1996. The project diverts selenium-contaminated agricultural drainage water around a 40,000 ha area that contains the largest concentration of wildfowl habitat in the western United States. A number of environmental commitments were made by the Drainage Authority, which was formed to represent the agricultural water districts producing the selenium discharge, which included monthly and annual load targets, a schedule of fines for exceeding the targets, and the adoption of a comprehensive monitoring plan. An ArcView-based monitoring system has been developed that is linked to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's home page and that allows the public to obtain timely information on the status of the project and make comparisons of selenium levels in surface waters of the Grasslands Basin before and after implementation of the project. The graphic nature of the GIS-based monitoring system has been
effective in communicating the goals of the monitoring plan and in reducing public skepticism of this controversial project.
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