Salinity and Drainage in San Joaquin Valley, California: Science, Technology, and Policy (Global Issues in Water Policy Book 5)

This book documents the history of irrigated agriculture and drainage in the San Joaquin Valley, and describes the hydrology and biogeochemical processes of salts and selenium, remediation technologies for salts and trace elements and policy and management options. The contents are comprised of fourteen chapter-length independent treatises, each depicting with fresh perspective a distinctive salinity drainage topic. The opening chapters detail the evolution of irrigated agriculture, and depict the geochemical and hydrological processes that define the San Joaquin Valley, including the physics, chemistry, and biology attributes that impact water management policies and strategies. Next, the contributors address the biogeochemistry of selenium, the role of plants in absorbing it from soils, and the processes involved in retaining and concentrating dissolved salts in drainage water. Further chapters describe on-farm and plot-level irrigation provisions to reduce agricultural drainage outputs and examine their effects on plant performance. This volume offers realistic policy analysis of water management options for irrigated agriculture in the Valley and assesses their respective outcomes, if implemented. Also included is an international perspective on the sustainability of irrigated agriculture there. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Prologue....Pages 1-6 E. W. Hilgard and the History of Irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley: Stunning Productivity, Slowly Undone by Inadequate Drainage....Pages 7-46 The San Joaquin Valley: Salinity and Drainage Problems and the Framework for a Response....Pages 47-97 Scales and Scaling as a Framework for Synthesizing Irrigated Agroecosystem Research on the Westside San Joaquin Valley....Pages 99-122 Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements: Reactions in Soils....Pages 123-146 Uptake, Metabolism, and Volatilization of Selenium by Terrestrial Plants....Pages 147-164 Bacterial Reduction of Selenium....Pages 165-184 Chemical and Biological Processes of Evaporation Ponds....Pages 185-210 Management of Evaporation Basins To Reduce and Avoid Adverse Impacts to Waterbirds....Pages 211-247 Integrated Irrigation and Drainage Water Management....Pages 249-276 Drainage Water Reuse: Concepts, Practices and Potential Crops....Pages 277-302 Membrane Desalination of Agricultural Drainage Water....Pages 303-341 Advances in Wetland Salinity Management....Pages 343-352 Regional Economics and Management in Closed Drainage Basins....Pages 353-379 California and Beyond: An International Perspective on the Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture....Pages 381-406 Back Matter....Pages 407-409