[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Water Quality-11/7/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

November 7, 2008

 

4. Water Quality -

 

 

Study: Numerous pesticides in rivers feeding Salton Sea

Desert Sun – 11/6/08

By Keith Matheny, staff

 

A new study from the U.S. Geological Survey found even more pesticides in the rivers feeding the Salton Sea.

The studies, more sophisticated than those conducted in 2001 and 2003, found 25 pesticides in the water and 34 in sediments of the Alamo and New rivers, which originate in Mexico and give the sea about 80 percent of its inflows.

"They’ve looked for more, and they’ve found more," said Jim Nickles, spokesman for USGS's California Water Science Center.

"They had more advanced laboratory techniques so they were able to detect compounds at lower concentrations."

The pollution is both current and "legacy," from use of pesticides like DDT decades ago.

Water samples show multiple compounds at levels that the EPA considers harmful to fish and other aquatic life. Pesticide concentrations are generally greater in the Alamo River than in the New and Whitewater rivers that also feed the Salton Sea, and the concentrations in the rivers are greater than in the sea itself.

Salton Sea restoration must "take into account the composition of the sea water we’re dealing with and how we’re going to restore it to an acceptable level," Salton Sea Authority board member Patricia "Corky" Larson said.

See mydesert.com and the print edition of The Desert Sun on Friday for a complete report.

View the study here: http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/365/#

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081106/NEWS07/81106019/1263/UPDATE

 

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