Like many intensively irrigated areas of the world, the continued agricultural productivity of California’s San Joaquin Valley is severely impacted by the accumulation of salts and toxic trace metals from the soils, groundwater, and imported irrigation water. This growing problem came to a head in the late 1980’s with death and deformities of migratory waterfowl from toxic drainage in wildlife refuges. NHI was retained by the federal and state governments to study reforms in water management practices and institutions in the Valley to address this problem. The resulting report (1100 pages in length) constituted one of the pillars for the enactment in 1992 of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.
