News Release Archive

Grassland Bypass Project 2013 Revised Monitoring Plan Available for Public Review

Media Contact: Pete Lucero, MP Region Public Affairs Officer, 916-978-5100, plucero@usbr.gov

For Release: April 02, 2013

FRESNO, Calif. – A 2013 revised plan for monitoring the Grassland Bypass Project has been released for public review by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Central Valley Region), and other agencies.

The Grassland Bypass Project controls and reduces agricultural drain water, and prevents its discharge into wildlife refuges and wetlands in the western San Joaquin Valley. The drain water is conveyed instead through a segment of the San Luis Drain to Mud Slough, a tributary of the San Joaquin River. Reclamation and other agencies monitor the project’s effects on water, sediment, and flora and fauna in the lower San Joaquin River and adjacent wetlands water supply channels.

The 2013 Revised Monitoring Plan will measure selenium, mercury and other trace metals, pesticides, and other parameters in the water channels that convey agricultural drain water.
The plan is available at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/grassland/documents/gbp_2013_rev_mon_plan.pdf. If you encounter problems accessing the document online, please call 916-978-5100 or email mppublicaffairs@usbr.gov.

Written comments must be received by close of business April 21, 2013 and should be sent to Stacy Brown, Bureau of Reclamation, South-Central California Area Office, 1243 N Street Fresno, CA 93721. Comments may also be faxed to Brown at 559-487-5397 or emailed to sbrown@usbr.gov.  

For additional information or to request a copy of the 2013 Revised Monitoring Plan, please contact Brown at 559-487-5408, TTY (800) 735-2929. Copies of the draft documents also may be viewed at Reclamation’s Fresno office at the above address.

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Relevant Link:

The 2013 Revised Monitoring Plan