A Research Scientist's Perspective on the Management of Kesterson Reservoir: A Marsh Contaminated with Selenium-Rich Agricultural Drain Water

ABSTRACT

The unexpected discovery of deformed bird embryos linked to selenium toxicity at Kesterson Reservoir required rapid response. Research on groundwater hydrology, geochemistry, and ecology was initiated. Selenium input was stopped and a phased approach was proposed to detoxify the remaining inventory. Clean-up methods were planned, beginning with the simplest. These proposed techniques began with in situ selenium immobilization under wet (anoxic) conditions and ended with scraping off the contaminated topsoil. Cost estimates ranged from $5 million to $200 million. Recommendations to managers based on research findings were contradictory. Many agency scientists, influenced perhaps by policy concerns, disagreed with others using a strictly scientific approach. Cost-effective management was jeopardized by disagreements on accuracy and precision of data. At public hearings scientific witnesses were unable under oath to agree on apparently straightforward data. Conclusions reached by university researchers derived from field and laboratory experiments with micro- and mesocosms were not accepted by agency staff. University research investigators emphasized experimental results over field data collections. An opposite view was taken by most agency staff. Improved advice to management would result if both agency and research scientists recognized the legitimacy of their different approaches and reached a consensus before public hearings or other decision points, which are often heavily influenced by lawyers. Such a consensus requires rapid analysis and release of all relevant data. Lake and wetlands managers can assist by facilitating data-based workshops that allow groups to interact on a non-adversarial basis.