Statement Relative to the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration's Activities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay


STATEMENT RELATIVE TO THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION
CONTROL ADMINISTRATION'S ACTIVITIES IN THE
SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA AND SAN FRANCISCO BAY*
by
James C. McCarty**
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to describe
the activities of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (EWPCA)
as they relate to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay areas.
Since May of this year, administration of the Federal government's
water pollution control program has been the responsibility of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Administration of the U. S. Department of the Interior.
Prior to that rime this responsibility was vested in the Department of Health/
Education, and Welfare.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, sets forth the
role and responsibilities of the FWPCA in carrying out the Federal pollution
control program. The Administrations' responsibilities can be broadly
classified into four categories - Technical Programs, Research and Develop-
ment Programs, Facilities Grants Programs , and Enforcement Activities.
These activities are administered at the field level frcm nine regional
offices t each responsible for one or more major river basins of the United
States.
The development of comprehensive programs for water pollution control
in major river basins is one of the technical programs provided for by the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act. At the present time, the Administration
has ten of the nation's nineteen major river basins under study. I am
associated with one of these r the Central Pacific River Basir _ onprehensive
Water Pollution Control Project (CPBP), which was initiated _965. This
Project is directly concerned with water pollution control and warer quality
problems of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as well as other areas of the
State of California. I will describe the Project briefly and specifically
outline our current activities in the San Francisco Bay-Delta area.
*Presented before a joint public hearing held by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, California State Water Quality Control Board/ California Water
Commission and the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration relative
to water quality and waste disposal problems of San Francisco Bay and
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Palo Alto, California, November 22, 1966
**Deputy Director, Central Pacific River Basins Comprehensive Water Pollution
Control Project, Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, Department
of the Interior, Southwest Region, Alameda, California

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THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RIVER BASINS COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT
The Central Pacific River Basins study area is located almost
entirely within the borders of the State of California. It includes those
basins which drain to the Pacific Ocean from and including the' Klamath on the
north (part of which is in Oregon) to the Mexican border on the south, plus
the Mojave Basin and the Owens River Basin.
In developing a comprehensive water pollution control program for
this area, a number of activities will be undertaken in cooperation with
local, state', interstate, 'and other federal agencies having responsibilities
for water pollution control and water resources development. The activities
of the Project will be divided into two major phases. The first phase
involves the collection of basic information and the development of analytical
"tools" to evaluate alternative courses of action. We call this the develop-
ment phase. The second phase, known as the management phase, is a continuing
program of implementation, evaluation, and surveillance.
The development phase of the Central Pacific River Basins Project is
expected to require seven years to complete. During the early years of the
Project we are directing our attention to existing and potential pollution
problems of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta areas.
As the project progresses similar studies will be conducted in the San
Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, the Southern California and North Coastal
Basins and finally the Central Coastal Basins.
The entire seven year study is estimated to require $3,500,000 and
a peak project staff of 48 people. The project headquarters is located in
Alameda, California and a field office has been established in Southern
California.
PRESENT ACTIVITIES
The initial efforts of the Central Pacific River Basins Project have
been largely directed by a provision of the 1966 Public Works Appropriation
Act. This Act provides that the final point of discharge of the waste drain
to serve the Federal San Luis Project service area shall not be determined
until (1) completion of a pollution study by the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare and (2) development of a plan to minimize any detri-
mental effect of the San Luis drainage waters on San Francisco Bay. This
responsibility of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has been
assumed by the Department of the Interior as a result of the previously
mentioned transfer of the FWPCA to the latter Department.
The Central Pacific River Basins Project, therefore, has since its
inception, directed all of its resources toward fulfilling the requirements
of this Congressional directive. A report of findings and recommendations
is scheduled for completion early in 1967.
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To be meaningful, such an investigation cannot be limited solely to
an evaluation of the effects of the San Luis drainage waters on the San
Francisco Bay-Delta system. All planned water resource projects and waste
sources that will affect the quality of the waters of this system must be
considered,, Merely a cursory examination of the problems of water quality
in the Delta reveals that both the quantity and quality of waters flowing
into, through and out of the Delta together with influences within the Delta
itself must be considered. Ihis broader approach that we have adopted will
permit a more realistic evaluation of the effects of San Joaquin Valley
agricultural drainage waters within the context of all other factors which
will affect, water quality in the Bay-Delta region.
To accomplish this immediate task we are attacking the problem
through a simultaneous investigation of its five basic sub-elements. These
are:
(1)	An inventory and projection of all waste production in the study area.
(2)	A prediction of pollutant concentrations in the receiving waters of
the Bay and Delta as a result of disposal of these waste materials.
(3)	An evaluation of the detrimental effects of the fertilizing or
nutrient elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus which are major
constituents of many waste flows.
(4)	An evaluation of the detrimental effects of pesticide residues reaching
the Bay-Delta system.
(5)	An evaluation of alternative methods of disposal giving consideration
both to costs and resulting water quality improvement benefits.
To assist us in this accelerated study, we have enlisted help frcm
other federal agencies including the Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of Engineers;
frcm California State agencies, including the Department of Water Resources,
the Department of Fish and Game, the State Water Quality Control Board and
appropriate regional boards; and from highly qualified private consultants.
We have received excellent cooperation frcm all of these groups. As a result
of this cooperation, we have been able to obtain needed information with a
minimum of effort. This has allowed us to devote more of our attention to
evaluation 
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The Project is also utilizing data developed by past dye dispersion
studies in the Corps of Engineers' Bay model and has recently canpleted
additional dye studies in the model to supplement these earlier data.
Economic and demographic studies are proceeding along with the
engineering studies and will provide the basic information for estimating
future water requirements, water uses f and waste quantities generated by
municipal, .industrial and agricultural sources in the tributary area.
The appropriate Regional Water Quality Control Boards will be -consulted
regarding determinations they have made of the water uses to be protected
and corresponding water quality objectives. A comprehensive inventory of
fishing and recreational uses of the Bay-Delta waters and an estimate of
their monettiry value has been made.
The Project has initiated both laboratory and field studies related
to pesticide, nutrient, and biological problems. We are coordinating these
with the appropriate units of the California Departments of Fish and Game,
and Water Resources.
Supplemental laboratory support is being provided frcrn the Administration's
Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, and the
Klamath Basin Project pesticide laboratory in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Be-
cause of the extremely important but complex nature of the nutrient and
pesticide phases of our study, additional technical support and consultation
is being provided elsewhere within the Federal Water Pollution Control
Administration, including its research programs and other comprehensive
projects in other basins of the country.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES
As a result of the activities that have just been described, we feel
that significant progress has been made to date in the development of a plan
to minimize any detrimental effects of agricultural drainage waters on the
Delta as required by Congress. Although it is not yet possible to draw firm
conclusions, we continue to expect that we will be able to meet the deadline
of early 1967 for completion of this work.
It should be emphasized here.that the forthcoming report of the EWCA
is an initial, rather than a concluding or final description of a pollution
control program for the San Francisco Bay-Delta system. The Central Pacific
Basins Project will continue to develop new information in cooperation with
other interested agencies that will serve to improve and refine our initial
findings until the conclusion of the development phase of the Project. At
that time, a comprehensive program for the entire Central Pacific Basins
area will be a reality and will reflect the pertinent findings of all related
studies and investigations.
The magnitude of the problems involved in such an undertaking can be
appreciated when wa consider the large total effort being made by the many
interested agencies. All of these will have a bearing on any ultimate plan
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for protection of the waters of the San Francisco Bay and Delta. The
major undertakings of the State Water Quality Control Board and the U. S.
Army Corps of Engineers will play a very important role in the development
of such a plan. All of these activities can best be coordinated through a
single technical coordinating canmittee such as has been established as a
part of the State;study. The FYJPCA, Corps of Engineers, and other Federal
and State agencies are active members. The pooling of local, State and
Federal resources in this way should result in a water pollution control
program which will best serve the needs of the area.
As cin example of coordination, we plan to adjust our level of activities
during the next two years so as. to be consistent with similar efforts by
the State as part of its planned San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality
Control Program studies which will be carried on during this same period.
A major emphasis of the Central Pacific Basins Project during this period
will be iri studies of the water pollution control problems of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys which are tributary to the San Francisco
Bay-Delta system. In this way, FWPCA activities will complement rather
than conflict or duplicate the State's San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality
Control Program development.
As the Central Pacific Basins Project progresses further, we expect
to develop pertinent information on water quality and pollution control
problems throughout that portion of the State of California that lies within
the project study area. It is anticipated that this information will be
most useful to important decision making groups in arriving at conclusions
which will best serve the needs of other state and federal agencies, local
interests and the general public.
Uiank you.
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