What is thought of as a common staple in American households is now being regarded as a menace to California’s water supply and agriculture.  Ordinary salt, an abundant and naturally occurring substance worldwide, has long been a problem in California.  As early as 1978, the state has recognized the over saturation of salt in our water supply, which mainly comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and also from surface runoff.  According to the California Department of Water Resources, or DWR, about 2.8 million tons of salt enter the San Joaquin Valley’s rich agricultural fields each year, enough “to fill 8 football fields – each 100 feet high.”  And, only 350,000 tons leave the valley, leaving over 2.4 million tons of salt in the soil. Too high of a salinity level can inhibit and impede crop production. The issue facing California is how to maintain a salt balance, a task that has proved extremely difficult. The DWR reports that, “11 semitrailers, each loaded with 25 tons of salt, would have to depart each hour, every day throughout the year, to strike this balance.”

During this decade, growers, in conjunction with the state, have made efforts to reduce water usage by conducting effective irrigation, comprehensive groundwater management, development of sequential drainage reuse systems and filtration drainage treatment systems, and the development of evaporation ponds.  But, with the state’s population increasing by about 600,000 people per year, the problem is worsening exponentially.  Some experts have estimated that the salt problem will cost California 1 billion dollars in lost farm food commodities and 30,000 lost jobs by the year 2030. In response to this dilemma, the Central Valley Water Board formed the Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability, or CV-SALTS in 2006. The mission of CV-SALTS “is to maintain a healthy environment and a good quality of life for all Californians by protecting our most essential and vulnerable resource: WATER.”  For more information on this effort, you can visit their website at www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley.