THB01 "Westlands Water District"; [email protected]

In his first podcast of "Tales of the Hydraulic Brotherhood" California water expert Lloyd Carter talks about the Westlands Water District, at 942 square miles the largest and most politically powerful federal water district in America. Westlands has a drainage problem caused by selenium, a trace element inherent in the soils of the western San Joaquin Valley in Central California, the nation's most productive farming region. Drainage water from Westlands poisoned ducks and shorebirds at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the mid 1980s triggering national headlines. Now Westlands wants to take over solving the drainage problem from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in exchange for forgiveness of a half billion dollar debt the water district owes the federal government AND control of the Bureau's state water permit which is annually worth $500 million.