$1.1 million granted to improve water in Gilsizer Slough

A new federal program to fund water-quality projects will bolster efforts to protect Gilsizer Slough.

The $1.15 million grant will go to the Sutter County Resource Conservation District to pay for projects to control pesticide runoff into Gilsizer Slough west of Yuba City, which drains into the Feather River.

The district's funding comes from the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture began this year to support restoration plans. About $58 million from the program will go toward 63 water-quality projects nationwide.

In Sutter County, district officials will partner with area landowners in irrigation and planting projects meant to limit the leaching of agricultural chemicals such as the insecticide diazinon, which the Environmental Protection Agency in 2004 banned for households but not farms. Gilsizer Slough is on the EPA's list of environmentally "impaired" waterways because of its diazinon levels.

"The whole idea is to prevent irrigation runoff from entering the drainage system, said Ryan Bonea, the district's executive director. "Even for those who aren't on irrigation, rainfall has a huge effect on water quality. You have a significant storm of two or three inches, and even fields that don't normally run off have water coming off the fields."

Local projects include experiments in replacing flood irrigation in orchards with piped sprinkler systems, as well as filter strips, cover crop planting, and pest management to limit pesticide use. Some funds will go to similar projects already under way in the Gilsizer Slough zone, which comprises about 25,000 acres.

The conservation district will accept applications to enter the project through Aug. 14. Applicants will be ranked according to their need for water and resource conservation.

More Info

Call the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service in Yuba City at 674-1461, Ext. 3; or visit the Yuba City office at 1511 Butte House Road, Suite B.