The Technical Advisory Committee announces the availability of the Final Salt and Nitrate Source Pilot Implementation Report

The Final Report is now posted incorporating comments provided on the Full Draft Document from December 2009. Document links below are compressed to reduce download time. There is an Executive Summary as well as the full report and the Attachments.

Executive Summary (650 KB) Compressed

Main Report (20 MB) Compressed 

Attachments (14 MB) Compressed

This report will be presented at the March 11th Economic and Technical Committee meeting. The Presentation will be available when posted.

Click the Read More button below for Information on the draft version or prior presentation materials.

As the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are currently under development and regulations surrounding sodium consumption are being considered, an analysis of evidence to be released online Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN) questions the scientific logic and feasibility of the decades-long effort to limit salt intake in humans.

After examining data from sodium intake studies worldwide and a critical body of neuroscience research on sodium appetite (innate behaviors that drive us to consume salt), researchers from the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Washington University found compelling evidence indicating that humans naturally regulate their salt intake within a narrowly defined physiologic range.

State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB), and the Central Valley Salinity Coalition (CVSC) Board of Directors Approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for cooperative advancement of the CV-SALTS Initiative in December.

While the three entities have been cooperating for over two years, the MOA documents the working relationships among the agencies and their commitments to cooperatively work together to improve the Management of Salinity in Central Valley Waters.  The MOA also documents the unique cooperation that has been built in the Agency and Stakeholder community to support these efforts.

New Sky Energy Presented their technology and which could use a large volume of salt that would otherwise be a waste product in the Central Valley

Their patented technology uses waste salt to make several valuable feedstock carbonates that are used in the Central Valley.

They recently competed in the Clean Tech Open winning the Rocky Mountain Division.  The pilot described in the presentation is to be installed in the spring at Redrock Ranch, already a leader in "On-farm Salinity Management".  Review the presentation here 

Reduce Salinity in Ground and Surface Water

The Almond Board of California provided information to its members in its recent blog.  We applaud their efforts to raise awareness of this critical issue.

"Elevated salinity and nitrates in surface and ground water in California’s Central Valley is an increasing problem. Higher levels of total salinity and its constituents of sodium, chloride, and boron are detrimental to almond production. In addition, water infiltration can be impaired under certain total salinity and specific ion scenarios.

These problems are being addressed by the Central Valley Salinity Coalition, and the Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability. Both work in conjunction with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The Central Valley Salinity Coalition is a non-profit formed in July 2008 to organize, facilitate and fund efforts needed for the efficient management of salinity in the Central Valley.

Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability  (CV-SALTS) is a collaborative basin planning effort aimed at developing and implementing a comprehensive salinity and nitrate management program.

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board is in the process of adding ground water management to the Irrigated Lands program. A major focus of the program will be on salinity and nitrate reductions in ground water."

Links to Excellent are in the article Here