90 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



POLLUTION CONTROL 



Considerable progress in the abatement of pollntion affecting fish 

 and wildlife has been shown during the biennium. In 1948, critical condi- 

 tions led to the appointment by the Division of Fish and Game of two 

 sanitary engineers for surveys and to supply technical assistance in the 

 prosecution of pollution cases. By this time in a number of places in the 

 State, the wartime and postwar expansion of population and industry 

 had seriously overloaded the existing waste treatment facilities. At other 

 locations disposal facilities had never been constructed and the resulting 

 water pollution was more serious than even before, particularly in the 

 Central Valley and San Francisco Bay areas. 



The primary pollution problems of interest to the Division of Fish 

 and Game have occurred on the Central Valley salmon rivers, particu- 

 larly the Tuolumne, San Joaquin, and ^Nlokelumne. Following court 

 action instituted by the Division of Fish and Game against the City of 

 Modesto in 1947, sewage disposal facilities have been constructed, but a 

 considerable organic load is still discharged to the river. In both 1948 and 

 1949 water releases were required to get the salmon runs up the river. 

 The salmon of the Tuolumne have not yet been completely protected from 

 the dangers of pollution and a survey" has recentlj^ been completed to 

 evaluate the effects of the w^astes now^ going into the river and those that 

 are proposed for future discharge. Conditions for the salmon run in 1950 

 are satisfactory because of the small tonnage of tomatoes processed this 

 j^ear. 



A great deal of improvement has been observed on the Mokelumne 

 since 1948. All of the wineries in the vicinity of Lodi now have facilities 

 for impounding their wastes and no fish mortality or severe oxygen 

 depletion has been observed for the past two years. Severe pollution still 

 exists at Stockton in the ship channel and in the San Joaquin River, but 

 conditions are not nearly as bad as before 1949. A court action similar 

 to that taken against the City of Modesto was instituted against the City 

 of Stockton in that year and stipulations were obtained whereby the city 

 will construct a certain amount of additional treatment facilities each 

 year until complete treatment is provided in 1954. The length of the San 

 Joafpiin Eivor that is septic during the canning season has been reduced 

 from about 10 to less than three miles as a result of the construction 

 during the last two years. 



A study was made of the feasibility of using bottom organisms as 

 indexes of ])ollution along the water front between Martinez and the 

 Antiocli liridgc;. The rapid expansion of lieavy industry in this area can 

 be counted upon to present increasing pollution problems in the future 

 as the load of industrial wastes builds up. Unfortunately so few macro- 

 scopic bottom organisms were present in Ihese waters that the above 

 approa(;h appears to hold little promise. Tiiis scarcity of bottom organ- 

 isms has tentatively been attributed to the continual changes in salinity 

 which characterize tlie area. 



In 1949 the Assembly lntei-im Committee on AVater Pollution pro- 

 posed a sweei)ing sei'ies of changes in tlie existing laws. The resulting 

 legislation estal)lished a State Water Pollution Control Board and nine 

 regional boards for tlic i)iii|)()S(' of coordinating pollution control activi- 

 ties and establishing pdlliition policies at the local level. The Division of 



