92 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



waste a considerable amount of treatment is provided, for example at 

 Stockton and Modesto. The San Jose-Santa Clara area has passed a bond 

 issue for construction of treatment facilities, but the plant will not be 

 completed for two or three years. It seems likely that we will soon see 

 additional pulp mills in the State ; in fact, preliminary negotiations have 

 begun with the builders of a proposed pulp mill on the McCloud River. 

 A great deal of work remains to be done by the lumber industry all over 

 the State. The cutting and hauling operations result in a large amount 

 of debris being deposited in the streams, with resultant obstructions to 

 migrating fish and pollution due to sawdust and bark. The problem of 

 the effluent from millponds entering streams and killing fish is also 

 serious and an educational campaign is being carried out in order that 

 sawmill operators will drain ponds only during periods of high flow. 



One of the most common causes of complaint is the recurring prob- 

 lem of oil spills, particularly from ships. The number of cases has de- 

 creased considerably since the years before the war, probably due to the 

 patrol activities of the Division of Fish and Oame. The prosecution of 

 oil pollution cases may take place under either federal or state statutes, 

 but in practice the majority of cases are handled in tlie local state courts 

 by local patrol personnel. 



Probabh^ the most encouraging development during the last bien- 

 nium has been the increased number of potential pollution cases that 

 have been taken care of before j)ol]ution has occurred. This has been 

 made possible by the increased public attention being given to water 

 pollution and is the ' ' payoff ' ' of many years work by agencies and organi- 

 zations, such as sportsmen's groups interested in water pollution control. 

 With the establishment of the regional water pollution control boards, 

 it is anticipated that no new sources of pollution will be allowed to dis- 

 charge into state waters to the detriment of fish and aquatic life. Our 

 experience has shown that the best time for pollution prevention is while 

 plans are in the formative state, not after the treatment plant or the 

 new industrial plant is completed. 



Two recent instances demonstrate this point. The Masonite Corpo- 

 ration has recently completed a new plant at Ukiah. Originally it was 

 proposed to use the Russian River for waste disposal and it was apparent 

 that this would create intolerable conditions in the river. After nearly 

 two years of negotiations the problem was solved by the installation of 

 evaporators before the plant went into operation, thus creating a "tight" 

 plant with no waste discharge. Another example of this predischarge 

 control occurred at the City of Gridley. Without realizing the conse- 

 quences the city proposed to put a series of sewer ponds immediately 

 adjacent to the Gray Lodge Waterfowl Refuge. The hazard of botulism 

 to waterfowl feeding in septic ponds is extremely serious, and any pro- 

 posal to locate sewage disposal ponds in close proximity to any concen- 

 tration of ducks must be treated with extreme caution. In this instance 

 negotiations wdth the city and the consulting engineer resulted in the 

 removal of the treatment plant site to the other side of town, near the 

 Feather River, where gravel deposits are much more suited to pond 

 construction because of the additional percolation. By this planning the 

 hazard to waterfowl was eliminated and when final plans were completed 

 the cost to the treatment plant had been reduced. 



