Editors' Summary: In 1983, Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in central California achieved national prominence when Fish and Wildlife Service scientists discovered severely deformed and dead waterfowl at the refuge and concluded that the cause was selenium contamination from irrigation wastewater stored there. The use of Kesterson as a disposal site for such irrigation wastewater will cease in six months, but the problems it has raised will not soon fade. The contamination at the site must be cleaned up and further contamination prevented. The water that is currently being sent to the refuge for disposal must somehow be treated and stored. And in the long run, resource managers and policy makers must address the potential for widespread selenium contamination at other sites throughout the West. Although numerous environmental laws have been implicated, none provides a comprehensive solution to a complex problem that touches not only on wildlife, but also on water pollution, hazardous and toxic substances pollution, and reclamation policy. Conflicts between federal, state, and local governments exacerbate the problem, and many governmental agencies, private organizations, and individuals have a stake in the issues. The Comment provides a history of the events at Kesterson and an overview of the litigation the crisis has has spawned. It also looks at how federal reclamation policies have contributed to a major drainage problem by encouraging full-scale development of water resources without giving appropriate thought to treatment and disposal of the resulting wastes.