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In a three-day series examining the environmental and economic issues surrounding the San Joaquin River's slow death, The Record reveals the costs of living next to the sick river. The lower San Joaquin carries thousands of pounds of salt and selenium-laden runoff from farms, waste from dairies and untreated storm runoff. Ratepayers in Stockton face higher utility bills to improve a wastewater treatment plant. Farmers lose crops to salty water, and water earmarked for households and businesses must instead be used to help dilute the polluted river. (June 30 - July 2, 1996)