Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 28, 2007
4. Water Quality -
Officials unveil new plan to save, restore sea -
The Desert Sun
Contra Costa Times
Senate committee approves bills to deter E. coli outbreaks -
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Officials unveil new plan to save, restore sea
The Desert Sun – 3/28/07
Erica Solvig, staff writer
While far from complete, the draft proposal state officials released Tuesday is the first glance at what's being considered the best chance to save and restore the
It took three years of studies and debate to get to this point. But with only a month left before California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman presents his final recommendation to lawmakers, local stakeholders are expected to spend the coming weeks negotiating several elements:
The state's draft plan does not maintain the current shoreline but instead creates a new shoreline about 2 feet lower in elevation. That essentially would create an outer rim of playa, or exposed dry lake bed, that could create a dust issue.
Property owners would be responsible for limiting the dust from that playa by keeping it wet or covering it with gravel.
A representative for the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, a major property owner in the area, indicated the tribe wouldn't support a plan that put that much burden on property owners.
The proposal also creates a large, dry lake bed in the middle of the sea.
The draft plan doesn't have any recreation lake in the south part of the Salton Sea,
Salton Sea Authority officials have said the southern lake is needed to help climate control for local farms. Without it, there would be no water recreation options in that part of the lake.
"We're very concerned," Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt said. "We'd have to drive a long ways to get to some water."
The draft proposal did not have any wildlife habitat in the northern part of the lake. But such a habitat already is under construction there, said Rick Daniels, executive director of the La-Quinta based Salton Sea Authority, which had proposed its own plan to restore the sea.
Daniels said he would ask state officials to create a small habitat in the north and, in exchange, designate about 5,000 acres of the proposed habitat in the south as a recreation lake instead.
The size of the newly created lake also may be a matter of debate. Under the state's plan, it would be 34,000 acres, smaller than
The new lake still would be more than seven times the size of
It would only be about 12 meters deep, though two arms of the lake - each about a mile wide - would extend down to
The sea is smaller than the Salton Sea Authority's proposed lake, which received strong local support.
Chrisman said he would use the feedback from advisory committee members and the public to finalize his decision. And many local representatives responded to Tuesday's presentation by saying there's still work to be done.
State experts estimate it would cost about $6 billion to construct the 40 miles of barrier, 30 miles of air quality management canals and other elements needed in dividing the existing sea.
All told, the draft proposes 62,000 acres of saline habitat; a 34,000-acre marine sea formed by 2022; 109,000 acres of playa, or exposed lake bed; and 29,000 acres of brine sink.
The entire restoration will take until 2078 to complete.
State legislation charged Chrisman with developing an alternative for preserving the
If nothing is done, experts say the lake essentially will die. It will become too salty to sustain the aquatic food chain and also will dry up, with the exposed playa creating dust and air quality issues for the entire
Eight proposals for sea restoration and preservation, and a "do-nothing" alternative, were considered, debated and tweaked over three years.
Chrisman's draft was based on an alternative known as the North Sea Alternative - a deep, marine, open-water habitat in the north, and saline habitat complex in the southern portion of the sea.
Any restoration plan must be
approved by the Legislature.
Chrisman said after Tuesday's presentation that his department would "need to fine tune" the proposal "based on what we hear from the locals."
"Local support is critical to the success of whatever restoration project, proposed alternative we go with," he said.
Cost and water are issues
Restoring the
But this restoration effort is working against a deadline. Because of a 2003 water deal, the amount of water going into the
By 2017, the sea will see a dramatic impact. A significant amount of water that was going to Imperial farms, and eventually draining into the Salton Sea, will instead go to places such as
If no restoration plan is enacted, the sea - already saltier than the ocean - will become so salty that experts predict pileworms and many invertebrates that are the basic component of the
A book of local resolutions and signatures was given to committee members Tuesday, showing how much residents from
"This is a project that will have to go through engineering and analysis," Riverside County Supervisor and authority member Roy Wilson said. "As it moves forward, if we can continue having input in the process, we will be able to get some of the Salton Sea Authority's plan into this plan."
No vote was taken after Chrisman presented his draft to the advisory committee Tuesday.
Even if a consensus is reached, officials still have to earn the support of the Legislature.
Then there's the issue of cost. Beyond the $6 billion in construction, there will be a cost of maintaining and operating the sea every year.
No numbers were given, but the eight original alternatives estimated that cost could range from $20 million to $149 million a year.
As it gets sorted out, many residents are waiting to invest in the area around the sea, said LaVon Jaksch, owner/broker with American Dreams Real Estate.
"Everyone is waiting to find out what the final say-so is going to be," said the La Quinta resident, who plans to build her own retirement home at the sea. "But there's more people that want it to stay water than who want to get rid of it and let it become a dust bowl."#
http://www.desertsunonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/NEWS0701/703280330/1006/news01
Contra Costa Times – 3/28/07
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - A county task force has been given the go-ahead to start testing the waters around Malibu to see what -- and possibly whose septic tank -- may be polluting Santa Monica Bay.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved spending as much as $1 million to sample and DNA-test the water to find sources of beach water pollution.
Regional water officials have threatened hefty fines if beaches around
Inspectors will collect samples from 27 locations within the watershed. The sampling will run for 10 weeks in the spring, starting this month, and for five weeks in the fall. Officials expect to conclude the study in the fall of 2008.
"It's my expectation that this study will answer some questions that this community has been asking for years: Where's this stuff coming from? And what can we do about it?" said Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents
If DNA tests show the pollutants are human and not from horses or other animals, inspectors will follow the trail up the creeks that travel through neighborhoods in
Officials will not request DNA samples from residents to match waste with its human source but say they may ask a judge for authority to inspect the tanks of property owners who bar them from taking samples.
Some of the area's most famous tourist draws, including
Most contamination occurs during winter, when rains overload storm drain and sewage systems, washing waste into the sea. Swimming in such waters can cause gastrointestinal illnesses.#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/16986402.htm
Senate committee approves bills to deter E. coli outbreaks
By Don Thompson, AP
Bills designed to prevent E. coli contamination of spinach and other leafy green vegetables narrowly cleared a key legislative committee Tuesday over the objection of farm groups.
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved three bills that would impose tougher standards on growers of spinach, lettuce, sprouts and similar crops. The state would have more power to respond to outbreaks of food-borne disease and would establish a process to more quickly trace outbreaks to their source.
The California Farm Bureau Federation and Western Growers Association said the bills are unnecessary because the industry is adopting new safety standards on its own this year.
The organizations said those steps will improve safety more quickly than the bills authored by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter. The groups also said their internal measures also will give the industry more ability to adapt safety practices to changing farm conditions and technology.
But there can be no safety guarantees until consumers accept some sort of "kill step" such as irradiation, said Western Growers Association Vice President Dave Puglia. That's necessary to sterilize a product that is grown outdoors and eaten raw, he said.
"It's not a risk-free world,"
Elisa Odabashian, director of the West Coast office of Consumers Union, told senators that repeated outbreaks have shown that growers and processors cannot police themselves.
"Voluntary self-regulation by the leafy greens industry has been disastrous for consumers," she said.
Florez's bills are in response to last September's E. coli outbreak in spinach and lettuce that was grown primarily in
Lettuce, spinach and sprouts can be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria if they come in contact with manure.
Florez expected his legislation to face a tough time in the Agriculture Committee. The committee's chairman, Santa Maria Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado, voted against two of his three bills.
The bills would give the state Department of Public Health the power to test irrigation water, soil and produce, as well as the authority to recall contaminated produce.
To help clear the committee, Florez amended the bills to give the Department of Food and Agriculture a role in enforcing the new standards and removed provisions requiring farmers to obtain new licenses and pay fees for inspections. He also incorporated a safety program being developed by lettuce and spinach growers.#
http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/37949.html
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