[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 6/28/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 28, 2007

 

3. Watersheds

 

DELTA ISSUES:

Plan to curb Delta Pollution - Stockton Record

 

Editorial: Another first step; Hearings must restart Delta discussions - Vacaville Reporter

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

Editorial: Parkway politics; County shouldn't ask Rancho for a dime - Sacramento Bee

 

 

DELTA ISSUES:

Plan to curb Delta Pollution

Stockton Record – 6/28/07

By Alex Breitler, staff writer

 

THE DELTA - Cory Bower and his friends glided into Tower Park Marina at lunchtime Wednesday, staying long enough only to fill up the gas tank.

 

Then it was back to a weeklong exploration of 635 miles of waterways.

 

That's a lot of ground to cover, but Bower was in no hurry. He pumped his gas from the dock, then eased the nozzle from his 23-foot Malibu Wakesetter, making sure fuel didn't drip into Little Potato Slough.

 

As crowds of boaters delight in the Delta this Fourth of July, county and state officials are making final plans to decrease boater-generated pollution - be it a few drops of fuel that accidentally escape, or batteries or oil filters dumped into the drink.

 

"That's just wrong," said Bower, a Southern Californian making his first trip to the Delta.

 

It's difficult to say how many of the Delta's water quality woes can be pegged on boater pollution, said Vivian Matuk, an environmental boating expert with the state Coastal Commission and Department of Boating and Waterways.

 

There are many other sources: Cities release treated sewage into the Delta, fertilizers wash off front lawns, and pesticides drain from farmers' fields. But the estuary's 150 marinas and roughly 170,400 registered boats undoubtedly produce some pollution.

 

"It's a very important area, and we need to support clean boating practices. The boaters want to do the right thing, but they need easy and convenient and free methods," said Matuk, whose agencies are coordinating with Delta counties on the cleanup effort.

 

Several years ago, Contra Costa County snagged a $1 million grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to make improvements. Oil-absorbent pillows were handed out to boaters to soak up any spills during fueling or engine maintenance.

 

And a trio of marinas became official used-oil collection centers.

 

Many of these same services are coming to San Joaquin County's slice of the Delta as soon as September, thanks to another $1.6 million in funding.

 

The grant also will pay for fish-cleaning stations, fishing-line recycling and 20,000 clean-boating kits to be handed out by "dockwalkers." The kits will contain maps listing which marinas offer environmental services.

 

"This is big," Matuk said. "It's pretty comprehensive."

 

It's also wonderful, said Stockton's Sara Nation, who keeps a boat at King Island and once volunteered as a dockwalker. Those citizen pollution cops stroll the marinas and hand out pamphlets on clean boating.

 

Nation, who has boated the Delta for 30 years, said the level of awareness has already increased. She dragged her old houseboat off the water in order to paint it recently - a lot of work, but environmentally smart.

 

"Years ago, you didn't even think about paint going into the Delta," she said.

 

San Joaquin County Public Works Department staffer Candis Oldham said some marinas, such as Tower Park, already have oil recycling facilities. This means boaters don't have to haul their own oil, filters or perhaps batteries to household hazardous-waste facilities. "We try to make it as easy as possible for them to do the right thing," she said. #

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/A_NEWS/706280363/-1/A_NEWS

 

 

Editorial: Another first step; Hearings must restart Delta discussions

Vacaville Reporter – 6/28/07

 

How can the Delta's environment be preserved while meeting the water needs of 25 million Californians? That is a question that has been looming for years as the ecology of the state's largest estuary has deteriorated and demands for fresh water from the Central Valley and Southern California have increased.

 

It is no longer a problem that can be ignored or finessed. A sharp decline in the Delta smelt population, an indicator of the environmental health of the estuary, forced the state to shut its massive water pumps for 10 days this spring.

 

The federal government also turned down the volume on its pumps to help protect the smelt.

 

For years, state water officials have been violating the California Endangered Species Act by not having permits to kill fish while pumping water south.

 

In April, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ordered state water officials to comply with the act or shut down.

 

He was serious, and the pumps were closed from May 31 to June 9. The pumps are running again, but not yet at full capacity.

 

Clearly, the huge state and federal water pumps cannot be shut down or sharply slowed for any length of time without jeopardizing California's economy. But the shutdown has served as a clear and dramatic warning that something must be done - and soon.

 

Rep. George Miller, D-Solano, was on target in saying, "We have an emergency on our hands," and that "federal agencies are lurching from crisis to crisis without a sustainable plan that can protect our Delta environment and manage our water supplies."

 

He and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Solano, are among six Bay Area lawmakers calling for a hearing by the water and power subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. It will be held at 9 a.m. Monday at Vallejo City Hall.

 

Leading state and federal water managers and regulators will be invited to discuss the health of the Bay-Delta estuary and what state and federal water and wildlife agencies are doing to restore the Delta environment.

 

For years, the so-called Cal-Fed coalition of state and federal water interests cooperated on a plan to improve the Delta ecology. Billions of dollars were spent, but the environment is worse now than before, with the collapse of several fish species, including the Delta smelt.

 

Just what is causing the decline in fish populations remains unclear. It could be from higher salinity, an invasion of Asian clams, agricultural runoff or even toxic metals from decaying ships in Suisun Bay.

 

It is long past time for water officials to get a fix on exactly what is harming the Delta fish and what it means for the future health of the estuary.

 

Even more important is the question of how the Delta can be safeguarded while sufficient fresh water supplies are pumped south to the Central Valley and to Southern California.

 

If pumping needs to be curtailed or even shut off at certain times of the year to protect fish and other wildlife, there will be an even greater need for more water storage capacity above and below ground.

 

Even if the Delta faced no ecological threat, more water will have to be stored to ensure adequate supplies during droughts. With just one dry year, Bay Area water officials are already calling for greater conservation. A drought like that in the late 1970s could be a disaster.

 

We hope Monday's congressional hearing in Vallejo is the first step toward some real answers about the Delta environment and meeting the state's water needs over the long term.  #

http://www.thereporter.com/opinion/ci_6250437

 

 

AMERICAN RIVER:

Editorial: Parkway politics; County shouldn't ask Rancho for a dime

Sacramento Bee – 6/28/07

 

The beautiful American River continues to remain the site of an ugly display of politics and petulance in Sacramento County. In short, Sacramento County wants to maintain an excessive amount of control over the river. Meanwhile, it wants money from the city of Rancho Cordova, which borders the river.

 

The money is for parkway planning. But the planning process is a case study in outdated governance and inappropriate behavior by all involved. The county launched a new discussion of parkway management after the creation of Rancho Cordova in 2003.

 

It could have advanced the legislative changes necessary to give the new city a direct seat at the table. But it didn't. It proceeded as if the new city (which it never really supported) didn't exist.

 

Inevitable friction surfaced. Rancho Cordova realized it was treated as the jilted cousin along the river. And it reacted in kind.

 

State Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, drafted a bill to give Rancho Cordova equal say in the governance of the parkway. The county was outraged. Cox was easily outflanked by Sacramento's Democratic allies. The county preferred to be indignant rather than to get the message: It is time to share power.

 

But the county didn't get the message. It went along as though Rancho Cordova should have no direct say. It approved the updated parkway plan, which is relatively status quo. And then it began wondering how to pay for the planning process, which had cost about $1 million. It asked Rancho Cordova for $50,000.

 

So far the city has paid about $4,700, according to a story by The Bee's Ed Fletcher. The county is wondering about the rest of the money. By our reckoning, Rancho Cordova has paid $4,700 too much. The county has no business asking for money from jurisdictions it spurns in sharing power. What is particularly sad is how maintenance and operations along the parkway are underfunded. The county isn't doing right by the parkway. But it seems to prefer to let the parkway suffer rather than to explore a partnership with adjacent cities that would require everyone to share both in management and in financial obligations. What a shame. But this is what happens when maintaining power becomes more important than maintaining the parkway itself. #

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/245410.html

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