Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 16, 2007
4. Water Quality
Sewage runneth over?; Officials overseeing system deny sewage is seeping into wash - Desert Sun
PERCHLORATE:
Editorial: It's time for
LEAD IN DRINKING WATER:
Editorial: Getting the lead out; State should stick to new faucet standards - Sacramento
Sewage runneth over?; Officials overseeing system deny sewage is seeping into wash
Desert Sun – 7/15/07
By Erica Solvig, staff writer
Untreated sewage is seeping out of
Though some officials who oversee the local sewer system deny the dirty water in the Arroyo Salada Wash is untreated waste, regional water quality experts and at least one of the community district's own board members maintain it is.
The area is remote, but tire tracks are visible near the marshy pools of sewage where people are known to off-road. And officials fear the sewage will become a breeding ground for West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitoes or even trickle into the plagued
The seepage has prompted the local district of the California Regional Water Control Board to issue a cease-and-desist order until the Salton Community Services District improves wastewater treatment. And
"We had to create a time schedule for them to get their act together," said Jose Angel, assistant executive officer with the Colorado River Basin Region's water quality control board.
"The findings are very clear. What's coming out into the wash is partially treated, at best, wastewater from the (treatment) ponds. There's no ifs ands or buts."
The Salton Community Services District, which provides sewer, trash, recreation and emergency services for the areas of Salton City and Desert Shores, is moving forward with a nearly $3 million water treatment system that will more than double its capacity. Plans are still being finalized.
The county's moratorium is expected to stay in place until the beginning of the year when the system is finished.
The district's general manager, Thomas Cannell, and the board's vice president, Shirley Palmer, maintain the water in the wash was actually from an underground water source - not the nearby treatment ponds. 
The district's own lab reports don't conclude one way or the other if it is waste, a Brawley-based lab supervisor said.
Some of the sewage is in a wash that heads to the
It's an issue that has gained statewide attention in recent months as lawmakers decide whether to invest $8.9 billion to restore the sea and avoid a dry lake bed that could cause air quality problems for the region.
Jim Barrett, one of five community services directors, wants to see the sewage taken care of soon but says not all of his colleagues are convinced waste is in the wash.
"We've had other directors deny there's any problem," he said.
"There's people out there driving (off-road vehicles) through there thinking it's water. It's not just water. It's partially untreated sewage that has no business being in the wash."
Is it really sewage?
The community services district has for at least 20 years had the money set aside to improve the local wastewater treatment system, which uses evaporation and circulation ponds.
It used part of the interest from the account to supplement the general fund, Cannell said.
Officials decided to wait until the system neared its permitted capacity - 200,000 gallons a day - before spending the money to build a new center that treats 500,000 gallons a day, Cannell said.
However, the system has had problems since at least 1999, pushing untreated waste into the nearby wash, according to the cease-and-desist order issued by regional water quality experts on June 26.
In March, regional water experts found "partially treated wastewater was still surfacing outside" the treatment system's boundaries, according to the report.
That included spots in the wash and near a mobile home trailer parked about 200 feet away.
Palmer said claims that sewage was running into the wash came up about 10 years ago as well. But officials at that time determined it was actually an underground water source coming up.
"I don't think that it is sewage," said Palmer, who has been on the board 16 years. "That would be negligent on our part and our sewer guys work very hard. They're right there. They would see that."
Cannell argues the water has been tested and that it can't be sewage because the amount of "total dissolved solids" in the treatment ponds doesn't match the amounts found in the water in the wash.
"I can't track the underground flow," he said. "It's very possible some of the liquid coming from the underground ponds traveled into the wash with the groundwater. But how do you explain the difference in the salt content?"
Linda Webster is the lab supervisor at ATS Laboratories in Brawley, where the tests were performed. She said there is "nothing that indicates that it is or is not sewage water" so far.
"There was nothing actually done on that water to determine whether it was or was not sewage water," Webster said. "They did not ask to know whether it was sewage water."
Experts: No doubt about it
Water quality experts have no doubts the water in the wash and surrounding area is sewage, said Angel, the regional quality board's assistant executive officer. And when their report was issued, the local district did not object to the findings, he added.
A recent visit to the area revealed the water in the wash varies in depth. And while part of the wash appears dry, when a person steps on it, it squishes in a couple inches and sometimes deep brown, mucky water bubbles up from beneath.
Angel said the wash is a relatively remote area where few people go. But tire tracks from off-road vehicles are visible.
A larger concern, Angel said, is the standing water could become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
No additional homes are allowed to hook into the system until it's upgraded.
Imperial County Supervisor Gary Wyatt, who said he has not been personally notified about sewage in the wash, said construction projects that were nearing completion are using septic tanks in the interim.
The district has a timetable it must follow to complete a new system to comply with other regulations, records show.
Angel said the district is "doing fairly well" in getting the list completed.
When the new system is online, Angel said the wash and surrounding area will "be dry like everything around it."
"We're glad they're on top of it now," he said. #
http://www.desertsunonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/NEWS07/707150318/1006/news01
PERCHLORATE:
Editorial: It's time for
When is enough enough? When should
The city has been fighting for a decade to get suspected polluters, including major corporations and the Pentagon, to pay the costs of cleaning up perchlorate that has contaminated
And while Rialto's city attorney seems content to play David to the suspected polluters' Goliath - albeit, with the help of a cadre of top-level lawyers - it's chiefly customers of the city's water utility that have had to bear the burden, and the brunt of the costs, with no quick end in sight. So far, the city has spent the equivalent of its Police Department's budget on the fight.
The city's water agency serves about half of
If
Besides ratepayers' hefty chunk, the City Council also contributed $5 million from general fund reserves to escalate the fight last year. But even the council has become leery, without seeing much in the way of results.
Why won't
Why is it that the city has insisted on going it alone, without bringing the resources of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bear?
Commenting on
Indeed,
But with the pricetag reaching into the millions, it's time to regroup. The city needs to take a more regional approach and spread out the costs.
So, this is any better? How long does the city expect ratepayers to keep fronting litigation costs?
The state Water Resources Control Board, which has taken over from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, plans hearings in August. At that time, it could order three suspected polluters - Goodrich, Pyro Spectaculars and Emhart Industries, parent company of Black and Decker - to remove the contamination.
Then again, those companies all have been fighting long and hard to delay any consequences.
The San Gabriel Valley Water Co., which owns Fontana Water Co., and the West Valley Water District have urged Rialto go with a regional coalition that works with the EPA.
And while a fault separates the
Yet
Better to lean on the EPA - and save residents the aggravation. #
http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_6383120
LEAD IN DRINKING WATER:
Editorial: Getting the lead out; State should stick to new faucet standards
Sacramento
Assembly Bill 1953 limited the amount of lead that can be contained in plumbing pipes, fittings and fixtures. Currently, such plumbing can contain up to 8 percent lead, some of which can leach into drinking water.
The new law requires manufacturers to produce faucets and other plumbing with no more than 0.25 percent lead by 2010. Can the industry do it? It can, but only if progressive firms step up to the challenge instead of resorting to scare tactics.
Trade publications and other sources note that faucets and other fixtures can be made with alloys that don't include lead. Lead alloys are favored by the industry because they are easy to forge and machine. But in
Here in
They are pushing urgency legislation this year (Senate Bill 651, by Sen. Ron Calderon) that has trouble spelled all over it.
Right now, the bill has the innocuous look of a "clean-up" bill, but it could be amended on the floor to extend the 2010 deadline.
Health experts say there is no safe level of lead exposure for children. While paint chips and dust in older homes pose the largest source of this risk, scientists continue to find troublesome levels of lead in drinking water. These levels threaten kids at their earliest stages of development.
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/274177.html
####
No comments:
Post a Comment