[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 9/14/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

September 14, 2007

 

4. Water Quality -

 

California Coastal Cleanup moves inland

MOST BEACH GARBAGE STARTS IN CREEKS, RIVERS -

San Jose Mercury News

 

Tainted Delta water may pose danger

Toxic algae levels high enough to kill pets, sicken users-

Stockton Record

 

 

California Coastal Cleanup moves inland

MOST BEACH GARBAGE STARTS IN CREEKS, RIVERS

San Jose Mercury News – 9/14/07

By Paul Rogers

 

What many may not realize is that the worst trash problems often aren't on the coast any more.

 

Instead, the largest, most unsavory collections of old tires, rusting cans and broken glass often are found in creeks and rivers around the biggest cities, particularly those around San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles. Although boaters and careless beachgoers cause their share of pollution, studies have shown 60 percent to 80 percent of the litter on California's beaches comes from inland areas.

 

"Inland is where the vast majority of trash originates, and where nearly all the illegal dumping is occurring," said Eben Schwartz, a spokesman for the California Coastal Commission, which is sponsoring the annual cleanup with Whole Foods.

 

"People don't always make the connection that street litter is marine debris waiting to happen," he said. "The whole point of the cleanup moving inland is so we get the trash before it ends up on the coast."

 

The event runs from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at 700 locations in 47 of California's 58 counties, including every Bay Area county and all 15 coastal counties.

Last year, California's 50,375 volunteers collected 944,885 pounds of trash - 49 percent of it along streams, lakes, bays and rivers in counties with no ocean beaches.

 

Among the cities with the biggest trash problems in Northern California: San Jose.

 

Two waterways, Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River, both of which flow through downtown San Jose and into the bay near Alviso, rank first and second among Save the Bay's 10 worst "Trash Hot Spots" in the Bay Area, according to Athena Honore, a spokeswoman for Save the Bay, an environmental group based in Oakland.

 

"People don't always realize if they drop trash in the street that rain and winds push it into the storm drains," she said. "And those flow right into the creeks and the bay."

 

Because San Jose has the largest population of any Bay Area city, it makes sense it has the biggest trash problem in its creeks, Honore said. When rains begin every winter, huge volumes of debris wash into the creeks. As in the ocean, the trash can strangle or poison birds, fish and other wildlife.

 

How does it get there?

 

Apart from littering, trash also blows off trucks that don't have tarps when they head to local dumps. When garbage cans at city parks, bus stops and gas stations are not emptied regularly, the piled-up trash can blow away. There also is a big illegal-dumping problem, particularly in Oakland, San Francisco's Hunter's Point and the hills around East San Jose.

 

"We've got couches, tires, batteries, five gallons of paint," Honore said. "Sometimes, unlicensed haulers take people's trash not to the landfills but to a dead-end street or a creek. Other people are behind on their payments and their garbage service has been cut off, and they just dump bags of trash in creeks."

 

Save the Bay has been working with state officials to require more rules to reduce waterborne trash, including mandatory trash-screening devices in storm-water systems.

 

People interested in volunteering for Saturday's clean-up don't need to sign up. They can just show up. Tools, gloves and other supplies will be provided.

In Santa Clara County, there will be 22 clean-up sites ranging from Coyote Lake in Gilroy to San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto. Other sites include Discovery Meadow in downtown San Jose and Vasona County Park in Los Gatos.

 

The list of items collected by volunteers every September ranges from the disgusting to the entertaining.

 

Last year, volunteers statewide collected 258,075 cigarette butts - down from a high of 396,404 in 1993. Other common items included car parts, diapers, aluminum cans and light bulbs. In Berkeley, someone also found a toy gorilla in a sequin dress that sang in Spanish.

 

"Four years ago in Monterey County, a high-school student found two tickets to a reception for President Warren Harding from 1921 that were tucked inside a book," Schwartz said. "A 97-year-old woman in a nursing home in Monterey called us and said 'That's my stuff.' Her family had sold it at auction. The student gave it back."#

http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_6891369

 

Tainted Delta water may pose danger

Toxic algae levels high enough to kill pets, sicken users

Stockton Record – 9/14/07

By Alex Breitler

 

THE DELTA - An especially nasty outbreak of toxic algae has some water lovers staying on land for the rest of the summer - and questioning why they were not notified of the potential health risk earlier.

 

Tests in the west Delta late last month revealed algae levels high enough to kill pets that might drink the tainted water or lick their wet fur.

Meanwhile, some experts who monitor water quality and wildlife in the estuary have reported rashes and skin irritations, said Peggy Lehman of the state Department of Water Resources.

 

Algae blooms are common in the Delta, especially during August and September. "But this was a particularly bad year," Lehman said.

 

Officials with San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties were told of the high algae levels before Labor Day weekend. San Joaquin County officials posted signs at nearly two dozen marinas to alert boaters; Contra Costa did not.

 

No announcements were made to the general public.

 

"It just seems odd. Is this something new, or has it been there and nobody mentioned it before?" said Steve Smith, who heads the Rio Vista Windsurfing Association.

 

When word of the algae problem began to spread through an Internet message board, many windsurfers chose to stay out of the water, Smith said. Others anecdotally reported sniffles and irritations that they believed might be linked to their exposure to algae.

 

The most worrisome of the recent tests showed about 1.4 million blue-green algae cells per milliliter of water in the area around Sherman Island, near the juncture of Sacramento, Contra Costa and Solano counties. That is 70 times greater than the 20,000-cell level at which humans can develop rashes and gastrointestinal illnesses, state officials say.

 

In San Joaquin County, about 41,000 cells per milliliter were detected at Mildred Island, about 15 miles west of Stockton. Donna Heran, director of San Joaquin County's Environmental Health Department, said the county was not required to alert the public but decided to post the signs anyway.

 

Contra Costa officials said they needed more information about how toxic the algae is to humans before they could issue warnings.

 

"If we get further indication from the state that it is important for us to post, then we can do that" in the future, said Sherman Quinlan, who heads Contra Costa County's Environmental Health Division.

 

Algae are just one of the Delta's toxic troubles and can be found throughout the estuary. At the concentrations found near Sherman Island, the algae might not only irritate the skin but contribute to long-term health problems as well.

 

At the Mildred Island site, boaters should avoid contacting the water, San Joaquin County officials said. Children and pets are most at risk.

The algae are not limited to the Delta. Since 2001, nine dog deaths in waterways in Humboldt and Mendocino counties were believed to be related to blue-green algae.

 

Smith, who said he has windsurfed every day for 12 years at Sherman Island, said it is not unusual to wipe out and get a mouthful or nose full of icky water.

"The water is kind of dirty, and the potential is there to ingest it," he said.#

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/A_NEWS/709140321/-1/A_NEWS