Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 14, 2007
4. Water Quality -
MOST BEACH GARBAGE STARTS IN CREEKS, RIVERS -
Tainted Delta water may pose danger
Toxic algae levels high enough to kill pets, sicken users-
MOST BEACH GARBAGE STARTS IN CREEKS, RIVERS
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
"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
Last year,
Among the cities with the biggest trash problems in Northern California:
Two waterways, Coyote Creek and the
"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
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
"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
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
"Four years ago in
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_6891369
Tainted Delta water may pose danger
Toxic algae levels high enough to kill pets, sicken users
By
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
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
In
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
At the
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
"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
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