Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 21, 2007
4. Water Quality
RUNOFF POLLUTION:
Fairgrounds may be fouling creek; RUNOFF, MANURE SUSPECTED - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
PERCHLORATE:
New perchlorate rules to kick in Oct. 19 - Riverside Press Enterprise
BAY POLLUTION:
Editorial: Clean up ship mess, and don't pollute Bay - Contra Costa Times
RUNOFF POLLUTION:
Fairgrounds may be fouling creek; RUNOFF, MANURE SUSPECTED
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 9/21/07
By Derek Moore, staff writer
Runoff from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, including the race track and animal stalls, may be contributing to pollution in nearby watersheds, according to state water quality regulators.
The problems include litter, manure and dirt entering storm drains, and are so extensive that correcting them could take years, said John Short, senior engineer for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
"There are a lot of issues that need to be worked on," Short said.
Short said he is drafting a letter to County Administrator Bob Deis outlining the problems and demanding action be taken.
Deis said the issue is one for fair management: "If there is a genuine issue out there at the fair on how they operate, then they need to do something to correct it. They need to be good stewards along with the rest of us, and I'm confident they will."
The fair is a quasi-independent government agency run by directors appointed by the county board of supervisors.
Sheila Quince, the fair's interim manager, said the fair's board of directors had not been made aware of the water board's concerns.
"We certainly would work toward any resolution to make sure we complied with whatever it is we need to comply with," she said.
The water board's action comes as the city of
The city is unveiling a public awareness campaign, including fliers and radio spots, aimed at getting people who live or work near the creek to think twice about where they place potentially harmful materials, such as lawn fertilizers or automotive oil.
Colgan Creek -- named for E.P. Colgan, who once owned the stagecoach stop and oldest hotel in town -- has a history of intermittent contamination.
>From headwaters on
Despite passing through the populated areas of
Many motorists on
On Thursday, discarded beer bottles, candy wrappers and signs littered the narrow waterway. Inside a tunnel, brackish water flowed around a partially submerged mattress -- possibly taken from a pile stacked in the nearby parking lot of a
Above the creek, two homeless men smoked cigarettes while lounging on a mattress tucked within the trees adjacent to an auto repair shop.
"I don't think a lot of people realize a creek is here, and if they did, they'd be, 'Ew,' " said Steve Brady, an environmental specialist for the city.
Dipping a probe into the water, Brady discovered a higher than normal level of dissolved ions and minerals that could be an indicator of sewage or pesticides.
The creek is the only one among 33 in
Since 2000, the creek's survival rate has ranged from 40 percent to 100 percent. Most creeks consistently score 80 percent or above. Officials say they are at a loss to explain the phenomenon. An extensive chemical analysis of the creek in 2005 failed to provide any definitive answers.
The data did suggest that whatever is causing the problems is intermittent or quickly absorbed, which makes pinpointing the source a challenge.
In 2005, three illicit discharges were discovered along the creek, including pet waste from a kennel and paint from work being done at an apartment complex.
The watershed also contains numerous contaminated soil and groundwater sites, according to the regional water board.
"We haven't identified one smoking gun," Short said. "We're taking each source and trying to control it as much as we can. The fairgrounds is one area we're looking at."
He declined to go into details about the issues the water board would like to see the fairgrounds tackle until delivery of the letter to the county, which could come within days.
Short did say, however, that inspectors observed people washing waste from horse stalls into storm drains during this summer's fair. There also were issues with litter from parking lots and sediment, he said.
"Everything is contributing to the problem," he said. "It's really in need of a look over the entire site."
Quince said the fair has taken steps over the years to be environmentally friendly. She said that includes the installation of wash racks where people can hose their animals off in a contained area that flows into the sewer system.
Storm drains also are covered during the fair, she said.
"Not even a Coke can go down there," she said. #
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070921/NEWS/709210338/1033/NEWS01
PERCHLORATE:
New perchlorate rules to kick in Oct. 19
Riverside Press
By David Danelski, staff writer
New state regulations setting a legal limit for the chemical perchlorate in public drinking water will go into effect Oct. 19, forcing millions of dollars in cleanup efforts.
The rule became official after it passed the scrutiny of the state Office of Administrative Law and was signed Wednesday by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, said a spokeswoman for Bowen's office.
The rule allows no more than 6 parts perchlorate per billion parts of tap water.
Perchlorate is a chemical used in rocket fuel, fireworks and other explosives. Although it has contaminated dozens of Inland wells, most area water providers already meet the new state standard.
But one San Bernardino-area water district faces about $30 million in cleanup costs.
Water delivered to East Valley Water District customers this year averaged slightly more than the new limit. Perchlorate concentrations have reached as high as 8.6 parts per billion, district officials said last month.
The district provides water to about 70,000 people in eastern
Ron Buchwald, the district's engineer, said last month that
Buchwald could not be reached Thursday for comment.
The state regulations require the district to warn customers about the potential health effects of consuming perchlorate.
The chemical can disrupt the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide and make hormones that guide brain and nerve development of fetuses and babies. The hormones also control metabolism.
Pregnant women and iodide-deficient women are more vulnerable to the chemical's ill effects, studies have found.
Defense industries, fireworks factories, fertilizers and other sources have been blamed for Inland perchlorate contamination.
Fertilizer is the suspected source in the
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_perch21.3e7dd56.html
BAY POLLUTION:
Editorial: Clean up ship mess, and don't pollute Bay
Contra Costa Times – 9/21/07
FINALLY, THE U.S. Maritime Administration seems to understand the seriousness of the problem posed by scores of decaying ships floating east of the
For over a year, the administration had thumbed its nose at the U.S. Coast Guard and state water regulators, who were concerned about the environmental dangers of storing the rotting ships in
Last week, we learned that the administration, for the first time, is considering placing the ships in dry dock to clean them of metals and organic growth before they are towed out to sea. This would be a major step forward that offers a solution to the deadlock that currently threatens the environmental health of bay waters.
If the ships were cleaned while in the water, the work likely would be done at Maritime Administration docks in
The dry dock cleaning can't happen soon enough. The federal government has stored ships in
Leaving the ships rotting in the Bay is not an option. An environmental assessment shows that 21 tons of paint have fallen from 40 ships, and an additional 65 tons threaten Bay waters.
So the problem is how to get the ships out of there. The Coast Guard barred the Maritime Administration from transporting the vessels without first cleaning the hulls of marine growth, such as seaweed and barnacles, that could be spread to areas where it is not native. But when one ship was cleaned in
The Maritime Administration earlier this year experimented in
So, clearly, it is time to bite the bullet and put the ships in dry dock for hull cleaning before they are transported. Yes, it will probably be more costly. But that's the price of six decades of neglect. Let's get on with it and clean up the mess before it gets any worse. #
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