Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 28, 2007
4. Water Quality
FLUORIDE:
County loses water ruling; Suit allowed in camp fluoride case - Monterey Herald
WATER CLEANUP FEES:
County eyes parcel fee for water cleanup - Pasadena Star News
KLAMATH ALGAE:
Klamath to be posted for toxic algae - Eureka Times Standard
Dry spell has kept bacteria low at beaches; Lack of storm runoff was a major factor in the marked improvements, annual report says. Clean-water projects also helped -
Beaches excel on quality of water Lack of rain cited for 'A' grades -
L.A. County beaches worst in state; Santa Monica Bay better, report says - LA Daily News
San Diego County beaches earned high marks for water quality - North County Times
FLUORIDE:
County loses water ruling; Suit allowed in camp fluoride case
By Virginia Hennessey, staff writer
Residents of a Cachagua mobile home park who unknowingly drank water tainted with dangerous levels of fluoride can sue the county for failing to inform them of the contamination, the 6th District Court of Appeal has ruled.
In a published opinion that would set precedent on application of the state's Safe Drinking Water Act, the court's three-judge panel ruled the county had a "mandatory duty" not only to require the property owner to regularly test the water, but to review the results and order the owner to alert his residents when contamination was found.
"It would defeat the purpose of the law, which is 'to ensure that the water delivered by public water systems of this state shall at all times be pure, wholesome and potable,' if these explicit duties did not also include the duty to direct the water system to properly notify its water consumers when their drinking water is contaminated," Justice Eugene Premo wrote in the 14-page opinion. Premo was joined in the ruling by Presiding Justice Conrad Rushing and Justice Franklin Elia.
The county argued in Monterey County Superior Court and before the appellate panel that its only obligation was to require the testing.
Deputy County Counsel Patrick McGreal, who represented the county, said he will almost certainly appeal the ruling.
"I heard about the decision when I got a call from another public agency which said it wanted to join in an appeal, because this decision is just plain wrong," he said. "At this point, we almost have an obligation to appeal because it deviates so far from existing law."
McGreal declined to name the agency that contacted him.
The opinion reverses an April 2006 ruling by Superior Court Judge Kay Kingsley, who agreed with the county's argument and released it as a defendant in the case. The lawsuit will be sent back to Kingsley for setting of a trial date.
The residents of Jensen Camp sued the county and then-Jensen Camp owner Rick Pinch in 2004, one year after they learned by accident that their water was tainted with naturally occurring fluoride.
The residents' attorney, Brian Burchett of
Compounding the problem, said Burchett, is the fact that the county Health Department did react to high levels of bacteria shown in the tests, ordering the residents to boil their water. The boiling action, he said, destroyed the bacteria but evaporated some of the pure water, increasing the concentration of fluoride.
Fluoride is effective as a topical deterrent to tooth decay, Burchett said. In fluoridated water systems, he said, it is swishing with the water, not its ingestion, that prevents cavities. Even then, less than 1 part per million is added to the water.
Water at Jensen Camp, Burchett said, was tested as high as 8.5 parts per million.
At elevated levels, Burchett said, fluoride actually rots teeth and causes bone-density, kidney and neurological disorders, all problems experienced by residents at Jensen Camp.
The 6th District court has historically been stingy with "published," precedent-setting opinions, electing instead to issue unpublished opinions that affect only the case at hand.
Burchett said his research shows that the appellate court's ruling is the first by any state appeals court that spells out the government's responsibilities under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The wording of the act is detailed and unambiguous, he said, "down to where you place the stamp."
"I think (the court) got it right," he said. "The legislature wanted to leave absolutely nothing to the discretion of the county. So it was baffling to us that the county was claiming no specific mandatory duties and that Kingsley agreed.
"We're glad the court of appeal saw it that way and the county can now be held responsible for the injuries they caused these people."
The lawsuit is still pending against Pinch. According to the complaint, he sold the camp to one of his residents in 2003 without informing him of the water problems. That resident, Javier Guzman, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. #
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_7023846?nclick_check=1
WATER CLEANUP FEES:
County eyes parcel fee for water cleanup
By Alison Hewitt, staff writer
County officials are considering a plan to raise money for clean water by adding a fee to the tax bills sent to property owners.
Almost every aspect of the proposal is still being developed - whether or not to go forward with a campaign, how much money county residents might be assessed, or what form an assessment would take.
Approximately $30 billion is needed over the next 20 years to clean up the county's storm water runoff, which regularly pollutes rivers and the coastline, said Donald Wolfe, the head of Public Works.
If the county fails to act, it could face expensive lawsuits from environmental groups for failing to comply with state and federal clean water acts, warned William Fujioka, the county's CEO.
The supervisors put $3.5 million aside for a study and campaign, and other uses. The study would explore whether voters might approve a ballot measure asking for the tax money.
A portion of the funds would go to support a possible campaign in favor of the initiative.
Another portion of the money could go toward engineering studies and consultant fees.
Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe opposed the move.
"We've asked for a lot of information, and we've yet to receive any," Knabe said.
Antonovich said the county shouldn't be picking up the bill for clean-water requirements mandated by the federal government.
"Let's not let our (congressional) delegation off the hook," Antonovich said. "The
Although only three votes were required to set aside the $3.5 million and give the go-ahead to Fujioka, four votes will be required if the supervisors decide to put the issue to voters in a countywide election, noted Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
However, there is a way to do it with three votes, said Judith Fries, principal deputy county counsel.
Fujioka's office is considering a mail ballot to property owners instead of a countywide vote. Mail ballots must be authorized under a specific statute, Fries said.
The flood-control act and the health and safety code are two avenues being explored as linchpins for such a ballot, Fries said. Using flood-control statutes would require three supervisor votes for a mail ballot, while health and safety would require four votes, according to Fries.
Whatever form the ballot takes, Yaroslavsky said the fee could help clean up county beaches that are frequently closed due to pollution after a rainstorm.
Early polls indicate that people would be willing to pay $20-$40 per parcel, enough to raise $100 million annually but still far short of what is needed, Wolfe said. #
KLAMATH ALGAE:
Klamath to be posted for toxic algae
By John Driscoll, staff writer
Water quality regulators will post warnings about toxic algae in the
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is aiming to put up the signs soon, warning people to use caution in the water. That's after residents downstream of reservoirs on the Klamath watched the river take on a green color, according to a joint Yurok and Karuk press release.
Tests showed the toxic blue-green algae Microcystis aeruginosa to be especially concentrated. The algae was first found in the Klamath by dam owner Pacificorp in 2001, and in the past few years has become a focus and concern for tribes and regulators.
”This is not some kind of natural phenomenon,” said Yurok Environmental Director Kevin McKernan. “This is a direct result of Pacificorp's antiquated dams.”
A Pacificorp spokeswoman did not return a phone call by deadline.
Blue-green algae does appear naturally in some places, but the tribes and water quality officials believe the stagnant water of the reservoirs significantly boosts the amount and concentration of the algae, which then is passed downstream.
That can pose a danger to children and pets, and to people who are exposed to water with high concentrations of algae for long periods of time. Anyone who swallows water is at risk, and officials warn people against eating the organs of fish caught in the river or reservoirs.
Yurok and Karuk tribal members, a fisherman, a business owner and the environmental group Klamath Riverkeeper sued Pacificorp this spring for damages, claiming its dams create toxic conditions in the reservoirs and river and are a public nuisance. #
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_7025573
Dry spell has kept bacteria low at beaches; Lack of storm runoff was a major factor in the marked improvements, annual report says. Clean-water projects also helped
By James Ricci, staff writer
California's unprecedented dry weather helped make water at its beaches this summer the freest of illness-causing bacteria since Heal the Bay began measuring shoreline water quality 18 years ago.
>From Memorial Day to Labor Day, fully 92% of the state's 494 beaches earned grades of A or B on the environmental organization's annual summer report card, which was released Thursday. The number of A or B beaches was up 10% over last year's report card.
Heal the Bay officials attributed the improvement primarily to a lack of urban storm runoff, a major source of pollution.
"The best professional judgment is that roughly three-quarters of the improvement had to do with the weather, and the other quarter with clean beach initiative projects," said Mark Gold, president of the nonprofit organization. "The combination led to the cleanest summer since we started the report card in 1990."
Water at 93% of the bay's 67 beaches received grades of A or B, a dramatic increase from last year's 75%. But the beach at Santa Monica Municipal Pier, which got an F, was the bay's worst, and the second-worst in the state. The bay's other lowest achievers included Puerco Beach at the Marie Canyon storm outlet in Malibu and Dockweiler State Beach at Ballona Creek.
Water at beaches in
"What the report card tells us is that we are accomplishing the job of improving conditions in the surf zone, especially in summer when beaches are the busiest," said William Rukeyser, a spokesman for the California State Water Control Board, which has funneled $75 million to local governments for coastline water cleanup since 2000. "What it also tells us is that the job is not yet done."
On the whole, beaches in
Farther south, 94% of
The report only represented measurements of bacteria in the water, not trash or toxins.
The dry weather prompted a dramatic turnaround in water quality at some of the region's historically polluted beaches. Doheny Beach in Orange County and Surfrider Beach in Malibu, which consistently have been among the five worst in the state, both received A's, courtesy of the drought for the most part.
At Doheny, the runoff water that collects in lagoons on the sand after rainfall didn't extend to the sea. As a result, the five monitoring stations at Doheny, which usually earn straight Fs or a mixture of Fs and Ds, received five A's.
The role of weather, however, shouldn't obscure the contributions made by clean seawater projects in other locations, Gold said.
"We saw excellent results where there were runoff diversion projects that capture the polluted water and pump it into sewers," he said. "Also, a number of small runoff treatment plants contributed. All these bond measures we've been passing in recent years are having an effect."
Mark Pestrella of the L.A. County Department of Public Works said that the primary source of summertime urban runoff tends to be residential and commercial properties. "When it starts it's not necessarily dirty, but as it travels across the properties and streets it picks up all these pollutants," he said.
Although the county has upgraded its storm sewer system to better handle the flow, public education about the need to control ocean-bound pollutants also has played a role in the overall reduction, officials said.
Gold noted that Santa Monica Canyon Beach at Chatauqua Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway typically has earned Fs and Ds on Heal the Bay's report card. This summer it got an A because the runoff was diverted.
Gold expressed hope that the improvement, at least to the extent human endeavor can affect it, will continue next year. He noted that a runoff treatment plant has recently been completed at the
New water-circulation pro- jects are undergoing shakedown operations at Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey and
The summer grades for individual beaches are available at www.healthebay.org/brc/. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beach28sep28,1,1880946.story?coll=la-headlines-california
Beaches excel on quality of water Lack of rain cited for 'A' grades
By Adam Foxman, staff writer
Water quality at
In its summer report card on ocean water quality, Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental group, gave "A" grades to 53 of 54 beaches tested in
An A grade indicates that none of the weekly water samples taken at a beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day exceeded state bacteria standards, said Mike Grimmer, an environmental data analyst for the organization.
Only Mendocino,
"
Beach water quality improved statewide this summer, Heal the Bay found.
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 92 percent of the 494 beaches evaluated in
The drought in
The lack of runoff helped
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board is considering tough new runoff regulations as part of a new storm-water permit for
While this summer's report card was good news, King said, there's still work to be done. "We still face major challenges during the rainy winter seasons," he said.
And while bacteria levels measured for the report cards are important indicators of water quality, the grades don't take chemicals or toxins into account, King said. "We can't just sit and rest on our laurels." #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/sep/28/beaches-excel-on-quality-of-water-lack-of-rain-a/
L.A. County beaches worst in state; Santa Monica Bay better, report says
LA Daily News – 9/28/07
Heal the Bay assigned letter grades ranging from A to F to 494 beaches along the
According to the group, 17 percent of
But
"The combination of record drought and completed Clean Beach Initiative projects led to the cleanest summer water quality in years," said Heal the Bay President Mark Gold.
"With more beach cleanup projects on the horizon, the prospects for this positive summer becoming a trend are great."
The group noted that between April 1 and Sept. 3, several
All 54 of
The report mirrored similar conclusions released in August by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which that said the lack of rain last season meant less polluted urban runoff in storm-drain systems. #
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_7021078
Heal the Bay assigned letter grades ranging from A to F to 494 beaches along the
The group's summer beach report card showed that 99 percent of beaches in
The only beach that was found to need improvement was Pacific Beach Point, which received a D.
In
"The combination of record drought and completed Clean Beach Initiative project led to the cleanest summer water quality in years," said Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay. "With more beach cleanup projects on the horizon, the prospects for this positive summer becoming a trend are great."
According to Heal the Bay, 17 percent of
But
The group noted that between April 1 and Sept. 3, several
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/09/28/news/sandiego/17_15_319_27_07.txt
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