[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 10/2/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

October 2, 2007

 

3. Watersheds

 

NEW RIVER CLEANUP:

U.S. Senate passes bill with funds for New River - Imperial Valley Press

 

LAKE DAVIS PIKE:

Officials monitor poisoned lake - Sacramento Bee

 

 

NEW RIVER CLEANUP:

U.S. Senate passes bill with funds for New River

Imperial Valley Press – 10/2/07

By Victor Morales, staff writer

 

CALEXICO — The renewal of a critical water bill that could allocate $10 million for cleaning up the New River overwhelmingly passed the Senate on Sept. 24.

The Water Resources Development Act authorizes restoration funds of $10 million for the river if signed by the president.

Advocates for cleaning up the river have demanded the federal government take responsibility for the river, which flows into the Imperial Valley from Mexico.

Miguel Figueroa, executive director for the New River Committee, said the fact that the New River was on the bill among other critically impacted bodies of water sets precedence.

“It’s a federal bill that got passed that addresses all the water problems and the New River is on that bill,” Figueroa said.

 

 

The bill authorizes funds for water restoration in 20 states, including $1.3 billion for projects in California. Some $30 million was authorized for the Salton Sea.

The New River funds are specifically allotted for the treatment of urban and industrial wastewater that primarily originates in Mexicali.

The funds would pay for a water disinfection facility near the border and a system that pumps oxygen into the polluted river to improve the environment for the more than 310 Calexico families living in homes within one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile from the river.

“If the funds get implemented it’s going to benefit everybody from Calexico to the Salton Sea,” said Figueroa of the river that winds north through the county before flowing into the Salton Sea.

“This is a top priority for me and Imperial County,” U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, said Monday. Filner requested the New River be included in the bill.

Filner said it might be a while before the New River gets the wastewater infrastructure.

The passed bill would only authorize the funds. A Congress-approved appropriations bill must still dedicate the money to the project, which Filner hopes could happen next year.

The Senate passed the bill 81-12, which was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. If vetoed, Congress can still vote to override the president.

Filner said he expects the president to sign the bill. #

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/10/02/news/news03.txt

 

 

LAKE DAVIS PIKE:

Officials monitor poisoned lake

Sacramento Bee – 10/2/07

By Jane Braxton Little, staff writer

 

PORTOLA -- With the last of 16,000 gallons of poison dumped into Lake Davis and its tributaries, the state Department of Fish and Game began focusing on collecting dead fish while monitoring the chemicals as they break down in the Plumas County reservoir.

 

By Monday, workers had collected 41,000 pounds of fish, said Ed Pert, the pike eradication project manager.

 

Northern pike, voracious invaders and the objects of the chemical treatment, represent 8 percent of the total, he said. Most of the rest are brown bullheads, with rainbow trout less than 1 percent of the total.

 

All of the fish collected have been bagged, put into a refrigerated truck and transported to a landfill near Reno.

 

The dead fish pose no danger to wildlife, including herons and coyotes scavenging in the area, Pert said. He added that the water is also safe for wildlife to drink.

 

The state's $16.7 million project, which began Sept. 10, was designed to eradicate northern pike from Lake Davis to prevent them from migrating downstream to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where biologists fear they would decimate native species.

 

The Lake Davis area remains closed to the public, including surrounding Plumas National Forest lands.

 

Once the water is free of all chemicals, Fish and Game workers will stock the reservoir with 117,000 rainbow trout. They plan to plant another 900,000 rainbows in the spring, ranging from fingerlings to catchable and bonus-size trout, Pert said. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/409778.html

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