[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 3/30/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 30, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

HALF MOON BAY

Maverick's Surf Contest likely a no go

San Francisco Chronicle

 

Fishing event at Los Vaqueros Reservoir open to special-needs children

Contra Costa Times

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

HALF MOON BAY

Maverick's Surf Contest likely a no go

San Francisco Chronicle – 3/30/07

By Paul McHugh, staff writer

 

Many of the best big-wave surfers stood ready for the past three months to leap into cars or hop onto planes and whisk to Half Moon Bay on short notice. But the principal guest of honor at the Maverick's Surf Contest -- a world-class swell -- has failed to show up.

 

Event organizers said Thursday they are poised to cancel this year's competition -- the third weather-related cancellation since the contest began in 1999. The contest window closes on Saturday and there are no big waves on the horizon.

 

The surfers are looking to other big-wave meccas, such as the Dungeons break in South Africa, or to consistent local swells such as Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz or Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Some of them are puzzled about why Maverick's did not provide more of the 25-foot-tall, rideable swells on the reef at Pillar Point from New Year's through the end of this month.

 

"The year was bizarre," said Mark Sponsler, a Maverick's surfer and weather guru who advises the event organizers. "With an El Niño ocean pattern in play, we should have gotten an enhanced storm track in the North Pacific, bringing us plenty of waves. We did see action off the coast of Japan.

 

"But once the jet stream hit the international date line, it split, sending energy off to Alaska," he said. "Storms might sit over Hawaii a while, and then race north. Out of the last two decades, this is the worst year for big surf here on record, by a mile."

 

Bay Area surfing fans also had waited eagerly for the contest. Since the first event, called the Men Who Ride Mountains competition, big-wave surfing at Maverick's has gained worldwide notoriety.

 

For the 2006 contest, a throng estimated at 30,000 jammed the beach, swarmed up the crumbling bluffs and stomped onto reef rocks at low tide. Many more watched the streaming video and a subsequent special broadcast.

 

Despite the impending cancellation of this year's event, a post-contest party, a big-wave documentary and a series of Maverick's-themed concerts are expected, said Doug Epstein, one of the three principals for the event producer, Mavericks Surf Ventures LLC.

 

"What we want to do is to say thank you to fans, sponsors, volunteers and all those who put a portion of their lives on hold while waiting for the event," Epstein said Thursday. "We'll do a celebration, probably a closing ceremony for the surfers. A public party is under discussion."

Epstein said his firm will make a final call on Saturday. But conditions don't look promising. The North Pacific is a swirl of chaos and southerly swells of summer are expected to arrive next week.

 

The Pacific Ocean will continue to generate waves. But not all waves are created equal. For Maverick's, the questions are how big the swells will be, how far apart they are, and the point of the compass they will come from.

 

Large and cleanly shaped waves, with many seconds between their crests, require very strong winds blowing for a long time in the same direction across an open stretch of sea. Ideally, for the Maverick's surf break, that fetch should begin somewhere off Russia or Japan and blow from the northwest.

 

Next, the storm should veer away 1,000 to 2,000 miles offshore but continue to send huge swells toward the Bay Area's coast in a vast meteorological game of crack-the-whip. If the big swell breaks on the Maverick's reef under calm winds and clear skies, it's sweet for surfers.

 

"During one five-day period last December," said surfer Grant Washburn, "Maverick's had three days of the biggest waves for paddle-in surfers in the entire world. Afterward, it just went flat."

 

This year isn't the first time conditions have given a contest the hook. After Quiksilver sponsored two events, Washburn says, the company failed to pick a time window long enough to include big wave days in the winter of 2000-01, and again in 2001-02. The current organizers have held three contests, beginning in 2004.

Washburn hopes the next contest window opens in October, rather than waiting until January.

 

"Surfers love riding the big waves, and they will always be out whenever the Maverick's wave is going off," he said. "If they feel like they're being treated well, there can also be an opportunity to keep a contest event going."#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/30/BAG4NOUP7Q1.DTL

 

 

Fishing event at Los Vaqueros Reservoir open to special-needs children

Contra Costa Times – 3/30/07

 

BRENTWOOD - Children with disabilities will get a chance to fish for free at a special event April 28 at Los Vaqueros Reservoir.

 

The Contra Costa Water District is organizing the fishing day in conjunction with the national nonprofit organization Catch a Special Thrill (CAST) For Kids.

 

At the event, the children and their parents or guardians will be paired with an experienced fishing enthusiast to spend the morning fishing on the reservoir from a boat. The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. after a barbecue lunch and recognition ceremony.

 

Children with disabilities who are 7 to 18 years of age are eligible to participate in this free event.

 

The district is now accepting sign-ups from children and parents who want to participate. Sign-ups are on a first-come, first-served basis. More information and sign-up packets can be obtained by calling Gina Oltman at 925-688-8010 or e-mailing goltman@ccwater.com.#

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/contra_costa_county/brentwood/16999652.htm

 

 

 

DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.

 

[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 3/30/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 30, 2007

 

4. Water Quality -

 

 

** Nothing Significant**

[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 3/30/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 30, 2007

 

3. Watersheds –

 

Dan Lungren: It is time to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley -

Sacramento Bee

 

Battle over Oceano Dunes land ends Round 4

San Luis Obispo Tribune

 

­________________________________________________________

 

Dan Lungren: It is time to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley

Sacramento Bee – 3/30/07

By Dan Lungren - Special To The Bee

 

Yosemite Valley -- with all its resplendent beauty -- be dammed! Let's flood it now. After all, there are plenty of other national parks for Americans to enjoy. Increasingly, the city of Los Angeles is in desperate need for this water source. Besides, even though Yosemite Valley would be submerged, the granite peaks and their waterfalls would still be visible from the dam's state-of-the-art observation deck.

 

Imagine if the city of Los Angeles made this claim today. Although this scenario is fictitious, this argument was made on behalf of the city of San Francisco in the early part of the last century.

 

Eighty-four years ago the Hetch Hetchy Valley -- the smaller twin to Yosemite Valley that is completely contained within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park -- was converted to a reservoir to serve the water needs of San Francisco. At that time John Muir, the famous preservationist and founder of the Sierra Club, fought this decision and said, "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."

 

So how did one of nature's most beautiful sanctuaries, a jewel for millions of Americans, get converted into a water source for a single city? The short answer is that a ready supply of water was available with no apparent practical alternative at a time when our frontier seemed endless.

 

What about now? The restoration of Hetch Hetchy is about more than water and definitely more than politics. The restoration of Hetch Hetchy is about the return of a national treasure to all of the American people, and the addition of a prized piece of the fabric back into the quilt that is our national park system.

 

Opposition to restoring the valley has been strong. However, claims about disrupting the Tuolumne River system and equating the removal of a dam to closing down of an interstate highway are understandable only if a viable alternative is not presented. Fortunately, a recent study by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration confirmed that it is "technically feasible" to have the water supply from Hetch Hetchy be fully recovered, along with the current level of power generation, without depriving the citizens of San Francisco of either.

For example, water from the Tuolumne River, currently feeding the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, could be allowed to flow into an expanded Don Pedro Reservoir, which is now six times the size of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Alternatives such as Don Pedro Reservoir and improvements in engineering technology did not exist in 1923, when the dam was completed in the Hetch Hetchy Valley.

 

A number of environmental groups such as National Wildlife Federation, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Defense, Restore Hetch Hetchy and the Sierra Club have joined in support of a study of the prospect of a restored Hetch Hetchy. President Bush has allocated $7 million of the federal budget proposal as well. The largely unspoken possibility of resurrecting this hidden -- but not forgotten -- valley now has a real chance to enter the national debate.

 

For eight decades Americans have been deprived of this national treasure; now it is time to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley.

 

In order to move in this direction the federal study is imperative. And that is just the first step. Ultimately, it will take enormous cooperation among local, state and federal officials. And the cost of this endeavor will be substantial -- probably into the billions of dollars. Yet the gift we would present to our children, grandchildren and the world would be priceless.#

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/146438.html

 

Battle over Oceano Dunes land ends Round 4

San Luis Obispo Tribune – 3/30/07

By Nick Wilson

 

Representatives from the cities of Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach and Pismo Beach said Thursday night they support continued vehicle recreation on county land within the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area that could soon be sold to the state.

 

But some members of the public pushed for banning vehicles from the property that makes up more than 30 percent of the Dunes off- roading area. And others favored imposing conditions on the state if it buys or renews the lease on the property — such as creating an alternate access route.

 

The county Board of Supervisors will consider a $4.8 million offer from the state for about 584 acres of the Dunes at a meeting April 17.

A 25-year state lease of the property from the county expires in June 2008.

 

Thursday marked the fourth meeting of a task force appointed by 4th District Supervisor Katcho Achadjian regarding the property.

Achadjian said he will submit a summary of the ideas and opinions from the meetings to county supervisors.

 

The supervisor, whose district includes Oceano, said that revenues from the sale or lease of the Dunes property should go to Oceano, where residents have long said they bear the brunt of Dunes-related trash, noise, sand buildup and traffic congestion.

 

The task force consisted of representatives from about 15 local government, political and citizen groups. They hold a range of opinions about the future of the property, such as buying or selling the land, possibly imposing conditions on the state, or maintaining county ownership without state involvement.

 

City officials on the task force supported continued riding on the property.

 

"If the use of the property changes, it would have an economic impact on Pismo Beach," said Shelly Higginbotham, a Pismo Beach councilwoman. "There is an advantage of getting money for the community of Oceano. And I'd hate to see the county saddled with no income and having to preserve the land and take on liability costs (from lawsuits associated with the Dunes)."

 

Off-road vehicle representatives and state officials have cited a tradition of 100 years of vehicular riding on the Dunes and an estimated $150 million in Dunes-related tourism that the park brings to the county annually.

 

But environmentalists have long complained about destruction to the Dunes habitat, particularly by motorized vehicles crossing Arroyo Grande Creek. And some are tired of hearing about the economic impact.

 

"All I hear is dollar, dollar, dollar," said Verona Rebow, a Halcyon resident. "But what about the beauty of the Dunes? That's our treasure. Isn't it possible to draw tourism for a preserve?"

 

In response to complaints about environmental issues, the state Department of Parks and Recreation has cited its snowy plover preservation and spending on other environmental programs at the Dunes. The plover is a threatened species that nests in the Dunes.

 

Some at the meeting promoted alternate vehicle access to the Dunes. Oceano resident Norm Getty supported an entrance south of Arroyo Grande Creek. An entrance there would limit off-road traffic across the creek. Vehicles now enter at Grand Avenue and Pier Avenue, then travel south across the creek to the off-road riding area.

Getty also proposed that access fees go to the state park and the Oceano community.

 

A town hall meeting about the future of the Dunes property is set for April 9 at 6 p.m. at the Oceano Elks Lodge at 410 Air Park Drive.

What do you think should be done with the Dune property?#

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/16998606.htm

 

 

 

 

[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 3/30/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

March 30, 2007

 

2. Supply –

 

Orange County water crisis may be averted -

Residents apparently are holding the line on consumption during the weeklong shutdown of a treatment plant.

Los Angeles Times

 

The March to rain faltered

Modesto has received a bit more than one-third of an inch of precipitation -

Modesto Bee

 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

Orange County water crisis may be averted

Residents apparently are holding the line on consumption during the weeklong shutdown of a treatment plant.

Los Angeles Times – 3/30/07

By David Haldane, Times Staff Writer

The ominous freeway signs warning of a pending Orange County water emergency may be working, as residents were holding the line on consumption, most likely averting a crisis, officials said Thursday.

"Overall, water demand is holding steady throughout the county," said Michelle Tuchman, a spokeswoman for the Municipal Water District of Orange County. "In some areas, the demand has decreased slightly, while in others it has slightly increased. This is good, and we are hopeful that we will be just fine."

Earlier in the week, officials had noticed an upward trend in water consumption countywide despite efforts to stave off possible shortages stemming from the weeklong shutdown of a Yorba Linda water treatment plant.

Expected to remain closed until late Saturday for upgrades, the Robert B. Diemer plant supplies Orange County with half of its water and the southern portion of the county with 95%.

By Tuesday, Tuchman said, the spike in water usage was so pronounced that officials asked Caltrans to activate 35 message boards along the 5, 55, 57, 91 and 405 freeways reading, "ORANGE COUNTY WATER EMERGENCY CONSERVE WATER."

The signs seem to have done the trick, she said, by putting a lid on the spike. "We can now take a look," she said, "and as of Day 5 of our seven-day shutdown, we are in adequate shape."

Though the plant is scheduled to reopen just before midnight Saturday, Tuchman urged consumers to maintain their extra vigilance at least until Monday. "As water comes back into the plant and the facility begins treating it," she said, "it would be helpful if people didn't go running outside first thing Sunday morning to turn their sprinklers back on full-blast."

In addition to the freeway signs, which Caltrans officials said have never been used for such a purpose, Tuchman attributed the success of the conservation effort to various cities and water districts that had implemented such "operational refinements and improvements" as bringing in temporary pumps to help push water to areas where it was needed and increasing the amount of water brought in from other areas.

She said water district officials would be meeting early today to discuss when to turn off the freeway signs. "As soon as we can take them down," Tuchman said, "we will."#

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water30mar30,1,4685217.story?coll=la-headlines-california

 

Bill promises end to Soboba water dispute

The Press Enterprise – 3/30/07

By HERBERT ATIENZA

A decades-old dispute between the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and several Southern California water agencies that the tribe accused of improperly draining water from beneath its reservation is on the verge of settlement.

 

Rep. Mary Bono said the legislation she introduced would ratify an earlier settlement that would provide millions of dollars for economic development and billions of gallons of water that would help revitalize and expand the tribe's agricultural and commercial endeavors.

Surrounding communities in the San Jacinto Valley would benefit from assured water supplies as well as money and land to recharge the local aquifer and to protect endangered-species habitat.

 

The bill, called The Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Settlement Act, is co-sponsored by Reps. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, and Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and seeks congressional blessing of an agreement signed in June between the tribe, whose reservation is east of San Jacinto, and the Metropolitan, Eastern Municipal and Lake Hemet water districts.

 

"I'm very proud that we've reached this," Bono, R-Palm Springs, said of the bill, which she said enjoys bipartisan support. "I know I'll do my very best to have it passed this year.

 

"This legislation takes the critical step to put into place a long-term plan that ensures the future water supply of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and all of the San Jacinto Valley," she added.

 

Bono said the legislation still needs to go through the Congress and to the president, but she expects it to be approved by the end of this year.

Ratification of the pact would bring to a close nearly 150 years of conflict over the limited resources of the San Jacinto River groundwater basin. That conflict at various times has pitted the Soboba Band against the federal government, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Eastern Municipal Water District.

 

Last year's settlement stems from a federal lawsuit filed in 2000 against the water agencies, alleging that an underground tunnel built in the 1930s to bring water through the San Jacinto Mountains has drained much of the water supply to the Soboba Reservation. The agreement terminated that lawsuit.

 

The settlement also calls for the tribe to not move its gambling operations from its reservation to a highly visible site near Diamond Valley Lake.

Robert Salgado, chairman of the Soboba Band, said tribal members and San Jacinto Valley residents would see improved water supplies with passage of the legislation.

 

"It's not just the tribe, but the whole valley that would benefit from this," said Salgado. He said the tribe is pleased to put the dispute behind it.

"It's been, what, 70 years that we've been trying to put this to rest," he said.

 

The settlement also has pleased officials of the water agencies.

 

"The settlement provides both for a guaranteed water right to the tribe and a way to effectively manage the San Jacinto River groundwater basin," said Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of MWD.

 

Bono said the legislation culminates years of negotiations and would help assure a better future for the region.

"The significance of this legislation is impossible to measure because it secures the future of our growing population and agriculture industry," she said.#

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_H_soboba30.413bae7.html

 

 

The March to rain faltered

Modesto has received a bit more than one-third of an inch of precipitation

Modesto Bee – 3/30/07

By MICHAEL G. MOONEY

 

The "D" word remains in play.

 

That's D as in:

 

Dry.

 

Really dry.

 

Critically dry.

 

But it stops somewhere short of the ultimate "D" word — drought, at least for the moment.

 

"Don Pedro Reservoir's elevation may be as high as it is going to get this year," said Maree Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Modesto Irrigation District, referring to the water level in the lake east of Modesto. "Water cannot be stored above the 801.9-foot level until April 27."

That level is maintained throughout the winter and early spring for flood control purposes.

 

The reservoir's elevation was reported at 797.44 feet Wednesday.

 

With less snow and less water content in the snow, no one is concerned about significant flooding this spring.

 

Hawkins said enough rain has fallen in the Modesto area to ensure March 2007 will not crack the MID's Top 10 List of the driest months of March on record. If MID records no more rain through the end of the season on June 30, this will be the 10th driest year at 7.13 inches.

 

To date, MID rain gauges this month have recorded 0.37 inches of rain, which is about 1½ inches below normal for the month.

 

"(But) the Central Sierra snowpack," Hawkins said, "is about 50 percent of average (compared with 144 percent of average at this time last year)."

Water from melting Sierra snow provides more than a third of the state's drinking and irrigation water and is the lifeblood of the State Water Project, which brings water to more than 23 million people and 775,000 acres of farmland.

 

The latest snowpack measurements, taken Wednesday near South Lake Tahoe, found the water content of Sierra snow at its lowest level since 1990.

The end-of-March snow survey by the state Department of Water Resources is considered the most important because state hydrologists use it to predict water supplies and deliveries for the summer.

 

Water content in the snowpack along the 400-mile-long Sierra-Nevada averaged just 46 percent of normal.

"If you start putting dry winters together, you deplete the reservoirs," department spokesman Don Strickland said. "We're hoping we don't run into that."

 

Walt Ward, the MID's assistant general manager of water operations, said the utility should have no problems meeting the water demands of its Stanislaus County customers.

 

If conditions remain dry, however, MID water deliveries in 2008 could be more problematic.

 

Said Hawkins: "Don Pedro could end 2007 at a significantly lower level, although how much lower is uncertain. A second year of less-than-average runoff could cause concern."

 

No rationing in LA

 

In the Los Angeles area, which is experiencing its lowest rainfall year on record, water managers said the region has enough in storage, as well as other sources, to offset any potential state water project cutbacks.

 

"It's always worrisome in a year like this, but you're not going to see any rationing in Los Angeles,"said Jeffrey Kightlinger, executive director of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. "We expect it to be cyclical."

 

The Southern California water agency imports 2.1 million acrefeet of water — of which 16 percent comes from the state. It has more than 2.5 million acre-feet in storage, Kightlinger said.

 

State researchers conduct five monthly snow surveys from January to May, measuring snow at 382 stations.

 

The snow depth Wednesday — the fourth survey of the year — at the Phillips Station along Highway 50 south of Lake Tahoe was 35.4 inches, compared with 73.1 inches during the fourth snow survey in 2006.

 

Electronic sensors showed the snow's water content was higher in the northern Sierra, where it was 52 percent of normal.

 

The water content was 48 percent of normal in the central Sierra and 38 percent in the southern section of the range.

 

State hydrologists had hoped for a wetter March to boost the snowpack.

 

March storms typically add about 10 percent to 15 percent more snow in the Sierra.

 

Frank Gehrke, the state Department of Water Resources' snow survey section chief, said the storm that passed over the Sierra on Monday boosted the snowpack by about 2 inches but wasn't enough to recover from a dry month.

 

"Instead of seeing an increase of five or six inches in March, welost eight or nine inches," Gehrke said "That's a pretty bleak month."#

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13439037p-14052811c.html

 

 

 

[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 3/30/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

March 30, 2007

 

1.  Top Item -

 

 

Rougher waters for boaters?

U.S. may impose a $1,500 yearly environmental fee.

Sacramento Bee – 3/30/07

By M.S. Enkoji - Bee Staff Writer

 

Sonny Cline pays to license his 22-foot Regal cuddy cabin boat, pays to rent a slip on the Sacramento River and pays taxes on extras like the water space he uses.

How would he feel about forking over more money for a federal environmental permit, maybe $1,500 a year by one estimate?

"Oh, you're kidding? That is insane," Cline said.

 

Owners of the country's 18 million recreation boats might agree.

 

A ruling in a federal lawsuit being heard in California could require new permits on all vessels -- possibly everything from canoes and kayaks to oceangoing cargo ships -- according to recreation boating advocates.

 

"There's a lot of little boats out there," said Bryan Dove, California representative of the Boat Owners Association of the United States.

 

"They don't have that kind of cash. This is just another financial burden on the boater," said Dove, who lives 15 miles west of Stockton.

 

Several environmental groups in Oregon and California have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, charging that, by not enforcing the 1972 Clean Water Act properly, it failed to stop the invasion of destructive, foreign marine life, such as zebra mussels in the Great Lakes region and Chinese mitten crabs in the Delta and the Bay Area.

 

The invasive species hitchhike in the 21 billion gallons of ship ballast taken in at distant ports and dumped annually around U.S. shores, according to environmental groups.

 

Ballast is water taken on by cargo ships after they unload to balance the vessel for the journey home.

 

A judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in September ordered the EPA to create a permit process by September 2008 for vessels that dispense effluent.

The federal agency and the shipping industry tried to confine the permit process to ocean vessels that take on ballast.

 

The court instead issued a sweeping order that extended to any vessel that discharges any fluid, including the typical 15-foot boat purchased for nothing more than puttering down the Delta on weekends, said Duncan Neasham, a spokesman for the National Marine Manufacturers Association in Washington, D.C.

 

"Effluent is anything that comes off a boat," he said. "If you spill a Coke or wash your boat down, or carry a bottle of water on your kayak, you might be included."

Permits could be as much as $1,500, he said.

 

The boat-industry association, which supports controlling ballast on cargo ships, filed papers last week in federal court voicing its concerns.

 

The industry is hoping that Congress will pass a law before the deadline that would largely exempt recreational boaters, Neasham said.

 

Environmental groups, including the San Francisco-based Baykeeper, argue in court documents that 10,000 marine species trek the globe via ballast, causing annual economic losses as high as $137 billion, double the yearly damage by natural disasters in the United States.

 

Without natural predators, uninvited species proliferate in their new homes, causing ecological imbalance and destruction, environmentalists have said.

The zebra mussels, Caspian Sea natives, have spread throughout the Great Lakes region since 1988, according to the Great Lakes Information Network.

The mussels, no larger than a fingernail, clog water pipes in power plants and compete with native species for nutrients.

 

Recreational boating generates only a small source of pollutants, said Margaret Podlich, vice president of government affairs for the Boat Owners Association of the United States.

Congress has never been moved to create a law that specifically targets domestic-traveling recreational vessels, meaning it should support one that excludes them, Podlich said.

Fears of burdensome fees and cumbersome government permits imposed on recreational vehicles are unfounded, said Deb Self, executive director of Baykeeper, a citizens advocacy group that protects waterways in the Delta and Bay Area.

 

"We have no way of knowing what the permit process will be," she said.

 

The initiator of the lawsuit, Northwest Environmental Advocates, believes that the thrust of the regulations will focus on oceangoing vessels, the crux of the problem, said Nina Bell, executive director of the Portland-based group.

 

"We're concerned, too," she said of the domestic boating industry's concerns.

 

There are plenty of boats that could be affected, said Dove, the boat owners association representative.

 

In the Delta, wakeboard boats take in water, bass boats store water onboard for the fish, and larger recreation boats discharge "gray" water and bilge water, which would probably need a permit, he said.

 

The jokes about boaters owning a bottomless pit are more truth than not, said an owner of two vintage boats.

 

"This is ridiculous. Everyone thinks boaters are zillionaires," said Larry Hazelett, a Sacramento retired mechanical contractor who restores wooden boats.

Rising fuel prices, fees, insurance and marina rent are already driving people from the sport, he said.

A yacht broker friend, he said, has double the inventory he normally has.

 

"You're only going to spend so much money doing this or doing that," said Hazelett, 65.

 

Cline said he considers his boat a family activity, one that is increasingly burdensome.

"It's already a relatively expensive hobby," said Cline, 43.

 

"You know with housing prices going up, and gas prices, you start adding all these things up and it takes a lot of the joy out of living here."#

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/146746.html