[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 1/14/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

January 14, 2008

 

4. Water Quality

 

WETLANDS RESTORED:

Storm-damaged wetlands restored; The project near Prado Dam will improve water quality for millions of Orange County users living downstream - Los Angeles Times

 

STORM RUNOFF:

Some tips before taking a dip; Rain brings runoff that can contaminate waters - San Diego Union Tribune

 

 

WETLANDS RESTORED:

Storm-damaged wetlands restored; The project near Prado Dam will improve water quality for millions of Orange County users living downstream

Los Angeles Times – 1/13/08

By David Reyes, staff writer

 

Robert Johnson steered his pickup carefully along an earthen levee ringing the newly renovated wetlands behind Prado Dam, which straddles the Riverside-Orange county border.

He braked to watch a red-tailed hawk soar overhead and pointed proudly to young plants already sprouting where earthmovers had recently tracked. "People ask whether we have to plant those bulrushes and cattails out there, and we tell them no. They grow alarmingly fast. By spring this area will look overgrown."

 

More than two years ago, the wetlands, constructed by the Orange County Water District in 1996, were wiped out when the Santa Ana River -- which feeds into the dam's vast reservoir -- changed course due to near-record rainfall, said Johnson, the district's director of wetlands operations.

Earthmovers and bulldozers brought in by the water district have finished restoring more than 460 acres into a battery of large ponds, regarded as the largest man-made wetlands in Southern California.

The wetlands will act as nature's filtration system, removing nitrates and improving water quality for millions of downstream users in Orange County.

Prado is hardly a household name in Southern California, where more high-profile wetlands -- Ballona, south of Marina del Rey; Bolsa Chica, in Huntington Beach; and, in San Diego County, Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad -- historically have grabbed headlines.

But Prado is well-known among birders and environmentalists in the Inland Empire because of its size and importance in an area where new housing developments sprout on former farms and other open land.

"We used to have the agricultural land in Chino, and birds and other wildlife would go there and into Prado's reservoir," said Terry Wold, a conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club's San Gorgonio chapter. "But, slowly, we've been taking their habitat away."

Birders have seen great egrets, herons and ducks on tours, and the area is also habitat for the endangered least Bell's vireo and Southwestern willow flycatcher.

Drew Feldmann, president of the San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society, said birds don't know about property lines. "To them, it's one large area, so we welcome whatever wetlands protection and restoration can be done."

The wetlands project includes diverting half the Santa Ana's flow into the pond system and subsequently into Chino Creek, where the water will rejoin the river. But recent rains have delayed the diversion until at least next month, district officials said.

"You have to understand that we're in a flood plain here, and everything is dynamic," said Bonnie Nash, the water district's habitat restoration manager. "That means things out here are temporary, because if it storms, water can rush through here and wipe things out."

Nash's greatest fear, however, isn't rain. It's Arundo donax, an invasive cane that grows up to 20 feet, hogs water and chokes out native plant life along the Santa Ana.

"It's worthless," said Nash, who relies on a network of contractors and volunteers to keep the non-native plant in check. Arundo, she and Johnson said, clogged the Santa Ana and was partly responsible for the diversion that swept into the district's wetlands.

That same year, more than 2,000 residents in Riverside and Orange counties living below the dam were evacuated after engineers detected seepage from the earthen structure, which at the time was holding back near-record levels of water.

They were allowed back into their homes after emergency repairs were made to the dam.

Prado, which is being raised more than 28 feet, is a crucial part of a mammoth flood-control system that protects more than 3 million people in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

The raising of Prado is the last major piece of the flood protection plan that is part of the long-awaited Santa Ana Flood Control Project, a $1.3-billion effort to protect Orange County homes from major flooding. Federal officials have described the flood plain in the Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley area as potentially the most vulnerable west of the Mississippi.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raised the dam's embankment and constructed new outlets, but still must build dikes, raise the spillway and put in a new operations tower. Completion of the project was expected by 2010, but that date has been pushed back by at least another year, said Greg Fuderer, a Corps spokesman.

"We're behind our original schedule because of the flooding two years ago," he said.

When the project is finished, the storage capacity of the dam will be increased at least 50%, reducing the need to release water into the Santa Ana River. Although the river's flow is usually a trickle during the summer, the Santa Ana can turn destructively wild in the rainy season, and releases from the dam aggravate the problem.

Officials said the river is overdue for a great 100-year flood, which could cause $15 billion in damage to downstream communities.

One such flood occurred in the late 19th century, when settlers wrote of rowing boats from Newport Beach to Santa Ana. Another massive flood in 1938 knocked out nearly every bridge in the county, submerged large parts of Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana, and killed dozens of people. #

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prado13jan13,1,3248008.story?coll=la-headlines-california

 

 

STORM RUNOFF:

Some tips before taking a dip; Rain brings runoff that can contaminate waters

San Diego Union Tribune – 1/12/08

By Terry Rogers, staff writer

 

The air and sea may feel frigid, but that doesn't deter thousands of local beach enthusiasts from getting wet during winter.

 

While lower temperatures don't keep people from jumping into the surf, rain should. A storm that drops as little as two-tenths of an inch of rain can generate enough runoff to contaminate coastal waters for up to three days.

 

The runoff contains bacteria and viruses that can cause flulike symptoms, rashes, and sinus and ear infections.

 

So where and when is it safe to plunge into the waves?

 

The county recently updated its beach advisory Web site, titled Earth 911, to help beach-goers make more informed decisions.

 

“We're trying to give people information so they can stay well and still enjoy ocean activity,” said Gary Erbeck, director of the county's Department of Environmental Health.

 

The Web site generates more traffic than any other portion of the health department's online portal, Erbeck said.

 

In the past, the county's beach advisory Web site was little more than a map with dots representing each site's water quality. A red dot indicated a beach closed because of high contamination levels. A yellow dot signified beaches where bacteria counts slightly exceeded state standards for body contact. A white dot marked a beach that tested clean.

 

The revamped Web page includes a more aesthetically pleasing design and more details about each beach. For example, it lists the locations of storm drain outlets, which people should avoid particularly during rainfall because that's when runoff volume is high.

 

The Web page is now updated Monday through Friday by Clay Clifton, the county's ocean and bay recreational water coordinator for the past nine years.

 

Clifton reviews more than 4,000 water samples annually. He has been keeping track of which beaches are most affected by storm runoff because of numerous drain outlets or a large upstream watershed. The beefed-up Web site includes his insights.

 

For people who like to hear a human voice, Clifton also is producing daily podcasts of beach closures and contamination advisories.

 

Later this year, county officials intend to offer a free service that will provide daily beach advisory reports to subscribers.

 

Although the potential for water contamination is greater in the winter, the number of monitored beaches drops almost 50 percent. From Nov. 1 to March 31, 58 beaches along the county's 76 miles of shoreline are tested weekly.

 

During the summer, the figure surpasses 100.

 

So far this winter, South Bay beaches near the U.S.-Mexico border have been the most polluted by bacteria. Those bacteria are found in urban runoff that flows from Mexico into the United States.

 

Since Jan. 1, Border Field State Park and the beaches near the mouth of the Tijuana River have been closed 11 days. Silver Strand State Beach has been closed six days, and Coronado has been closed four days. #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080112/news_1m12water.html

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