[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 4/3/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 3, 2008

 

3. Watersheds

 

NESTLE BOTTLING PLANT:

McCloud divided on reports - Mt. Shasta Herald

 

SALMON ISSUES:

Fishermen take salmon pleas to Washington - Eureka Times Standard

 

Senate Approves $5.3 Million for Salmon Crisis, Sends Bill to Governor - YubaNet.com

 

QUAGGA MUSSEL:

Column: Threat with plenty of mussel; Tiny species could wreak havoc with California's lakes and waterways - San Francisco Chronicle

 

 

NESTLE BOTTLING PLANT:

McCloud divided on reports

Mt. Shasta Herald – 4/2/08

By Jeff Knebel, staff writer

 

Since the Nestle Waters bottling plant contract was signed in 2003, many McCloud citizens feel the community has become divided into two separate groups: those who support the project and those who oppose it.

At the center of this divide are different economic reports that support each side's claims and concerns.

The divide was apparent during the March 24 regular meeting of the McCloud Community Services District, as nearly 50 citizens (representing both pro and con) packed Scout Hall to hear a presentation on the report released in October by ECONorthwest Consulting of Eugene, Ore.

 

Following the presentation by the McCloud Watershed Council, Nestle project manager Dave Palais argued against some of the report's claims.

Members of the McCloud Community Services District board of directors also spoke on the issue (see page A2).

The ECONorthwest report differs in many of its conclusions from independent reports done for Nestle by economists at the University of California Davis and California State University Chico.

 

Issues raised at the meeting range from Nestle's proposed water use and the price of the water, to the environmental and economic effects the plant would have.

ECONorthwest's report was presented by Debra Anderson and Brian Stewart of the McCloud Watershed Council.

“We thought there had been no credible, comprehensive report that has been done on the Nestle project,” began Anderson, explaining why the Watershed Council sought the report from ECONorthwest. “We really wanted to understand the environmental and economic impacts the project would have on our community.”

 

Anderson said the MWC was presenting the information for review and to examine Nestle's responses, and also to discuss the Services District's legal option for correcting any contract problems.

“After doing the report, [ECONorthwest] really felt the price for our water was too low and that McCloud was really not getting fair value,” she said.

The ECONorthwest report lists prices paid for water in other US locations by both Nestle and other companies.

 

The two polar sides of the graph are surprisingly different. It lists a “Coca-Cola or Pepsi” water bottling plant in Twinsburg, Ohio that pays $107,531 per acre-feet of water on the high end. On the low end is Nestle's proposed McCloud plant at $26.40 per acre-feet of water.

“The average price of water we found is $1,500 to $2,000,” stated Anderson. “We know our water in McCloud is great, so the value should be way up there.”

In his response, Palais noted that Nestle would be paying a negotiated set price for the water used, and that the price is more than the current rate for McCloud citizens.

 

Anderson stressed the Watershed Council's concern about Nestle's proposed water use. The ECONorthwest report lists information gathered from the Nestle contract that states the plant would use a maximum of 1,600 acre-feet per year.

However, Anderson's concerns focused on other information gathered from the contract. Under “additional water for bottling,” the maximum quantity is listed as “not specified.”

Other information gathered from the contract includes an “unlimited” maximum quantity of water to be used as “water for drinking water products or products utilizing drinking water” that will come from a groundwater source.

 

ECONorthwest's report also lists data gathered from California Water Right Permit Nos. 002155 and 010083.

 

It states that for an “unknown” use, the plant would be able to use a maximum quantity of 8,941 acre-feet per year.

“To me this is saying [Nestle] will be taking an unlimited amount of water; we don't really know what they will be taking,” said Anderson.

She also commented on a press release Nestle recently sent out stating the company would put a cap on proposed water use of 1,600 acre-feet per year and eliminate the proposed use of groundwater.

 

“I think that I would have a better time believing that if it was amended to the contract; right now we don't have that,” she said. “We also need to be assured they are not going to use groundwater. There is nothing we have that's legally binding that states that Nestle could not come back later and use it.”

“Unless these things are changed, [the ECONorthwest report] is saying there is a very large amount of water [Nestle] can take.”

Palais' response was that Nestle has agreed to cap the amount of water it would use.

 

“We put a firm 1,600 acre-foot per year cap on all of the water the plant will use,” he said. “We also eliminated the potential use of groundwater.”

Another issue raised during the presentation was the number of jobs the project will bring to the area.

Stewart said he believes McCloud is changing from a “blue-collar work force to a retired community” and that the people of McCloud are not interested in the types of jobs the plant would bring.

 

He said that, in his opinion, the Nestle plant wouldn't do much to change the county's unemployment rate because “many people could be leaving existing jobs to seek new ones at the plant.”

Another concern was that the plant's “professional” level jobs, management or executive level jobs, would be filled with “in-house” employees coming from out of town.

Stewart also stressed the importance of studying the types of people that are moving to McCloud and why.

“If we aren't looking at the changes in our demographics we are not being honest with ourselves or the future residents of McCloud,” he said. “We need to look at the long-term implication and not just the short-term gains.”

Palais' countered that “the reports of the independent studies done for Nestle just do not support the claims made by ECONorthwest.”

“The ECONorthwest report claims we will employ just one half of a percent of the labor force in Siskiyou County, which is not the case,” he stated.

Palais referenced the 2007 Siskiyou County economic and demographic profiles and said they indicate that the total labor force in 2006 was 18,400 people. “One half percent of that is about 90,” he said. “That is not consistent with the typical 240 jobs that our plants employ.”

He also said that one independent study done for Nestle predicted the plant would bring an additional 240 indirect jobs to the county.

“One of the things that makes McCloud an attractive place to do business is that there is an existing labor force with the skills we need, such as machine maintenance mechanics, pipe welders, electricians, fork lift operators and office administrators.” said Palais.

Stewart pointed to what he called “other hidden costs” that would come with the bottling plant, including traffic, law enforcement and the impact on the fire department and ambulance services.

“These are things that need to be addressed,” said Stewart. “I have spoken with other cities back east that have bottling plants and they wished they had spent more time studying these types of impacts.”

Stewart said he is looking forward to more discussion and public participation regarding the issue.

“This is a 50 or 100 year contract, so I think we have an obligation and a duty to look at the implications,” he said. “The community is divided over this contract and what we'd like to see is enough discussion that the community feels satisfied.”

“Hopefully we can get to the point where we are getting treated much better than this contract reflects.” #

http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2008/04/02/news/02mccloud_reports.txt

 

 

SALMON ISSUES:

Fishermen take salmon pleas to Washington

Eureka Times Standard – 4/3/08

By John Driscoll, staff writer

 

West Coast commercial fishermen are on Capitol Hill this week urging Congressional leaders to investigate the worst salmon fishery collapse in history.

 

The seven fishermen from California, Oregon and Washington said in a teleconference Wednesday that government policies on the three major coastal rivers are creating systemic “rolling blackouts” in which fisheries are closed or heavily restricted from year to year. This year, an extreme shortage of salmon expected to return to the Sacramento River is leading the Pacific Fishery Management Council to recommend a paltry fishery -- or none at all.

 

Increased water diversions and habitat problems in the Sacramento are damaging the runs, the fishermen said, and are making salmon populations unable to handle other challenges like poor ocean conditions. The Klamath and Columbia rivers also suffer similar ills, they said.

 

”If those river conditions were corrected we would not have the problem we have now,” said Washington fisherman Ron Richards.

 

They also drew into question the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's opinion that a lack of food in the ocean was key to the collapse, saying that in the past decade fish have been larger and healthier, indicative of good ocean conditions.

 

Eureka fisherman Dave Bitts said the group hopes Congress will look into the National Marine Fisheries Service's 2004 report that found increased pumping from the Sacramento River delta for irrigation and cities would not jeopardize salmon. He wanted to know if political meddling may have been behind that opinion.

 

”We would like Congress to do whatever it can to restore the scientific integrity of the work done by the National Marine Fisheries Service on the Sacramento fisheries,” Bitts said.

 

The U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General in July 2005 found that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California State Water Project's plans passed muster with the National Marine Fisheries Service -- but that the fisheries agency gave approval without following established processes for ensuring the quality of its work. The Inspector General did not find evidence that the fisheries service changed its opinion of the plan midstream.

 

Other indicators of the health of the Sacramento River delta include the threatened delta smelt, which have suffered enormous population declines recently. The situation for that fish is so dire that scientists have begun to breed more smelt to backup the natural population in case it goes extinct.

 

Another interesting twist is that a program by the Fisheries Foundation of California and the state Department of Fish and Game to truck young salmon from upstream of the delta to San Francisco Bay where they can acclimate in pens was effectively shut down in 2005 and 2006. The salmon were instead dumped into the river unprotected, where they were preyed on by birds and striped bass, Bitts said.

 

The fish released in 2005 would have returned this year, and those from 2006 would have returned next year -- which is also expected to see a poor run. Some have voiced concern that while the previously successful net pen program may have led to a major boom in ocean salmon populations, that it may also have masked the delta's problems by repeatedly turning out abundant runs.

 

The fishermen visiting Capitol Hill said it's likely there is no one smoking gun behind the fishery collapse, but that the problems need to be examined if people want to preserve an icon of the Northwest.

 

Rep. Mike Thompson was among those the group met with this week. The St. Helena Democrat said he'd see if the House Resources Committee was interested in addressing the issue, or might hold field hearings in the area. Mainly, he said, it's important that people who aren't tied to the industry be made aware of what is happening to the valuable salmon resource.

 

”It's pretty evident -- you don't have to look very deep -- to see that there are major problems,” Thompson said. #

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_8793240

 

 

Senate Approves $5.3 Million for Salmon Crisis, Sends Bill to Governor

YubaNet.com – 4/2/08

By Senator Patricia Wiggins’ office

 

Sacramento - The State Senate gave final approval today to Senate Bill 562, legislation by North Coast Senator Patricia Wiggins (D - Santa Rosa) to designate nearly $5.3 million in urgent funding for coastal salmon and steelhead fisheries restoration projects.

The Assembly approved SB 562 on March 24, so today's 27-10 Senate vote means the bill will soon be on the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his consideration. SB 562 is an urgency measure, meaning the bill will take effect immediately upon signing by the Governor.

If signed into law, the Wiggins bill would allocate $5.293 in Proposition 84 funds to the state Department of Fish and Game, which would use the funding for its coastal salmon and steelhead fishery restoration efforts.

 

Voters approved Prop. 84 - the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act - in 2006.

In addition, Wiggins said that enactment of SB 562 will allow the state to leverage up to $20 million federal dollars for salmon this spring.

"Every week adds a new development to our burgeoning salmon crisis," Wiggins noted after today's Senate floor vote.

In presenting SB 562 before her colleagues, she said that "we have all seen the recent headlines regarding salmon in California: 'Fishermen fear lost salmon season'; 'Officials warn of salmon population collapse'; 'Regulators Could Close West Coast Salmon Fishing This Year.'

"This is bill is about this legislature taking action to protect California's $100 million dollar salmon industry," Wiggins added. She later stressed that the industry extends beyond fishermen to include tackle shops, processors, ice suppliers, restaurants and tourism.

SB 562 is supported by a diverse group, including the California Farm Bureau Federation, Association of California Water Agencies, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishmen, the Karuk Tribe, CalTrout, the Sonoma County Water Agency and the Sierra Club. #

http://yubanet.com/california/Senate-Approves-5-3-Million-for-Salmon-Crisis-Sends-Bill-to-Governor.php

 

 

QUAGGA MUSSEL:

Column: Threat with plenty of mussel; Tiny species could wreak havoc with California's lakes and waterways

San Francisco Chronicle – 4/3/08

By Tom Stienstra, outdoors columnist

 

(04-02) 20:57 PDT -- The biggest threats that California's lakes have ever faced are no larger than a small thumbnail.

 

Tiny quagga and zebra mussels are an invasive species that represent an environmental nuclear bomb for California's reservoirs and waterways. The mussels threaten aquatic food chains in lakes, access for fishing and boating, recreation-based economies and the state and federal government's ability to send water to Central Valley farmers and beyond.

 

Once quagga mussels arrive in a water system, they float downstream. Since being found in Lake Mead in 2007, they have drifted downstream and been verified in 16 lakes and rivers on the Colorado River chain. In addition, zebra mussels, a slightly smaller infester, were found in January at San Justo Reservoir near Hollister (San Benito County).

 

The reaction by the Department of Water Resources, Department of Fish and Game and local water agencies has been swift and severe.

 

San Justo was immediately closed to all boating. In Southern California, Lake Casitas, where anglers have caught some of the largest bass in history, was also closed to outside boats, as was smaller Westlake. This was a defensive measure. No mussels were found in either lake.

 

In Northern California, the East Bay Municipal Utility District considered closing three of its most popular fishing lakes - San Pablo Reservoir near El Sobrante, and Pardee and Camanche in the Sierra foothills.

 

EBMUD opted instead for rigorous checks for all trailered boats and to ban boats from Santa Clara County, San Benito County and Southern California.

 

"We can hold quagga mussels at bay, we can draw that line," said Alexia Retallack of the Department of Fish and Game. "Quagga will not move from one watershed to another without human assistance."

 

The only solution, she said, was for boaters to drain, clean and dry their boats, trailers and equipment.

 

Once introduced, the results from quagga mussels can be devastating. "Quagga are floaters, so wherever the water goes, they go," Retallack said. "From Lake Mead, for instance, any lake getting raw Colorado River water is exposed. ... The situation compounds."

 

Series of threats

 

To aquatic life: Invasive mussels feed by filtering water. In turn, high numbers of mussels remove plankton from a lake, which cleans out the base of the aquatic food chain. Small fish thus have nothing to feed on and have very low survival rates. Large fish then eat what small fish remain until they, too, run out of food.

 

When nutrients are removed from a lake, the water clears and sunlight reaches the bottom. That encourages weed growth. When the weeds decay, they soak up oxygen. That is why large weed die-offs in lakes cause massive fish kills through oxygen deprivation.

 

Quagga mussels also produce high collective amounts of pollutants in their waste. "Back east, quagga have caused outbursts of botulism that have caused the deaths of birds," Retallack said. "They can actually change the pH of a lake, making it more acidic, so it smells."

 

To recreational boating: Water districts could close major recreation lakes to boaters, as has been done at Casitas, the great bass lake. This would damage lake-based local economies and the boating industry, as well as recreational opportunity for the roughly 1 million California boaters. In the Great Lakes region, one study showed the quagga mussel cost the economy $5.1 billion over seven years.

 

At lakes where quagga mussels are present, such as Lake Mead, a study found 50 percent more overheated engines, sloppy steering and an increased drag. That is because the mussels adhere to surfaces both inside the engine and the hull of the boat.

 

While these scenarios may exist at infested lakes, that does not mean it will be the fate of Northern California waters, Retallack said.

 

"We've been looking at Minnesota and Wisconsin, where they have quagga," Retallack said. "In Minnesota, they took a hard-line approach. They required all boaters to clean, drain dry their boats. They educated the public. They have almost eliminated new infestations, this in 'The Land of 10,000 Lakes.' They stopped the quagga from moving.

 

"But Wisconsin did not take a hard stand and Wisconsin has rampant infestation. It demonstrates the difference between letting the public know how they transport quagga and how they can stop it, and doing little to nothing."

 

The jury is still out on the public's ability to do the right thing in California. Since January, 83,000 trailered boats have gone through check stations, mostly in Southern California for boats returning from the Colorado River and its lakes, and 104 have been verified with quagga.

 

To pipelines: One quagga mussel can produce 40,000 eggs in a single spawning and up to a million eggs in a year, Retallack said. "I have a pipe that was suspended in Lake Mead for one and a half months," she continued. "The pipe is 9 inches long, 31/2 inches in diameter. It has small mussels all over the outside and is completely coated on the inside. Not only do you have this first layer, but you also have a second layer where quagga mussels were starting to settle on top of the other mussels."

 

So what you get are layer upon layer of mussels until they choke off pipes, or any other surface they attach to.

 

 In irrigation systems, they can clog pipes from the intake to the sprinkler heads, a bleak scenario for the agricultural industry.

 

In the eastern U.S., dual pumping systems are in place in some areas. When one is clogged with quagga mussels, it will be shut down and cleaned out. By the time it is clear, the other system will be clogged. "Can you imagine if California had to install parallel water systems?" Retallack asked.

 

For this spring, a widespread boaters' information program is being established across the state.

 

At San Justo, where zebra mussels were verified, all boating was stopped and water officials are trying to trace the origin of the introduction. If the mussel arrived via a canal, the source reservoir must be located and locked down, the DFG said. If it arrived via boat, the hope is that it can be treated locally. Mussels in San Justo could threaten water deliveries to local farmers this summer.

 

At Lake Mead, the source of the quagga mussel for California, the National Park Service is requiring decontamination when boats pull out at the ramps. At San Pablo, Camanche, Pardee and many others, a thorough check that takes about 10 minutes is required before boats are allowed to launch.

 

At Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake inside the state's borders, authorities will require all boats entering the county to undergo a mandatory inspection. Santa Barbara County supervisors voted last Tuesday to require a similar inspection for Lake Cachuma, one of the best bass lakes in California, rather than close the lake.

 

"We don't want to see people lose recreation opportunity," Retallack said. "To stop quagga, boating and water recreationists must clean, drain and dry all of their equipment. That includes boats, trailers, kayaks, canoes, scuba gear, anything that gets in the lake."

 

With spring boating season imminent, that is the only answer.

 

"The Great Outdoors With Tom Stienstra" airs Sundays at 10 a.m. on KBCW/KMAX-Sacramento.

 

Tom Stienstra's Outdoors Report can be heard Saturdays on KCBS (740 AM) at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m.

 

Crustacean-sniffing dogs fight invaders for Fish and Game

 

You've probably heard of drug-sniffing dogs. But now the Department of Fish and Game has trained a team of quagga mussel-sniffing dogs.

 

Fish and Game's new K-9 team deployed in the past month has been trained to detect quagga and zebra mussels, as well as ammunition. Depending on where the dog is based, it might also be trained to sniff out bear parts, salmon, deer, elk, abalone or waterfowl.

 

"The dogs add depth to the abilities of our game wardens to stop criminal activities by speeding up searches," said Nancy Foley, chief of enforcement for the department. "Whether facing threats to homeland security or from the quagga and zebra mussels, these dogs will be a tremendous aid to law enforcement."

 

According to the DFG, a trained search dog can detect a single quagga mussel on a boat. The first six K-9 teams are working in 23 Northern California counties, including San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

 

"A dog's scent ability has been estimated to be up to a million times stronger than a human's," said Lynette Shimek, K-9 program coordinator. "When dealing with something as small as quagga mussels on a boat, a dog will let us know quickly that something is not right."

 

The DFG's goal is to have 24 dogs trained and deployed statewide. The program is funded largely by donations. Info: K-9, 417 Mace Blvd., Suite J, PMB 125, Davis, Calif. 95618.

 

- Tom Stienstra

 

Stopping quagga mussels

 

Measures recommended to prevent mussel infestation:

Inspect exposed surfaces (small mussels feel like sandpaper).

Wash the hull, preferably with high pressure, hot water.

Remove all plants from boat and trailer.

Drain and dry all areas.

Clean and dry buckets and live wells.

Dispose of all bait in trash.

Wait five days and keep boat dry between launches into different lakes. #

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/02/SP9MVTE6S.DTL

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