[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 4/18/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

April 18, 2008

 

4. Water Quality

 

 

 

San Diego River at 'turning point'

SDSU, agency, coalition join to protect, restore it

San Diego Union Tribune – 4/18/08

By Mike Lee, staff writer

For years, researchers at San Diego State University have monitored environmental changes around the world. Now, they are turning more of their attention to their own backyard.

 

This morning, the university will announce a partnership with a state agency and several community groups to protect and restore the San Diego River. Their main goal is to set up a system of monitors that collect and transmit water-quality information about the waterway, which flows near the campus on its 52-mile trip from near Julian to Ocean Beach.

 

The project is expected to help scientists, students and conservationists gain knowledge of what is sometimes called California's “first river.” It also will boost the profile of a long-running campaign to improve some of the waterway's natural function in areas altered by heavy development.

“It's definitely a turning point in how we envision our role with regard to research, education and outreach. We hope to establish a brand-new model for how we manage and monitor the watershed,” said Matt Rahn, director of the Field Stations Program at San Diego State.

 

The centerpiece of the new agreement is the “wireless watershed,” which would consist of 10 to 20 monitors to be placed in the river over the next year. The devices would send real-time data to interested groups.

 

Such information is meant to help SDSU students and researchers scientifically assess the river's ecosystem. It also would provide benefits to various officials beyond the university by, for instance, helping to detect sewage spills that enter the waterway.

 

The university's main partners are the San Diego River Conservancy, a small state agency formed to enhance the waterway, and the San Diego River Park Foundation, a coalition of 70 groups that support restoration efforts such as monthly monitoring programs in the watershed.

 

No long-term funding source has been identified for the new venture. The people involved with it said their initial goals include finding money to buy and maintain the monitoring equipment. The partnership's leaders said working together should improve their chances of winning grants.

 

“It's great that we have been able to sit down and work out an agreement ... but the results will be key,” said Michael Nelson, executive director of the conservancy.

Historically, the San Diego River played an important role in the region's development. It provided water for Old Town and the San Diego mission long before Mission Valley was largely paved and the city started importing most of its water.

 

While large sections of the river are pristine, the lower reaches are marred by trash, graffiti and camps established by homeless people. Eight years ago, a major sewage spill that fouled the river in Mission Valley helped unite conservationists around the vision of building a pathway and a series of parks along the waterway.

 

Today's agreement brings SDSU into that effort. The university operates four field-research reserves in and around San Diego County. Those stations are home to more than 100 experiments about everything from wildfires to climate change.

 

One reserve is along the San Diego River in Mission Trails Regional Park, though little research has been conducted there in recent years.

Rahn envisions that spot becoming home to one of the monitoring devices, which will check factors such as water depth, temperature, alkalinity and acidity, and oxygen levels.

The information will help bring the river into the classroom, he said.

 

“These students are ultimately going to be working in the region and answering our important questions on the environment,” Rahn said. “This gives them an opportunity to actually get training in their own backyard and apply their education to local issues.”

 

Nelson, the conservancy leader, also sees the students' participation as a plus. “Students can really make a significant contribution,” he said. “I am anxious to get (them) involved in the removal of non-native species and habitat restoration.”#

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080418/news_1m18river.html