[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 5/28/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 28, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

Salton Sea air still up in air

Imperial Valley Press – 5/28/08

By Brianna Lusk, staff writer

The future restoration of the Salton Sea is a $9 billion question mark in the hands of the state.

Last week a bill that would have established the governance for the Salton Sea Restoration Council died on the state Senate floor for lack of a vote.

The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors heard from an environmental attorney Tuesday on the implications of air-quality issues along the receding shoreline.

Ellen Spellman, whose firm is contracted by the district to oversee the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement legalities, spoke about liability, emissions and restoration.

Spellman said environmental studies have shown the exposure of the shoreline is inevitable but predicting what kind of emissions will be mixed into the air is unknown.

“This is an area of great uncertainty,” Spellman said.

A study determining what types of soil, sediment and wind conditions exist would be needed to predict the impact of the exposed playa, or sea bed, she said.

Air quality in Imperial County already has issues meeting state and federal standards and the exposed shore would likely make the air-quality condition in Imperial Valley worse, Spellman said.

Baseline factors like climate change and evaporation of the sea could lead to an estimated 16,000 acres of shore being exposed.

An estimated 45,000 acres will be exposed in the next 70 years due to the transfer of water and the diminishing inflows to the sea.

Determining who is legally liable for the emissions, Spellman told the board, will depend on why the shoreline receded.

“IID is responsible for mitigating air quality impacts from shoreline exposed by the transfer,” Spellman said.

Al Kalin, a Westmorland farmer who lives near the sea, said the IID should take a more proactive approach to mitigating the dust coming off the property it owns at the south shore.

“I’d like to know what IID is doing about the current dust cloud coming off the property,” Kalin said.

Kalin said his daughter is asthmatic and photos taken near the sea during heavy winds looks like the shoreline is on fire.

“It appears the IID doesn’t want to do anything about it,” Kalin said.#

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/05/28/local_news/news01.txt