Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 6, 2008
4. Water Quality -
Chemical spill forces Richmond
Contra Costa Times
Opinion:
The draining of the reservoir has revealed its potential as a new kind of urban park. -
Los Angeles
++++++++++++++++++++
Chemical spill forces Richmond
Contra Costa Times – 5/5/08
By Karl Fischer, staff writer
Emergency officials issued a shelter-in-place order for the
Hazardous materials crews contained the toluene at 2:45 p.m., Richmond Fire Chief Michael Banks said. However, some of the chemical managed to reach
Crews were able to clean up about 3,000 gallons of the mixture by sundown Monday, according to Lt. Lauren Kolumbic with the U.S. Coast Guard. Much of the chemical had dissipated but it will be up to state Fish and Game officials to determine what effect the spill has on the bay, Kolumbic said. Cleaning crews will start again at 7 a.m. Tuesday, she said.
The chemical leaked into the ground under a tank at 841 Morton belonging to Reaction Products Co., a wholesaler and manufacturer of water treatment chemicals and other chemical mixtures for industrial uses. Someone apparently stole some brass fittings from the 6,000-gallon tank, which caused the leak, Contra Costa sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said.
The emergency call came about 2:15 p.m., Banks said. The shelter-in-place order lifted at 2:55 p.m.
The Office of Emergency Services reported the spill to the Coast Guard at 11:09 a.m. because of the spill's proximity to
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_9161216
Opinion:
The draining of the reservoir has revealed its potential as a new kind of urban park.
By Sara Catania - Sara Catania lives in
Surrounded by freeways and bombarded with billboards, we green-seeking Angelenos take pride in our nature-ish things. East L.A. has
After a rare photochemical reaction created carcinogens in the "lake," the Department of Water and Power pulled the plug, draining its entire 600,000-gallon supply. By the standards of municipal thirst, that's not very much. It wouldn't even satisfy a single day's need. But in terms of land, the space required to hold that water is massive. The reservoir and its environs occupy the equivalent of 96 football fields.
The drainage is temporary. By June, the DWP aims to refill the concrete basin, which at the moment resembles an abandoned quarry. But its drinking-water days are numbered. After more than 100 years, the DWP is phasing out the Silver Lake Reservoir -- and the adjacent, smaller Ivanhoe Reservoir -- to comply with stringent water-safety laws banning the use of uncovered supplies. By 2015, the lake in
It doesn't have to be that way.
Residents should continue to have something lovely to look at, but why should all that prime urban space be buried under ornamental water? Unlike other imperiled urban waterways, such as the
The end of the reservoir provides us with a rare and potentially brilliant opportunity to rethink the concept of an urban park for the 21st century. Nearly every sizable open space in
This reservoir-turned-park could offer a model of urban sustainability, continuing to provide sanctuary for urban-adapted wildlife while addressing the neighborhood's pressing human needs. New Yorkers pay astronomical sums for apartments facing the green of Central Park; a new
The park could support a community garden, a neighborhood composting center and cisterns to capture rainwater to keep the grounds green -- a park-sized sustainability project that might inspire visitors to try a thing or two at home.
The will is there. One neighborhood advocacy group has made major strides in landscaping the perimeter of the reservoir, creating tree-lined walking and biking paths. It is on the verge of gaining park status for a six-acre fenced-off area known as the “Meadow.” It took thousands of volunteer hours and years of meetings, studies and contentious negotiations to win those improvements, which were outlined in a reservoir master plan. But now that the DWP is taking its water elsewhere, much more could be done.
A true rethinking can't stop with paths and gardens. As the human population of
This may sound far-fetched; OK, it is far-fetched. But isn't fencing off a massive open space in the middle of the city in desperate need of parkland and housing even more cockamamie?
The people-park idea is not entirely original. One model of such urban faux-nature was created for the city of
There are, no doubt, urban planners and community activists with other, better ideas about how to use the reservoir space. Let's hear them. The draining of the lake has laid bare a trove of public land that belongs to us all. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-catania6-2008may06,0,1661434.story
Live Oak officials say sewer deal stinks
Marysville Appeal-Democrat – 5/6/08
By Robert LaHue, Appeal Democrat
Faced with being more than $14 million short for its wastewater treatment plant upgrade, the Live Oak City Council is staring at what Mayor Diane Hodges described as "four choices, all of them bad."
While the $22 million low bid for the plant upgrade is less than the $25 million estimates, the city only has $7.5 million in funding secured, City Manager Tom Lando told the council during a Monday study session.
"Cutting to the heart of the matter, the problem is we don't have the money for that," Lando said of the planned upgrade, which is being mandated by the state Water Resources Control Board.
The city has an April 2009 deadline to upgrade its wastewater treatment or face fines up to $10,000 per day. Lando said Live Oak will not meet the deadline.
He gave four possible options for the board to consider, but the focus was put primarily on either building the plant as is or scaling the project back to a smaller capacity.
The board could choose to go ahead with the current project as planned, which would give the city a new plant with a flow capacity of 1.4 million gallons per day. But as representatives from consulting firm Eco:Logic told the board, based on what loans and grants the city could get for financing, the remaining costs would require the city's sewer rate to increase from the current $45.17 per month to between $75 to $85 per month.
Lando called the amount "obviously not realistic, unacceptable, will not work."
Instead, he proposed scaling back the treatment plant upgrade to a capacity of 700,000 gallons per day. Doing so, Lando and Eco:Logic estimated the costs would be cut down to $15.5 million, which would require a fee increase to between $57 and $67 per month.
The council expressed its dislike of facing rate increases with any option presented to them.
"At this point, it seems inevitable the rates are going up," Councilman Al Fortino said.
Lando said the rate increase would have a particular impact on current residents on fixed incomes, a position Hodges echoed, noting residents would be looking at paying at least $90 a month for water and sewer.
"When you're making only $800 a month, how can a person do that?" Hodges said.
Other options presented were an alternative operator proposed for wastewater treatment by city development stakeholders and creating a regional wastewater plant with
State water quality officials encouraged the regional approach and Lando said it is still worth considering for the future, but initial costs for the city to go regional would not be much different than the full upgrade.
The board decided against starting the process for rate increases by May 21, which also means based on deadlines for bids received, an upgrade will need to be rebid — whether it's scaled down or not.
Council members said there needs to be meetings with Live Oak residents before any actions are done on a rate increase.
"We haven't educated the people of this community," Councilman Chuck Epp said.#
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/city_63570___article.html/lando_upgrade.html
No comments:
Post a Comment