Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 8, 2008
4. Water Quality -
Floating islands promise ocean clean up
Artificial islands use pollution-eating microbes to suck up toxins from lakes and oceans -
Business Green
Flame retardant found in peregrine falcon eggs -
San Francisco Chronicle
Disinfection process change spurs call for untreated water -
Antelope Valley
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Floating islands promise ocean clean up
Artificial islands use pollution-eating microbes to suck up toxins from lakes and oceans
Business Green – 5/8/08
Danny Bradbury, staff writer
Floating Island International has opened a manufacturing plant in
The company uses recycled plastic to create the islands, which can be customised to different buoyancies and are designed to accumulate pollution-eating microbes.
The microbes can chew through heavy metals and other toxins that accumulate in fresh water or the ocean, said owner Bruce Kania. He wants them to be used for cleaning up 'dead zones' where too many chemical nutrients have depleted oxygen levels in the water making it uninhabitable for wildlife. He would also like to pilot the island projects in areas such as the Canadian tar sands, where oil extraction has left so-called toxic tailings in lakes and killed wildlife.
Over time, the plastic platforms build up natural deposits on top of the biofilm left by the algae microbes, explained Kania. The deposits completely envelop the plastic and continue to grow underneath and on top of the island, he said, adding that this also helps the island to absorb carbon from the environment.
The Californian plant is generating 10,000 square feet of island material per shift, which equates to 3/4 of an acre per day. It was made possible after the company raised $2.5m in funding, part of which came from the Californian Department of Conservation.
"The money came from a fund that the Californian Department of Conservation generated via its deposit money on plastic containers," said Kalia, who called it ironic that the islands were made of recycled plastic. "That includes stuff like recycled polyester carpet, which we can turn into something far more beneficial."
The three year-old company has already shipped over 3,000 islands ranging from small ones to larger projects. It is currently negotiating a deal for a 25,000 square foot island in
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2216128/floating-islands-promise-ocean
Flame retardant found in peregrine falcon eggs
San Francisco Chronicle – 5/8/08
By
(05-07) 18:58 PDT -- The eggs of peregrine falcons living in California's big cities contain some of the highest levels ever found in wildlife of a flame retardant used in consumer products, a new study has found.
Studies of peregrine falcon eggs and chicks by state scientists reveal that the birds hunting in
The predator birds - which can fly 200 mph - feed on pigeons and other birds, which probably pick up the chemicals in the environment from sewage, landfills and runoff, scientists say. Humans can be exposed by inhaling household dust and absorbing the chemicals through the skin.
"Urban wildlife are the sentinel species that can tell us about chemicals of emerging concern that are coming from city exposures. Information from these species can be useful to us in protecting the sensitive members of our population like infants, children and pregnant women," said Kim Hooper, one of the leading research scientists with the California Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Chemistry Laboratory.
The work, which Hooper will present today at the annual meeting of the Northern California Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry at UC Berkeley, is part of the state's Wildlife Early Warning System supported by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
Included in the study are unhatched eggs and a dead chick from nests of
The prevalence of PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, is raising concern among research scientists. The flame retardants are known as endocrine disrupters because they interfere with the function of the thyroid hormone, which is critical to the proper development of the brain and nervous system. Hooper is concerned that the levels of PBDEs in peregrine falcons are close to levels damaging developing neurological systems in lab rats and mice.
Compared to PCBs
Scientists compare the flame retardants to the notorious PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, because of their potential for harming wildlife and humans, the persistence in the environment and the enormous amounts in commercial use. Three decades after PCBs were banned as insulators in transformers and capacitors, they are still found in
Two years ago,
A third mixture, called deca, is still in use and represents 70 percent of the PBDEs put into consumer products. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill (AB706) to ban all brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, a measure supported by environmental groups.
The four major manufacturers of flame retardants - Albemarle Corp. and Chemtura in the
John Kyte, a spokesman in
One of the concerns over deca is that the amount in the environment is under-reported and might be more prevalent than is measured in the environment because it is unstable and breaks down to other forms of PBDEs.
But the trade group's literature says the deca mixture is not a significant source of the wide array of PBDEs found in the environment.
The state findings that will be released today appear to contradict that argument.
The state chemists found high deca levels when they measured the concentrations in peregrine falcons that live in
They also found what could be the breakdown products of the deca in the peregrine falcons. These and other data are consistent with the breakdown of the deca to the banned PBDEs, they say.
State scientists decided to study the predatory birds, although there are only seven known nesting pairs in the Bay Area. Along with other raptors and brown pelicans, their numbers plummeted when DDT and other chlorinated compounds caused thinning and breakage of eggshells. Scientists fear the PBDEs will do the same.
The UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group at the Long Marine Lab in Moss Landing had 131 eggs on hand for the study, including 95 from
"We certainly weren't thinking about flame retardants, but when you have a biological sample, you don't just throw it away," said biologist Janet Linthicum, a research associate at the bird research group.
George and Gracie
In the study, two eggs and one dead chick produced by
The high-flying pair gained fame as
George and Gracie haven't been seen at all this nesting season.
"We don't know what happened to George and Gracie," said Linthicum. "We're hoping they'll show up someplace else."#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/08/MN2S10HPVE.DTL
Disinfection process change spurs call for untreated water
By ALISHA SEMCHUCK, staff writer
PALMDALE - A feud is brewing between the Rosamond Community Services District and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, which has supplied Rosamond with water from the California Aqueduct for at least 25 years.
AVEK plans to switch its water disinfection process from chlorine to chloramine treatment in 2009 to reduce the levels of a contaminant called trihalomethane in compliance with new Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Because of the chloramines, which in some studies were linked to health issues, Rosamond officials want to purchase untreated water that they plan to filter naturally in the ground, storing it in a newly formed water bank west of Rosamond.
At the April 29 AVEK board meeting, Rosamond district General Manager Robert Neufeld and Claud Seal, the agency engineer and assistant general manager, chastised the water purveyor for refusing to deliver "raw," or untreated, water to the 1,630-acre bank at
With reduced rain and snowfall this year, AVEK officials say they don't have the water to supply for water banking, which they classify as a low-priority use. In response, Rosamond officials say they believe AVEK would be willing to deliver the water to the Rosamond treatment plant rather than the water bank.
"We have a problem," Neufeld said at the meeting. "We want that water delivered to our water bank. I guarantee, if we asked for it to be delivered to our (treatment) plant, we would get it."
The banking project was implemented by Western Development and Storage, a private
To date, AVEK board members have not decided whether to participate in the Western Development project, agency director Neal Weisenberger said.
At the AVEK meeting, Seal said his district had ordered a "dry year" purchase of 412 acre-feet of water in addition to its normal allocation, which in a wet year ranges between 1,200 and 1,400 acre-feet. An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount used by an average single-family home in a year.
"This year, due to reduced water availability, we were allocated 818 acre-feet," Seal said, adding that 35 acre-feet already have been delivered.
Rosamond has about 5,500 customer connections - a mix of residential and business consumers. Last year, Seal said, his district supplied 3,739 acre-feet of water to customers.
"If AVEK doesn't deliver the water, RCSD (will be) totally reliant on well water," Seal said. "Obviously that continues drawing down the groundwater levels, at least in our area of the (
"We're anticipating a big surge in (population) growth in the next year to 18 months. Land is still cheaper out here than in Lancaster and Palmdale.
Seal said Rosamond paid AVEK a deposit of $15,000 for the dry year water, and a balance of $38,057 remains to be paid.
"The only request we had was to deliver that water at the turnout for water banking. Two weeks ago we received word that water is available from AVEK staff," Seal said.
The following week, Seal said, further correspondence with AVEK indicated delivery "would not be a problem as long as ownership of the turnout was transferred" from Van Dam Farms, the former owner of the property, to the water bank. That formality is still pending, he noted.
"The attorneys from both sides have been missing each other," Seal said. "We expect the signed ownership documents to be completed by June, when we want the water delivered."
AVEK director Frank Donato questioned why his agency's staff had denied Rosamond's request.
General Manager Russ Fuller said customers are charged different rates, depending on whether they order first-priority water, second-priority water or water for banking. First-priority users pay the highest price but are first in line when water is available.
Water for banking "is the lowest priority," Fuller said.
"If they want to pay the additional money, why would it make a difference?" Donato asked.
"We have a 35% allocation of water this year," Fuller replied.
Water shortages forced the state Department of Water Resources to reduce the amount of water that its state water contractors, including AVEK, can draw from the aqueduct this year. Shortages resulted from several factors, including too little precipitation and a U.S. District Court judge's decision to slow pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the source of aqueduct water.
Fuller said a 35% allocation is not enough to meet the needs of AVEK's first-priority customers. "No second-priority water will be delivered this year," he said.
AVEK director Keith Dyas said the discussion focused on a separate water supply - prepaid dry-year water.
"We were not able to get the (amount of) water we requested in the dry-year program, either," Fuller said. "We got 20% of it."
"Common sense (dictates) you do the basic needs of the Valley before you start putting (water) in the ground," AVEK director
"I wouldn't vote for it to be put in the ground when we have a dry year," Lane added. "I think what Rosamond wants to do is admirable. But this is not the year to do it."
"We're going to be returning hundreds of thousands of dollars because we can't meet the needs," Donato said, adding that a letter declining Rosamond's request should have been discussed by the AVEK board before being sent to the district.
"That's one director's opinion," AVEK board President Andy Rutledge said. "It may not be the total board's opinion."
Meanwhile, Weisenberger identified two main concerns with Rosamond's request.
"Right now, we do not have a water service agreement with Western Development and Storage at that site.
That turnout is still under the proprietorship of Van Dam Farms.
"Until they get the service agreement changed to their name, we can't put water out there," Weisenberger said.
He added, "Claud Seal said he didn't want the chloramines. We don't have chloramines this year. We're not planning to put chloramines into service until January or February. If everything goes right, that's the earliest."
A representative from another water agency, who did not want to be named, told a reporter that water for banking typically is put in the ground during the winter months when usage is low and not toward the summer when water usage peaks.
Despite the reasons offered by AVEK administrators for denying Rosamond's request, "this is going to hit the fan on this one," Neufeld said.#
http://www.avpress.com/n/08/0508_s10.hts
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