Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 26, 2008
4. Water Quality –
Scientists' study clears air in water dilemma: State may create new rules on river pollution levels
The
New mining claims banned in region around Grand Canyon National Park
The Las Vegas
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Scientists' study clears air in water dilemma: State may create new rules on river pollution levels
The
By , Record Staff Writer
A four-year, $6.8 million study ending next week should help state officials improve water quality in the San Joaquin River and guide fish through the oxygen-starved Stockton Deep Water Channel, experts said Wednesday.
Scientists said they now have a better understanding of the many factors that cause dissolved oxygen levels in the channel to plummet, suffocating fish.
But much work remains. State officials may use the millions of pieces of data accumulated by scientists to form new rules on how much pollution can be released into the river.
Those rules will be key for farmers who use fertilizers and chemicals, as well as cities - including
"I think we did learn some interesting things, and we have new, useful information," said Joseph McGahan, a contractor heading the project for the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Authority, which includes irrigation, water and drainage districts.
The water users were not the only ones involved in the work, however. The state and federal governments, the University of the Pacific and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also were partners in the state-funded study.
The ship channel, a deepened portion of the
The recent study focuses on upstream stretches of the river, where fertilizer and chemicals are washed from farms into the
Using complex models, scientists tried to determine what would happen in the ship channel if pollutants upstream were cut. They installed 20 flow stations and collected data at nearly 200 locations.
They found that most of the algae comes from the southern stretches of the river, William Stringfellow of the University of the Pacific said while describing his findings during a highly-technical public meeting Wednesday.
The algae "grows like gangbusters" down the middle stretches of the San Joaquin but actually decreases as it reaches the Mossdale area, where the river comes under the influence of the Delta tides, Stringfellow said.
The question is why. The artificially deep ship channel may allow less light for algae to grow, he said. It also may be that more critters are eating the algae.
"There's a lot of things yet to be understood," Stringfellow said.
McGahan said the findings suggest that even if all the algae produced by upstream pollution was removed, that may not solve the dissolved oxygen problem. The amount of water flowing into the channel, as well as its depth, also are factors, he said.
Other efforts are under way to help fish, including the use of bubbling aerators in the channel to improve oxygen levels.#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080626/A_NEWS/806260326/-1/rss14
New mining claims banned in region around Grand Canyon National Park
The Las Vegas
A House committee today invoked rarely-used powers to ban new mining claims on about a million acres adjacent to
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental group that has been tracking a surge in uranium mining claims near the rim of the canyon spurred by high prices of the element, applauded the 20 to 2 vote, which prompted the minority to walk out in protest.
The resolution by the House Natural Resources Committee, which forces Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to enforce the ban, is binding, according to the group.
But the Grand Canyon Trust said in a statement Wednesday that Kempthorne and the Bush administration may choose to ignore it. When Secretary James Watt made a similar refusal in 1983, Arizona Congressman Mo Udall and the National Wildlife Federation successfully sued the Secretary and compelled him to comply, the statement said.
Between January 2003 and January 2008, the number of claims within 5 miles of
Southern Nevada Water Authority had written to Kempthorne expressing concerns about the effect uranium mining might have on the
“This emergency action will help prevent uranium mining from harming the
The House resolution will not impact valid claims already staked; companies could still mine these claims even if their activities might threaten the Canyon or the
“The resolution is a critically important stopgap measure to temporarily halt a new wave of uranium mining near the
A mining reform bill passed the House in late 2007, but has been stalled in the Senate, partially because of opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.#
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