Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 26, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Camp Pendleton
The Voice of
Kundes turn wastewater into profits
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Aerial hunter sniffs out mosquito-ridden pools
The San Francisco Chronicle
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Camp Pendleton
The Voice of San Diego
By Rob Davis
The country's biggest seawater desalination plant has the permits it needs to start construction in
Next in line locally? The San Diego County Water Authority, the regional wholesaler that delivers water to local cities, is moving forward with studies to build a desalination plant at
The authority is in the midst of completing a study of two sites on the base; its board will vote in June whether to approve $5.7 million over two years to fund an in-depth analysis and review of potential environmental impacts.
Step by step, the authority is laying the groundwork to tap the
While the underlying concept is the same, there are key differences between the
Namely cost.
The same company that launched the
Both of those projects' price tags benefit from using existing intake infrastructure for sucking in seawater. In
The water authority's project at
If it came online today, the plant's water would be the most expensive (and most drought-proof) source in the authority's supply portfolio. Bob Yamada, the authority's water resources manager, estimated the plant's cost per acre-foot at $1,700 to $2,100. By comparison, later this year, the authority will be selling water to
Yamada said the costs were on par with standalone desalination plants currently under construction in
Michael Shames, executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a local ratepayer advocate, said there may be compelling arguments to build the facility at
"It's not outrageous in terms of the dollar figures," Shames said. "It's an investment that may make sense. The cost of desalination should be going down."
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And if the price of water continues rising, desalination will look more cost-competitive. The Metropolitan Water District is hiking rates 20 percent this year, an increase that will trickle down to
Yamada said the plant's cost was estimated on the high side, allowing for uncertainties in construction expenses. Construction wouldn't begin before 2015, he said.
Many questions remain unanswered about the
The authority also hasn't decided on the type of intake infrastructure the plant would use. Yamada said that was a high priority for future study.
Environmental groups including San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation have objected to Poseidon's use of the existing intake infrastructure in
Yamada said the authority planned to study the seafloor off
"One of the benefits of building new intake facilities -- you're not limited by the existing infrastructure," Yamada said. "You can design an intake that significantly reduces impacts to marine life."
Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, said he was pleased that the authority was at least willing to evaluate a subsurface intake.
"If the county water authority could figure out a way to do the project and not have the environmental impact -- and really address the concerns we've raised -- we would not oppose it," Reznik said. "But even then, the region should be looking at a more holistic, comprehensive approach to our water supply, which is seriously lacking."
But Reznik said the project isn't an immediate priority. Local environmental groups are likely to turn their attention to Poseidon's proposed desalination plant in
After
The authority is also in the early stages of studying potential desalination sites along the U.S.-Mexico border region and in Rosarito.#
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/05/26/environment/845desal052509.txt
Kundes turn wastewater into profits
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 5/25/09
By Mike McCoy
Saralee and Rich Kunde are doing their parts to keep the
Today, the couple uses 25 million to 35 million gallons of the city’s highly treated wastewater each year to irrigate 260 acres of premium wine grapes, landscaping surrounding their Slusser Road home and a three-acre, park-like setting used to host weddings and high-profile community events.
“We use it on everything. It’s been a priceless commodity for us,” Saralee Kunde said. She and her husband, both with long-standing roots in Sonoma County’s farm community, bought the vineyards and home in the rural foothills a short distance from the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport and turned it into what is know known as Richard’s Grove & Saralee’s Vineyard.
She recalls that they started using the wastewater in 1992 as
At that time the city’s effluent was widely scorned, including by some in agriculture who believed it could harm the reputation of their crops.
Even today, north county farmers and vineyard owners are fighting attempts by the Sonoma County Water Agency to develop a storage and distribution system to irrigate thousands of acres of agricultural lands.
They worry the effluent would pollute the river, nearby streams and their own drinking wells.
Kunde is unconcerned the wastewater they use to irrigate might contaminate their own shallow, 60-foot wells that provide water for drinking, cooking and showers.
“It’s tertiary-treated. I have no concerns at all,” Kunde said. “It’s been a priceless commodity for us. It’s done great things. If we didn’t have it, we wouldn’t have a crop.”
She said their deeper irrigation well, located a short distance from a former dump near the county airport, is tainted with methane gas. The water is costly to pump and treat before it can be used.
The Kundes use the effluent, provided for free by the city, to irrigate more than 20 varietals of premium wine grapes they sell to nearly 60 wineries. Some of those wines have earned accolades in wine-judging competitions throughout the state.
Today every drop of their irrigation water comes from a 15 million-gallon wastewater reservoir, the decorative centerpiece of their irrigation and frost protection system.
It’s fed by a series of distribution pipelines the city installed nearly two decades ago to tie dozens of farms to the
The Kundes weren’t among the pioneers of the wastewater reuse movement but followed in the footsteps of others who turned to wastewater as a cheap and stable source for irrigation, particularly for pastures and fodder crops.
About 50 farmers and grape growers, including Gallo, are now part of the wastewater distribution system.
Combined, they used 1.7 billion gallons of wastewater, about 25 percent of the total generated by
Santa Rosa Utilities Director Miles Ferris called the Kundes “visionaries” for their widespread use of the city-supplied commodity. Their multi-phased, re-use project “is second to none,” he said.
It earned them the “2008 Recycled Water Agricultural Customer of the Year” Award” from the WateReuse Association, a national organization the promotes the reclamation and recycling of wastewater.#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090525/articles/905259959#
Aerial hunter sniffs out mosquito-ridden pools
The San Francisco Chronicle – 5/25/09
By Carolyn Said
They were hunting for mosquitoes - or more specifically, fetid swimming pools that harbor the insects and potentially the
As the foreclosure crisis has escalated, so has the number of abandoned pools. A million mosquitoes can breed in a single stagnant pool. Now finding and fixing them has taken on a new level of urgency.
"We find lots of mosquito sources at foreclosed homes," said John Rusmisel, district manager for
He hired Aerial Surveys to do surveillance over 75 square miles of the Tri-Valley area last week at a cost of $8,000 to $10,000. "Google Earth is great, but if you want to know real-time, an airplane is best," Rusmisel said.
Once problem pools are identified, the mosquito districts can swoop in on the ground, armed with mosquito fish or chemicals to zap the insects. "Obviously, with a foreclosed home, there is no one there," Rusmisel said. "We can go right in; we have authorization from the health and safety code to do an inspection and treatment."
Foreclosures and the economic downturn have ramped up the mosquito districts' work. In
Even occupied properties can have algae-ridden pools, something that's happening more as unemployment rises.
"People who are financially stressed can't pay the pool guy or purchase expensive chemicals,"
An electronic engineer who loves to fly, he bought an aerial advertising company in 2002 as a fun way to indulge his hobby. Around the same time, he had a pesky mosquito problem at home: His next-door neighbor's neglected pool was infested.
One day he was flying low across
"You can just look at them and tell," he said. "They look green, very turbid with lots of algae; sometimes they're brown or brownish green."
That caused a light bulb to go on. He contacted mosquito abatement districts for
That first year, "we were hanging out the window of our banner-towing plane, hand-shooting pictures," he recalled. But the work quickly became much more complex and methodical.
He bought a Cessna plane with a 30-inch-wide hole in the bottom to mount a downward-facing camera. The hole is a $40,000 option, as it requires rerouting wires and making structural changes. He believes the plane was previously used by the CIA for aerial reconnaissance; he speculates that it flew over North Korean demilitarized zones.
He wrote software for flight planning, camera control and specialized image processing.
The software maps out flight plans to fully cover the areas targeted by the mosquito districts. After loading a plan into the on-board computer, it calculates when to photograph images based on the aircraft's height and speed, shooting about every five seconds if there's a tailwind; every 10 seconds if there's not. An integrated GPS system captures location data.
Later this year, he plans to add spectrographic and infrared analysis to determine the temperatures of individual pools, so he can red-flag those that are at the optimum heat level for algae and mosquito larvae to breed.
On the ground,
While not as thrill-inducing as the Blue Angels, the mosquito-hunting flights demand precision.
"Picture an imaginary course in the air,"
Vied, a retired TWA pilot, is one of nine contract pilots working for Aerial Survey.
"It's a challenge," he said. "I'm busy every second, correcting to stay on that track; an autopilot won't do it."
"It incorporates almost everything I love to do," he said. "It involves photography, flight, IT-type engineering, robotics, the entire gamut of aviation management, scheduling and all the minutia of managing a business." #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/24/MN7R17PI0D.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
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