[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS -WATER QUALITY-6/01/09

 

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 1, 2009

 

4. Water Quality –

 

Scientists set 2020 goal for reversing Pacific Ocean degradation
Contra Costa Times

 

Utility fined for spilling chemicals into Polhemus Creek, killing steelhead trout
San Mateo County Times

 

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Scientists set 2020 goal for reversing Pacific Ocean degradation
Contra Costa Times-05/27/2009 05:55:41 PM

By Suzanne Bohan

 

The world faces well-known milestones for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades to reduce the dangers of climate change. Now an international consortium is doing the same to demand action against threats to the Pacific Ocean that they say endangers environmental and human well-being in countries rich and poor.

 

This month, the Center for Ocean Solutions and Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station released the a scientific consensus that spells out the grim consequences of inaction in reversing the threats of overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction, while providing a road map to recovery.

 

The report calls for measurable improvements to the Pacific Ocean's health by 2020, and it fulfills a key objective set by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Pacific Ocean 2020 Challenge." The United Nation's-affiliated group, founded in 1948 and representing 1,000 organizations worldwide, set as its first priority the release of a scientific consensus on threats to the ocean, which covers one-third of the Earth's surface.

 

"This is the first time where there have been scientists and experts around the world saying, 'These are threats, these are the solutions. Let's take some action,'" said Tegan Hoffmann, an Oakland-based consultant. She worked with Center for Ocean Solutions in corralling the 400 signatures from scientists and experts on the consensus, called the "Pacific Ocean Synthesis."

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Davies, director of UC Berkeley's South Pacific Research Station in French Polynesia, was one of the signers of the report. In an e-mail from the university's distant outpost, he described the approach of the synthesis.  "It took a holistic approach to understanding the ecological health of the Pacific, with the promotion of human well-being at its heart," Davies said.  "A nonobvious finding was that many of the same challenges are felt across this vast and diverse region," he added. "The recommendations in the synthesis recognize that societies across the Pacific can learn from one another's successes, and failures."

 

Throughout the Pacific, from the South East Pacific to the Pacific North West, pollution from sewage, plastic marine debris, toxic waste, oil spills and agricultural and urban runoff top the list of threats. Destroying productive marine and coastal habitats for development or through poor agricultural practices was next on the list, followed by commercial and recreational overfishing.

 

If left unchecked, this human-caused damage is sure to weaken coastal economies, reduce food supplies while populations expand, compromise public health and increase political instability, the report noted. It would also reduce marine biodiversity and damage natural ecosystems.

But the report paired details on what ails the Pacific with easily-adopted remedies governments across the ocean region can adopt. That's the chief goal of the synthesis: to provide a scientifically-grounded analysis — which experts worldwide support — for developing constructive policies for protecting the ocean's health.

 

"The consensus statement is really giving voice to the scientific community," said Meg Caldwell, interim director of the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey. "That there are scientific underpinnings to support strong policies."

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to address those threats," she added.

 

A straightforward solution for protecting the size of fish populations while also supporting commercial and recreational fishing, for example, is the creation of what are called marine protected areas.

 

California pioneered the concept with the 1999 passage of the Marine Life Protection Act. It permits a temporary or permanent ban on harvesting in designated areas, creating small nurseries where marine species can reproduce and raise their young without human predation. The state law followed a successful program years earlier in the Monterey Bay that set aside small "no-take" zones. Researchers noticed a growth in marine life throughout the bay afterward, as juvenile marine life had a healthier start, and more survived.

 

The 1999 law took a new approach to managing marine resources, Caldwell said. It moved agencies away from "a 150-year-old tradition of single-species management to an ecosystem conservation approach," she said.

Caldwell and Davies also struck an optimistic note.

 

"While the problems are serious, there are signs of hope," Caldwell said, pointing to the establishment of 29 marine protected areas along the Central Coast of California, covering 18 percent of the region's coastal waters between Pigeon Point in San Mateo County to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County. By 2011, these marine protected areas are expected to dot the entire California coastline.

 

"The threats are enormous and often accelerating," wrote Davies from UC Berkeley's oceanfront research complex in French Polynesia. "But there is hope because our ability to learn is also accelerating at an unprecedented rate."#

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_12462210?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

 

 

Utility fined for spilling chemicals into Polhemus Creek, killing steelhead trout
San Mateo County Times-6/01/09

By Julia Scott

 

 

 

SAN MATEO — A private utility that provides drinking water to the city of San Mateo has been fined for spilling chemicals into Polhemus Creek, killing more than 30 protected steelhead trout.

 

Although the incident occurred nearly two years ago, the California Water Service Co. was slapped with a $199,350 fine last week from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board for the fish kill and for failing to report the problem until local biologists noticed dead fish in the creek, according to the complaint.

 

The water board said at least 32 steelhead trout, a federally threatened species, died in September 2007 after two incidents in which the water purveyor accidentally spilled about 93,000 gallons of chloraminated drinking water into Polhemus Creek after a machine malfunctioned. Polhemus Creek flows through a watershed east of Crystal Springs Reservoir and is a main tributary of San Mateo Creek.

 

Chloramines have come to replace chlorine as the principal disinfectant in drinking water. It is harmless to humans but not to aquatic life, and it was discharged into the creek at concentrations well above the amount known to be lethal to fish in a scientific study, according to the water board.

 

"That's the funny thing: People think of drinking water as not being a problem, but when you see the reaction with the species in the creek you realize it can be toxic," said Dyan Whtye, assistant executive officer at the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Whyte said such spills can be fairly common where water pipes leak or systems break down, as was the case with Cal Water.

 

The spills occurred Sept. 25 and Sept. 27, 2007. The first lasted 45 minutes, but the second spill was undetected for seven hours.

To add insult to injury, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, or SFPUC, was in the midst of a major creek restoration project to improve habitat for steelhead and other species when the spills occurred, overwhelming the creek bypass they had created and eroding the riverbank they had been working to restore, according to Whyte.

 

It was only after SFPUC biologists began noticing the dead fish and alerted Cal Water about the magnitude of the chemical spill that the water company took action, according to the complaint. The creek restoration project was not irreversibly damaged.

Cal Water spokeswoman Shannon Dean said the computer problem that triggered the chemical spill has long since been resolved as part of a $500,000 upgrade to the water tank in question, near Polhemus Creek.

 

Dean predicted that the water board would likely reduce the penalty because of the money the company had spent on the upgrades. If it does not, the company plans to appeal the fine.

 

"We do understand the impact that treated water can have on aquatic life, which is why we made this rather large investment. We responded proactively and took it very seriously," she said.

 

Dean also cast doubt on the chloramines as the cause of the fish kill, despite the complaint's allegations.

"It's really unclear whether the fish were killed by the tank overflows or the high turbidity (cloudy water) in the creek," she said. "By all indications there was a rainstorm at the time, and the SFPUC creek restoration project was going on."

 

Less than a half an inch of rain fell Sept. 22, five days before biologists noticed the dead fish. Both the water board and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have ruled out the rainstorm as a likely cause of the fish kill, according to the complaint.#

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12491133?nclick_check=1

 

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