[Water_news] FW: 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS-WATERQUALITY-6/10/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 10, 2009

 

 

4. Water Quality –

 

 

Karuk Tribe files lawsuit against California

Indian Country Today

 

Pollution experts: Save fish from drugs in water

San Francisco Chronicle

 

High mercury levels in Elkhorn Slough groundwater

San Francisco Chronicle

 

Warnings posted for Pismo Beach Pier waters

Oakland Tribune

 

Supervisors OK Compton Creek plan

Long Beach Press Telegram

 

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. Gold on the river Bottom Karuk Tribe files lawsuit against California Indian Country Today-6/10/09 By Don Baumgart     The Karuk Tribe has joined fishermen and conservationists in a taxpayer lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Game claiming tax money is being used illegally to fund suction dredge gold mining in California rivers. It’s about fish and mercury. The mercury is leftover from Gold Rush days when it was used to collect gold from sluice boxes lining northern California’s rivers.   An estimated 26 million pounds of mercury were used, 13 million pounds of which were lost to the waters and soil of the Sierra Nevada and Trinity mountains. Suction dredges powered by gasoline or diesel engines are mounted on floating platforms. Gravel and sand are sucked up from the river bottom and sifted for gold.   A Karuk tribal member says dredging, a virtual vacuuming of river bottoms, disturbs the deposited mercury and re-introduces it into the food chain. “They call it ‘flowering’,” Karuk spokesman Craig Tucker said. “Mercury likes to coagulate in clumps. Run it through a dredge and it sprays the mercury in a fine mist back into the water. It’s picked up by fish that people might catch and eat. Swimmers, kayakers and rafters downstream from dredging could come in contact with it. Not only is dredging creating problems for fish, it’s creating problems for people.” In the late 1990s mining clubs were formed made up of a group of mining claims. Membership gave miners access to a number of claims. “What we saw was a big proliferation in the amount of dredging going on,” Tucker said. “What had been something with a nominal impact became significant just through the volume of gold miners in the area.” In 1997, coho salmon were listed as threatened on the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangered species list, and lamprey were listed as a species of special concern.   “That should have triggered a rewrite of California Department of Fish and Game mining rules and regulations – but it didn’t,” Tucker adds. “We ended up suing Fish and Game in 2005 for failure to update their rules and regulations. We won and the court directed them to rewrite the rules by June of 2008. They didn’t. So we won, but we didn’t win, so what should we do now?” At the beginning of the year, the Karuk Tribe filed a petition with the director of Fish and Game saying, in effect, “You have emergency powers to shut down fishing when fish populations are in an emergency state; you should also shut down dredge mining.   When fishermen can’t fish, other users who have a negative impact on fish populations should also have to restrict their activities,” Tucker said. “They refused to entertain our petition.” Now the tribe has brought a taxpayer lawsuit. Joining them in the action are Friends of the North Fork, a conservation group, and California Trout, an organization representing fishermen. “In California it is illegal to use taxpayer money for illegal things, and what we are alleging is that according to their own rules and regulations Fish and Game can’t give out dredging permits unless they have proven that the activity does not create harm for fish,” Tucker said.   “In our original lawsuit, Fish and Game’s own biologist testified that dredging has harmful effects on fish. We think there should be a moratorium on all dredging permits until they’ve done the science.” In a collateral move, Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Calif., has introduced SB 670, a bill that would impose a dredging moratorium. “It picked up Republican votes getting out of the first committee, the Senate’s Natural Resources Committee,” Tucker said. “I think we have a good opportunity with the legislature and a good opportunity with the court system. It’s a problem we’re intent on solving and we’re going to use every strategy at our disposal to solve it.” SB 670 recently passed the California Senate by a 31-8 vote. “Changes mandated by the Karuk Tribe’s successful 2005 lawsuit are just now getting started,” Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin, CEO of the Sierra Fund, said. “They expect to be done in January of 2011.”   A proposed state Senate bill calls for a moratorium until those new regulations are in effect. Martin hopes the moratorium will be in place before the summertime suction dredging season begins. “We are concerned that the well-documented impacts of suction dredging on water quality and endangered species will continue. ... despite evidence of the harm.” Last year the Sierra Fund published a ground-breaking report, “Mining’s Toxic Legacy,” on the effects of toxins, especially mercury, left behind in the rush for gold. In April 2008, state and federal agencies closed California waters to recreational and commercial salmon fishing due to declining fish populations. “Until major river restoration projects are done we’ll have a salmon population crisis in California,” Tucker concludes. “The suction dredgers are one of many factors contributing to the decline of salmon.   If we end suction dredge mining, it’s not going to be any kind of a silver bullet solution. But, it’s something we can do today to start putting our rivers back together.”#   http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/47046972.html

 

 

Pollution experts: Save fish from drugs in water

San Francisco Chronicle-6/-09/09

By Jeff Donn

Pollution experts on Tuesday pressed a congressional panel for stronger action to keep pharmaceuticals and other contaminants out of the water, saying they are hurting fish and may threaten human health.

 

TTThomas P. Fote, a New Jersey conservationist who sits on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said the pollutants are damaging commercial fisheries. He told congressmen not to "study a problem to death and never do anything."

 

Fote appeared in a lineup of witnesses Tuesday before the subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife of the House Natural Resources Committee.

 

The witnesses pointed to research showing damage to fish and other aquatic species from pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other industrial chemicals, especially those that alter growth-regulating endocrine systems. Some scientists worry about the potential of similar harm to humans.

 

"Hundreds of peer-reviewed publications ... demonstrate that numerous ubiquitous chemicals in the environment can interfere with development via the endocrine system, but there appears to be no will or authority to remove those chemicals from the supply chain," said zoologist Theo Colborn, a professor emeritus at the University of Florida, who founded the nonprofit Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

 

The witnesses appealed for Congress to promote consumer take-back programs for unused drugs, to encourage industry financing of disposal, and to do more to keep discards from waterways and landfills.

 

The hearing comes on the heels of an Associated Press investigation that reported pharmaceutical traces in drinking water supplies of at least 51 million Americans and in many waterways. The drugs range from antibiotics to psychiatric drugs to endocrine-disrupting sex hormones.

 

One witness, pharmacist Fred Massoomi from Nebraska Methodist Hospital in Omaha, broke his collarbone in a recent fall and sat stiffly during his testimony. Asked by a panel member if he was in pain, he said, "Not right now." Then he lifted a plastic bottle and smiled. "If I need any pain medication, I'll just drink some water," he said.

 

Most cities and water providers don't test for pharmaceutical contaminants. The biggest source is considered to be human excretion, but manufacturers and health care facilities also send millions of tons of unused drugs into rivers and streams every year.

 

Utilities say their drinking water is safe, and no human risks are confirmed from pharmaceutical pollution. However, research shows that the pharmaceuticals sometimes harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs.

 

The House has already passed legislation to study the problem and find solutions, and the Senate is considering such a bill. Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, who chaired the hearing, said she has talked to colleagues about the need for more legislation.#

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/09/national/a103939D40.DTL

 

 

High mercury levels in Elkhorn Slough groundwater

San Francisco Chronicle-6/10/09

 

Researchers say surprisingly high levels of mercury have been detected in the coastal groundwater at Elkhorn Slough.

 

TThe University of California, Santa Cruz, study shows the groundwater methylmercury is coming out of the slough near Moss Landing. It shows coastal groundwater is a previously overlooked source of the toxin.

 

University professor Russell Flegal says the source of the mercury hasn't been determined. Previously, the primary sources of methylmercury has come from the air, the ocean bottom and surface waters flowing to the coast.

 

Frank Black, a post doctoral biochemist at Princeton University and the study's lead author, says some of the inorganic mercury is likely coming from natural processes such as weathering of local mercury-containing rocks.#

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/10/state/n061724D08.DTL

 

 

Warnings posted for Pismo Beach Pier waters

Oakland Tribune-6/10/09

Surfers and swimmers are being warned to stay out of the ocean south of Pismo Beach Pier because of high bacteria levels.

Droppings from birds roosting on the pier are suspected.

 

Advisories were posted Tuesday by San Luis Obispo County environmental health officials after sampling the waters. The beach waters will reopen when bacteria levels come up to safe levels.

 

The Pismo Beach waters have tested for excessive bacteria levels more than 20 times a year in recent years.

 

The stretch of beach south of the pier has the foulest waters of any beach in the county.#

http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12559849?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

 

Supervisors OK Compton Creek plan

Long Beach Press Telegram-6/09/09

 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to support the development of a master plan for revitalizing Compton Creek.

The plan, to be designed with the coordination of a number of agencies, potentially including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is intended to incorporate flood protection, water quality and conservation improvements and recreational opportunities.

 

Compton Creek, which is about 8.5 miles long and drains a 42-square-mile area, is a significant watershed in Los Angeles County, but it has been degraded by polluted runoff and dumping. Like the Los Angeles River, parts of it have been lined with concrete

 

The creek forms around 108th and Main streets in Watts and drains into the Los Angeles River just south of Del Amo Boulevard in Long Beach.

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the county's flood control district have said that the creek's levy needs to work to guard against flooding, according to a letter to the board from Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

 

But Ridley-Thomas and other advocates also see the initiative as a chance to provide more than green space in what he called a "park poor" part of the county.

 

Ridley-Thomas said he hoped the master plan would "position the Compton Creek in a catalytic way that deals with the question of community building" and could offer "very promising outcomes" in terms of economic development.

 

The Department of  Public Works will work with other agencies, including the departments of parks and recreation, public health and regional planning, to create a committee which will report back to the board in 60 days.

 

The committee is expected to provide a budget and timeline for the work, as well as a plan for project management.

 

The board plans to solicit federal, state and grant funding for the project. The Annenberg Foundation provided a grant in 2007 to do some preliminary planning for the watershed.#

http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_12556135?IADID=Search-www.presstelegram.com-www.presstelegram.com

 

 

 

 

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