Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 1, 2009
4. Water Quality –
Charges dismissed against area farmer
Chico Enterprise-Record
Otter population falls as humans pollute ocean
S.F. Chronicle
Up A Creek: Long Beach's Battle To Clean Up The LA River
The Long Beach Post
Venice tree project is an attempt to deal with pollution runoff
L.A. Times
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Charges dismissed against area farmer
Chico Enterprise-Record-7/1/09
By Terry Vau Dell
Misdemeanor charges were dismissed against an area farmer Tuesday as part of a joint settlement in a state environmental regulation case.
Melvin Morris, a Sutter County orchard owner and trucker, was cited last year over a huge pile of ash and fruit waste on leased industrial land south of Oroville, which authorities feared could leach contaminants into the nearby Feather River.
Morris's attorney maintained that at no time did the ash or fruit byproducts, which the rancher had planned to haul to a biomass co-generation plant, ever pose a public threat.
Morris, who had been cited for storing similar fruit bio-mass products on his ranch west of Live Oak in 2005, was scheduled to stand trial next week in Butte County Superior Court on six misdemeanor state fish and game, water violation and public nuisance charges.
Without admitting any liability or wrongdoing, Morris entered into a "civil compromise," resolving the criminal case Tuesday.
In return for all charges being dropped, Morris Farms Inc. has agreed to pay about $33,000 to cover investigative and inspection costs, the bulk of which were incurred by the District Attorney's Office, and will be permanently enjoined from any illegal activity that endangers the state's water system, said Hal Thomas, the deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.
In January 2008, officials for the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in Redding had issued a notice of violation against Morris, after finding "374 tons of fly and bottom ash" along with drying fruit material that was running off a large cement slab in the rain, on a leased section of the former Louisiana Pacific lumber mill at Feather River Boulevard and Ophir Road in south Oroville, said Thomas.
The misdemeanor charges, which could have carried some jail time and fines, were filed in May of that year, after the material had not yet been removed, according to the prosecutor.
Thomas alleged test samples of the mixture were found to contain "low level" contaminants, which state geologists believed could have leeched through cobbles and find their way into the Feather River about 1,000 yards away.
Morris reportedly removed the material shortly after the charges were filed.
His attorney, Therese Y. Cannata of San Francisco, said outside of court Tuesday the rancher had been collecting olive, peach and prune pits from local canneries and was drying them before hauling them to a biomass co-generation plant for the creation of "green energy."
To prevent the liquid byproduct from getting into surrounding dredger ponds, Morris had encircled the dried fruit with large amounts of burned ash, "unaware that you're not supposed to stockpile ash," the defense attorney said.
Had the case gone to trial, her own experts would have disputed claims the material could have polluted the river, she said.
"Our experienced hydrologists looked at all the evidence and we believe that because of the permeable clay layer around the area, that this posed no danger to the waters of the state ..." his attorney said Tuesday, standing next to Morris outside of court.
While the civil compromise reached Tuesday was not a "perfect resolution," it leaves the Sutter County rancher with "no criminal liability," the defense attorney noted.
Morris has decided to abandon further plans to operate at the south Oroville site and is "exploring his options," according to his lawyer.
"This is a new era for many farmers; they're trying to learn to comply with regulations that are relatively new to them," said the rancher's attorney.
She claims that when contacted by the state water board, Morris had "immediately agreed to make improvements with the help of professionals to fix the problem ... and got a clean bill of health when it was all done."
Thomas pointed out, however, that the state water board sent a letter to Morris this week announcing plans to look into "recent information ... regarding the possible improper disposal/transporting of food processing waste by your company."
It has ordered Morris Farms to provide detailed information concerning all operations involving "solid and semi-solid food processing waste."
In 2005, the state water board had ordered Morris to stop storing a large amount of peach and prune pits from area canneries on his Live Oak ranch property, after some neighbors reportedly complained about the odor, flies and potential for water pollution.
Morris told reporters at the time that he was forced to store the fruit waste on his orchard because he didn't have enough trucks to haul it away to the co-generation plant during peak cannery times.
Morris had reportedly refined and moved the operation to the former Oroville lumber mill site, after being denied a use permit by the Sutter County Planning Commission.#
http://www.chicoer.com/advertise/ci_12729440?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
Otter population falls as humans pollute ocean
S.F. Chronicle-7/1/09
By Jane Kay
Sea otters along the California coast are dying off faster than at any time since the late 1990s, a disturbing trend that experts say is partially due to human-caused water pollution, the U.S. Geological Survey reported Tuesday.
A spring census of the threatened otters found only 2,654 otters along 375 miles of coast, a 3.8 percent drop from the year before.
"We know the problem is not one of reduced reproduction. It's one of elevated mortality," said Tim Tinker, a wildlife biologist at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center at the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab.
Lab tests show the otters are primarily dying from disease carried by bacteria, viruses and parasites. Those organisms are found in sewage as well as urban and farm runoff that contaminates creeks and coastal waters, researchers have found.
And although the animals don't seem to be suffering from lack of food due to fluctuating ocean conditions, researchers say their nutrition is limited when they can't get their fill of their preferred prey - crabs, urchins, clams, abalone and mussels.
Pollution and overfishing reduce the food supply, as does heavy feeding in popular spots by the otters themselves. When the otters aren't able to get the proper food, they are less likely to successfully fight disease, scientists say.
The largest density of otters stretches from the Monterey Peninsula to Big Sur south to Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County). The buoyant, whiskered mammals were once found from Baja California to the Oregon coast.
Fur traders, beginning in the mid-1700s, speared and shot them for their pelts. By the 1900s, the otters were thought to be extinct. It wasn't until the 1920s that a remnant colony was discovered along Big Sur when the state was excavating for a road.
The otters' numbers have been slowly rising ever since. But in recent years, the recovery has leveled off.
Researchers pay most attention to the average population numbers over a three-year period. Each season, they average the count with the two preceding years in order to minimize any year-to-year anomalies. For example, windy weather this year could have played a part in the lower count.
Still, the three-year average ending this spring shows the first drop in otter numbers since 1999.
The average ending in 2009 was 2,813 otters, compared with 2,826 the year before, a drop of 0.5 percent.
The decrease may seem small, but scientists are concerned that the population isn't healthy and growing.
Because there is much unoccupied potential habitat in which the otters could expand, scientists are perplexed as to why the otter numbers remain small. In Washington, a population that was reintroduced as recently as the late 1960s and early 1970s has grown by 10 percent to 20 percent a year.
In an odd finding, the big groups of males typically counted at the far ends of the range at the Santa Barbara Channel and near Pigeon Point south of Half Moon Bay in the last five years weren't seen in the survey between May 4 and June 11.
To researchers, it means that the otters aren't expanding along the coast as hoped. Those groups at the range's periphery are the ones that expand into new territory, Tinker said.
But the observation doesn't alarm scientists, he said, because the expansion is dynamic, with the males moving from the periphery to the center and back.
"It's not a smooth continuum. We tend to see expansion in spurts," Tinker said.
This year, scientists who conducted the census with binoculars and spotting scopes were from USGS, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Volunteers also helped with the count.
Allison Ford, director of the nonprofit Otter Project in Marina (Santa Cruz County), issued a statement Tuesday warning that the otters' survival is at risk from biological and chemical pollutants, a shortage of nutritious food, boat strikes, fishing gear entanglement and violence from humans.
"We used to think that a big oil spill was the only problem we had to overcome to save the otters," Ford said.
"That's still important, but in the meantime, we're constricting their range, putting them in contact with deadly chemicals, and booby-trapping the waters. It's obvious that something more needs to be done."
About sea otters
Physical characteristics: Average 4 feet long; males weigh about 65 pounds, females 45 pounds. They have webbed hind feet, strong canine teeth, retractable forepaw claws, closable ears and nostrils for swimming, and dense, waterproof fur.
Habitat: Found near shore in shallow waters, generally 115 feet deep or less. Kelp beds are the ideal environment.
Diet: Carnivorous. They eat 20-25 percent of their body weight each day of invertebrates such as abalone, clams, sea urchins, crabs, barnacles, snails, squid, chitons, worms and sea stars.
Behavior: Use tools for feeding; spend hours grooming to keep fur waterproof by coating it with skin oil. Males and females usually stay in separate groups.
Sources: Friends of the Sea Otter; "Marine Mammals of California" by Robert Orr and Roger Helm; Oregon Coast Aquarium; Enchantedlearning.com#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/01/MNPA18GK8S.DTL&type=printable
Up A Creek: Long Beach's Battle To Clean Up The LA River
The Long Beach Post-6/30/09
by Ryan ZumMallen
A floating plastic bag travels down the Los Angeles River and enters the Long Beach Harbor, where it joins several metric tons of trash, debris, pollutants. You name it. There could be waste from an upstream sewer spill, or chemicals that found their way into the aqueduct system.
All of it combines to fester off the coast of Long Beach, creating what environmental group Heal The Bay recently called a “Beach Bummer” when they ranked Long Beach the 6th worst water quality in California.
So where does this plastic bag come from? How did it get into the river? And how do we prevent it from happening again?
Finding the answers to these questions is the job of the city’s Stormwater Program, and while their recent progress may surprise you, no one will deny that there is still a long way to go if we’re going to rid ourselves of the “Beach Bummer” tag.
“We have challenges that other cities just don’t,” says Tom Leary, Stormwater Program Officer. His team manages more than 180 miles of pipes and drains owned by the city of Long Beach, and was a major part of the work the City has done to keep trash out of the rivers and ocean.
In their report that listed Long Beach as the state’s sixth worst water quality, Heal The Bay also commended the city for investing in their pipes and drains to prevent water quality from worsening. The report read:
Although Long Beach's overall water quality is poor because it sits at the terminus of the L.A. River, this year saw the city's best water quality in three years. The city invested more than $300,000 last year to determine sources of bacterial contamination and fix broken sewage pump lines.
Which is where Leary’s argument comes in. Long Beach will always fight an uphill battle when it comes to water quality not because the city causes so much pollution, but because more than 40 cities pollute the Los Angeles River long before it empties into the Long Beach Harbor.
Leary won’t go so far to say exactly that, but shows me statistics that suggest Long Beach is responsible for 3% of the water that enters the river.
That means 97% of the water – and the muck, the bacteria, the trash – that flows down the river and pollutes the ocean is from upstream cities. The obvious reaction is to take those responsible to court, but the city has tried that route before and found it nearly impossible to prove guilt.
“It’s not feasible to sue, nor could we even prove that it’s due to the other cities,” Leary says. True, it would be difficult to determine whether the aforementioned plastic bag came from Griffith Park or Paramount.
It’s those cities’ responsibility to report the amount of trash they send into the river – a compliance that the state is supposed to enforce, which leaves Long Beach up the river without a paddle. While upstream cities have seem a decrease in water pollution, that’s not the case for Long Beach.
“Seems like more every year,” Leary says.
Indeed, in the 2007-08 year, more than 230 tons of debris were removed from Long Beach-owned drains. And that was a good year. It’s worse during rainy years, and while it’s great to save more than 200 tons of pollutants from the river and ultimately the ocean, there is still a lot that bypasses all the filters and enters open water. Plus, that level of maintenance and manpower can get expensive.
But this is where that $300,000 comes in. Heal The Bay recognized the city for making the commitment last year to fixing old pipes and determining sources of pollution, but Long Beach has also recently received $14 million in maintenance grants and is eyeing about $22 million in stimulus funding for drain treatment. That may seem like a lot, because it is.
But the city wouldn’t be able to keep up without it. The $14 million maintenance grant exists largely because Long Beach can’t afford to maintain the system on its own, and needed help. The $22 million in stimulus funding would enforce 23 separate spots around the city. When you consider that the city normally spends about $500,000 for manpower alone – between $800,000 and $1,000,000 during a rainy year – the numbers add up quickly.
In that scope, it may not seem like $300,000 is a particularly large sum of money. But Leary and his team have stretched it a long way. The investment that has probably made the biggest difference – and received the most attention – is the addition of 1,904 Smart Sponges, made by environmental technology firm AbTech Industries. The Smart Sponge is basically a bucket attached inside storm drains that catches flowing water.
The actual sponges are inside the buckets, and literally filter out chemicals and pollutants before the now-purified water safely enters the drain system. The nearly-2,000 sponge systems are attached to more than 500 drains citywide.
Another capable and noticeable addition are the blue grates attached to the mouth of many stormdrains, preventing larger trash and debris from entering the system. These grates allow water through while keeping things like tree branches and plastic bags out, so crews can come along later and remove them by hand.
It reduces the amount of junk that has to go into the Smart Sponges, and keeps drains clear from clogging. Seems so obvious, right?
“The private sector has learned to make money from this,” Leary says, noting that AbTech has done quite well after creating its Smart Sponge design. Making a profit from environmentally-conscious products is a rather new idea.
“A couple years ago, there was nothing,” he says.
But today, there is a lot. The city has begun to fill the holes in its drain infrastructure and waits on more funding in the future that will allow them to do even more.
It won’t stop the pollution that comes from 40-something cities to our north, but it will send cleaner Long Beach water through our drains and keep the 3% of Los Angeles River water that we contribute from polluting.
And maybe that will make the difference in the long run. Maybe it will inspire other cities to adopt the approach, or – fingers crossed – inspire the state to mandate them to do so.
Until then, Leary and his team just do what they can do, at least giving Long Beach a paddle in the fight upstream.#
http://www.lbpost.com/ryan/5932
Venice tree project is an attempt to deal with pollution runoff
L.A. Times-6/30/09
Cleaning up runoff before it gets to the ocean has long been a goal. Now, according to the Argonaut, the city of Los Angeles is unveiling a so-called "tree well project" on Grand Boulevard in Venice that aimed to do just that:
One of Los Angeles’ first water filtration initiatives that features a tree well design paid for by a citizen-approved clean water bond has been completed.
The Grand Boulevard Tree Wells project in Venice is comprised of seven water filtration systems that will capture stormwater from high density areas and remove water runoff pollutants prior to the toxins entering the local storm drains.
“We are proud of this project as it only improves water quality,” said City Engineer Gary Lee Moore. “It also beautifies the neighborhood of Venice and contributes to the growth of our city’s urban forest.”#
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