Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
July 14, 2009
4. Water Quality –
Car washers seeing more rules on soapy runoff
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
TRPA board member might be willing to reconsider vote on housing project
Tahoe Daily Tribune
County comments on Klamath TMDL analysis/action plan
Siskiyou Daily News
One man, clean water for a million people
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
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Car washers seeing more rules on soapy runoff
Santa Rosa Press Democrat-7/13/09
By Phuong Le
It's one of the great American summer pastimes: Pulling the car onto the driveway on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon, lathering it up with soap, rinsing it off and watching the sudsy water flow toward the storm drain.
Now, officials in Washington and elsewhere are telling residents to either take that old ride to the car wash, or hold the soap and wash the car over gravel or grass to filter the dirty water.
The officials are trying to prevent the runoff, with all of its soap, grim and metals from the car, from reaching rivers and streams and harming the fish and other aquatic life in them.
"The soaps are just as toxic as some of the chemicals we regulate in the industrial (sector). They kill fish," said Sandy Howard, a Washington Department of Ecology spokeswoman.
The state, however, isn't banning car washing. Instead, it is requiring cities to adopt ordinances that prohibit anything other than clean stormwater from entering drains as part of a broader stormwater permit it issues.
There are no federal regulations dealing specifically with residential car washing and stormwater pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency, along with numerous cities and states, are however urging residents to keep soapy wash water out of storm drains and have launched public education campaigns for more fish-friendly car washing.
Some eco-friendly West Coast cities, such as Santa Monica, Calif., have taken it a step further, fining residents $500 if runoff leaves their property. A few fines have been issued.
The town of Fairfax, north of San Francisco, briefly considered banning residential car washing but many residents batted down the idea.
"While we were at it, we decided not to kill Mom and apple pie," said David Weinsoff, Fairfax's mayor. "There are certain things in our community we assume that we can do. People wash their cars. They have hot dogs on July 4th."
The city of Vancouver, north of Portland, Ore., is rewriting its ordinance to omit car wash water as an allowable stormwater discharge to comply with state rules. But the city won't be issuing tickets, public works director Brian Carlson said.
"We've got better things to be doing," he said.
In Washington, state and local officials say they're not going to bust scofflaws either.
"Are we going to have car wash police out there? No," said Doug Navetski, with the water quality division of King County, which includes Seattle. "We'll do public education."
As part of their campaign, officials suggest that residents can wash their cars on gravel or grass to filter the suds, grime and metals. Better yet, they say, take it to a commercial car wash, which treats runoff.
Even washing a car without soap or with biodegradable soap is a no-no if the water runs off into storm drains, because it still picks up oil, grease and metals from the vehicle's brake pads.
Stormwater is the one of the biggest threat to rivers and streams in urban areas, state officials say. When it rains, tiny sources of pollution — drops of oil or antifreeze, copper shavings from car brakes and pet waste — gets swept up and washed into the rivers and streams.
Soaps in particular dissolve the protective mucous layer on fish and natural oils in the gills, making fish more susceptible to diseases.
"Individual actions are not only part of the problem but really the biggest problem," said Chris Wilke, pollution prevention director with Puget Soundkeeper Alliance.
Shane Coakley, who owns a real estate investment firm in Federal Way, washes his truck in his driveway but takes his Bentley convertible to a commercial car wash twice a week. He said he'd reconsider washing both vehicles at a car wash if it means keeping local waters clean.
"If everybody does their little part, it adds up," he said.#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090713/LIFESTYLE05/907139967
TRPA board member might be willing to reconsider vote on housing project
Tahoe Daily Tribune-7/11/09
By Adam Jensen
More than two weeks ago, Lake Tahoe Basin regulators discussed the development of a 50-unit subdivision on the Nevada side of the South Shore for more than eight hours, eventually approving the development after a marathon session.
Still, discussion on the Sierra Colina Village Project continues.
El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago defended her June approval of the subdivision at a Lake Tahoe Democratic Club meeting on Wednesday, and said she would consider making a motion to reconsider last month's decision.
Santiago, who approved the Sierra Colina Village in her role as a Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board member, made the statements following a debate with environmental advocate Laurel Ames on the merits of the project.
Proponents of Sierra Colina — which is near Burke Creek on the Nevada side of the South Shore — contend treatment systems contained in the project go well beyond current water quality requirements in the Lake Tahoe Basin and that the developers should be lauded for including those features in their plans.
But the water quality section of the project's environmental document is “horribly flawed” and a project of this magnitude should not be built on undeveloped land until the TRPA reaches its environmental standards, Ames contended on Wednesday.
An anticipated reduction in fine sediment runoff from the area where Sierra Colina would be built and a 10-acre parcel designated for conservation along Burke Creek that is part of the project were two of the features that Santiago said led her to approve the project.
The likelihood of a large estate being built on the property if the 50-unit option was rejected by the board was also a major consideration for Santiago during her decision-making, the supervisor said.
“I'm looking for environmental benefits on lands people have a right to develop on,” Santiago said.
But a lack of equal time for experts backed by basin environmental groups to present their analysis of the environmental consequences of the project at the June 24 meeting where the project was approved is grounds for the board to reconsider its approval of Sierra Colina, Ames said.
The uneven amounts of time given to conservation group experts and those in favor of the project “sucks,” Santiago said, adding she would consider Ames' call for reconsideration.
But the Sierra Colina project exposed a larger flaw in the TRPA's current operations, Santiago said.
When a much-delayed regional plan update will be complete is unknown and, until that update is approved, the agency will be exposed to legal challenges during any project reviews, Santiago said.
Although she didn't say whether she supported a moratorium on development projects until a regional plan update is complete, Santiago said the board needs to have that discussion.
“We need to update the regional plan and that's where the board needs to focus,” Santiago said Wednesday.#
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20090711/NEWS/907109987/1056
County comments on Klamath TMDL analysis/action plan
Siskiyou Daily News-7/13/09
By Dale Andreasen
Before the Klamath Basin Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) workshop Tuesday evening put on by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and other agencies, two water resource control engineers appeared at the board of supervisors meeting to give an update and to listen to comments from the supervisors and the public.
TMDLs have been set for the Klamath and all tributaries in the Klamath Basin. TMDLs are limits set for sediment, nutrients and other pollution released into the river system.
Supervising engineer David Leland and engineer Matt St. John showed some slides and answered questions and concerns from the board. Leland announced that the comment period has been extended to Aug. 23. Another workshop will be held in September in Grenada and the final adoption hearing will take place Oct. 28-29 in the town of Klamath, near the mouth of the river.
County Counsel Tom Guarino said, “The TMDL action plan is significant because it will be used in the 401 certification for the possible relicensing of PacifiCorp’s hydroelectric dams.”
A 401 certification is done with each license renewal by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to ensure that water quality standards can be met. The more stringent the TMDL action plan, the more difficult it is to achieve an acceptable 401 certification, Guarino said.
“Are we saying there’s a predisposition toward dam removal?” board chair Michael Kobseff asked.
“It has been shown there is predisposition toward dam removal,” answered Guarino. “A lot of this is discussed in meetings that are not open to the public. Are there side deals being cut? I don’t know. But there is a link between the TMDL action plan and the 401 certification.”
“I’ve had some doubts,” said supervisor Jim Cook. “I do not believe that this agency (NCRWQCB), the regional water quality control board, does not have an agenda.”
In reference to Catherine Kuhlman, the board’s executive director, Cook said, “She made a statement years ago that she would be the one to remove the dams.”
“The decision on whether or not to take out the dams is supposed to be based upon if it’s cost-effective or not,” said supervisor Marcia Armstrong. “This is where the distrust comes from.”
“In 1908, the Klamath River raised 80 feet,” said supervisor Grace Bennett. “Historically, it has raised water levels many times by large amounts. To try to eliminate sediment caused by natural causes is crazy.”
“There are ways to minimize human impacts,” replied engineer Leland. “We’re not trying to control nature.”
“There are certain numbers of things that are not fixable,” continued Bennett. “People have to be able to make a living.”
“When we talk about human-related activities, we’re talking about road building, timber harvesting, agricultural irrigation and grazing,” St. John pointed out.
Leland showed a slide that talked about prohibiting discharge of waste in and near known thermal refugia. He said that part of the action plan calls for prohibition of waste discharge within defined in-stream buffer areas in and near known thermal refugia in the Klamath Basin. Singled out for possible prohibition was suction dredge mining and stream bank alteration.
“Are you going to encourage dredging in certain areas that might enhance the refugia?” asked Cook.
“We have realized that in some cases suction dredging may be beneficial or has no impact,” said Leland. “But, generally, an increase in turbidity produces negative impacts on fish using refugia areas.”
“You’ve already made a decision that suction dredging is bad for the river,” asserted supervisor Ed Valenzuela. “Doesn’t the suction dredging put more oxygen in the water?”
A reply to that question was not forthcoming.
“We have a full scale EIR going on in regard to suction dredge mining,” noted supervisor Armstrong. “We have sent you information about the lack of bad effects from dredging. It seems like you’ve already made up your minds about dredging.”
Leland invited the county to raise that question and to comment about the information available.
“I want to hear from the water board,” said supervisor Kobseff. “What is the emphasis you are placing on the 30-some pages of information that supervisor Armstrong has provided?”
Once again, no answer was forthcoming.
“These changes being proposed are one of the biggest things to ever hit this county,” said natural resource policy specialist Ric Costales. “This will put people out of business. The timber industry is one of the most regulated industries in the country.
Now, agriculture will fall into that same category.”
In reference to agriculture, supervisor Kobseff said, “Some of these same people are in danger of losing the Williamson Act [which gives tax breaks to farmers who keep their land in production]. Now, this will kill them. We’re laying off people; the state should be cutting back. How can you afford to do this? What you’re proposing is impossible.”
“I feel like we have not been representing ourselves well,” stated Leland. “I think there is an opportunity for the county to cooperate.”
“We don’t have the money or the time,” replied Kobseff.
During the time allotted for public comment, mining advocate Jim Foley said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published a finding of “no consequence” in regard to suction dredging using a 4-inch dredge or smaller.
“Studies have not shown any long-lasting harm to the environment,” he said. “You cannot regulate against “potential” harm to rivers.”
Truck driver and miner Alan London said he thought that suction dredging was already regulated.
“Just come and take my property,” said Michael Adams. “I don’t have the time or the money to fix that road on my property to the extent that I’m sure you’ll decide has to be done. They don’t want the farmers farming or the miners mining.”
Scott Sumner, director of public works, said he has some doubts about the TMDL action plan.
“I think our road department is doing everything possible with the county roads. We’ve been following the manual for a long time.”
He said he is doing some paperwork for a permit under the plan just for the Scott River area.
“It’s going to cost us $6,000 for a WDR each year,” he said. “That’s 100 tons of asphalt that I won’t have to fill pot-holes.”#
http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/news/x135750648/County-comments-on-Klamath-TMDL-analysis-action-plan
One man, clean water for a million people
Santa Rosa Press Democrat-7/14/09
Nicholas D. Kristof
Opinion
People always ask: What can I do to make a difference? So many people in poor countries desperately need assistance.
So many people in rich countries would like to help but fear their donations would line the pocket of a corrupt official or be lost in an aid bureaucracy. The result is a short circuit, leaving both sides unfulfilled.
Nicholas D. Kristof That’s where Scott Harrison comes in.
Five years ago, Harrison was a nightclub promoter in Manhattan who spent his nights surrounded by friends in a blur of alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. He lived in a luxurious apartment and drove a BMW — but then on a vacation in South America he underwent a spiritual crisis.
“I realized I was the most selfish, sycophantic and miserable human being,” he recalled. “I was the worst person I knew.”
Harrison, now 33, found an aid organization that would accept him as a volunteer photographer — if he paid $500 a month to cover expenses. And so he did. The organization was Mercy Ships, a Christian aid group that performs surgeries in poor countries with volunteer doctors.
“The first person I photographed was a 14-year-old boy named Alfred, choking on a 4-pound benign tumor in his mouth, filling up his whole mouth,” Harrison recalled. “He was suffocating on his own face. I just went into the corner and sobbed.”
A few weeks later, Harrison took Alfred — with the tumor now removed — back to his village in the West African country of Benin.
“I saw everybody celebrating, because a few doctors had given up their vacation time,” he said.
Mercy Ships transformed Harrison as much as it did Alfred.
Harrison returned to New York two years later with a plan: He would form a charity to provide clean water to save lives in poor countries. But by then, he was broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch.
Armed with nothing but a natural gift for promotion, and for wheedling donations from people, Harrison started his group, called charity: water — and it has been stunningly successful. In three years, he says, his group has raised $10 million (most of that last year alone) from 50,000 individual donors, providing clean water to nearly 1 million people in Africa and Asia.
The organization now has 11 full-time employees, almost twice as many unpaid interns, and more than half a million followers on Twitter (the United Nations has 3,000). New York City buses were plastered with free banners promoting his message, and Saks Fifth Avenue gave up its store windows to spread Harrison’s gospel about the need for clean water in Africa. American schools are signing up to raise money to build wells for schools in poor countries.
“Scott is an important marketing machine, lifting one of the most critical issues of our time in a way that is sexy and incredibly compelling — that’s his gift,” said Jacqueline Novogratz, head of the Acumen Fund, which invests in poor countries to overcome poverty.
Harrison doesn’t actually do the tough aid work in the field. He partners with humanitarian organizations and pays them to dig wells. In effect, he’s a fund-raiser and marketer — but that’s often the most difficult piece of the aid puzzle.
So what’s his secret? Harrison’s success seems to depend on three precepts:
First, ensure that every penny from new donors will go to projects in the field. He accomplishes this by cajoling his 500 most committed donors to cover all administrative costs.
Second, show donors the specific impact of their contributions.
Harrison grants naming rights to wells. He posts photos and GPS coordinates so donors can look up their wells on Google Earth. And in September, Harrison is going to roll out a new Web site that will match even the smallest donation to a particular project that can be tracked online.
Third, leap into new media and social networks.
This spring, charity: water raised $250,000 through a “Twestival” — a series of meetings among followers on Twitter. Last year, it raised $965,000 by asking people with September birthdays to forgo presents and instead solicit cash to build wells in Ethiopia.
The campaign went viral on the Web, partly because Harrison invests in clever, often sassy videos.
One popular video shows well-heeled Manhattanites stepping out of their luxury buildings and lining up to fill jerry cans with dirty water from a lake in Central Park. We watch a mother offer the murky water to her small children — and the upbeat message is: You can help ensure that other people don’t have do that, either.
Harrison’s underlying idea is that giving should be joyous, an infectious pleasure at the capacity to bring about change.
“Guilt has never been part of it,” he said. “It’s excitement instead, presenting people with an opportunity — ‘you have an amazing chance to build a well!”#
Nicholas D. Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090714/OPINION/907139950
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