[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS-WATERQUALITY-7/31/09

 

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

July 31, 2009

 

 

4. Water Quality –

 

Joint meeting for water agency plants seeds of cooperation;

Draft team-up will meet again in Sept. to become official

Woodland Daily-Democrat

 

Bay Area beach water pollution study

San Francisco Chronicle

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Joint meeting for water agency plants seeds of cooperation;

Draft team-up will meet again in Sept. to become official

Woodland Daily-Democrat – 7/30/09

By Melody Stone

 

Editor's note: This is one of a continuing series about the Woodland-Davis Surface Water Project and the JPA.

 

A rare joint meeting of the Woodland and Davis City Councils discussed joining forces under a new agency to solve the cities' water problems.

 

Both cities have been looking to diversify water sources for more than a decade now but have only recently began officially working together to create a reliable and quality source drawn from the Sacramento River, instead of their failing well systems in place now.

 

"It's been a long collaboration -- so this meeting is a historic one," said Davis Mayor Ruth Asmundson, at the Tuesday night meeting.

 

The surface water project dates back to 1994 when the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District turned in an application for water rights to the Sacramento river.

 

With water quality and reliability issues now affecting both cities it makes sense for the communities to find a joint solution.

 

One element of the plan involves tearing down an existing water intake structure on the Sacramento river, on the Yolo side near highway I-5. Reclamation District 2035 owns the current pumping station, but has a mandate to remove the 100-year-old structure.

 

Once the old structure is torn down the plan is to build a new state of the art intake valve and a pipe system to transport the water to the two communities.

 

"Where we are right now is a pivotal point for setting up structure for management for this issue," said Davis City Manager Bill Emlen.

 

That structure would be known as a Joint Powers Agency, the membership of which would consist of representatives from Davis and Woodland.

 

This JPA will oversee the demolition of the current pumping station and building of a new structure with state of the art fish screens. Other environmental issues also came up, and were discussed in brief at the meeting. The fish issues are solved for the most part, according to staff with the respective cities, but there an environmental impact on laying miles of wide tubing, and the JPA intends to solve that problem, and others, as they arise.

 

Each member questioned staff regarding the project and potential JPA. The staff presented the pros and cons of the agency, which were reviewed by city officials.

The pros basically came down to the flexibility of the agency, easier funding opportunities, and being generally more efficient. The primary problem seemed to be that the agency would require mutual trust coupled with the voluntary nature of the agreement itself.

 

The JPA would be structured with two members from each city council. The councils discussed if there should be a tie-breaking party or if members of the JPA board would have to reconcile differences to move forward with action.

 

Councilmembers also talked about who should serve as alternate members. Most councilmembers agreed it should be someone held accountable by the public and therefore another council member.

 

Transparency was stressed by both staff and councilmembers.

 

Gregor Meyer, Woodland Public Works director, said "the team realized the magnitude of the project and we want to have complete transparency available to the public."

 

The team is building a web site, www.daviswoodlandwatersupply.org, as an attempt to keep the public informed every step of this huge project.

 

Davis Councilman Lamar Heystek said he hoped the JPA board meeting would be televised for further transparency.

 

The overall feeling for the combined agency, however, was positive. Davis Councilman Stephen Souza said, "I don't want to be part of a city council that misses this opportunity."

 

Most vocal about her concerns was Davis Councilwoman Sue Greenwald, who felt the money needed to fund the project was coming at a hard time for Davis, which is also facing two other costly water-related projects. She spoke about Davis getting its waste water treatment up to regulation standard, and rebuilding the current ground water system.

 

She called the costs "unheard of for a city for out size," and wanted to see more pro-activity on the part of the Davis council and staff to address the problems.

However, the Davis City Council voted to adopt the JPA draft with everyone in favor, except Greenwald, who abstained.

 

The Woodland City Council voted last week to approve the agency.

 

The councils will meet separately in September to vote the JPA into existence and move forward with the surface water project.

 

Woodland City Councilman Jeff Monroe also proposed a toast, " To a day when no one in either of our communities can say, 'It must be the water.'"

 

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_12944468

 

 

Bay Area beach water pollution study

San Francisco Chronicle – 7/30/09

By Kelly Zito

 

Beach closures and advisories tied to water contamination in the Bay Area plunged nearly 25 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to an annual report by a leading environmental group.

 

However, several local counties ranked among the highest for exceeding U.S. health standards for human or animal waste in California.

 

The Natural Resources Defense Council's "Testing the Waters" study called coastal contamination a serious problem in California, in part because the source of a vast majority of the pollution is unknown. Of the known sources, the No. 1 culprit is storm-water runoff, which fills waterways with pesticides, heavy metals and pathogens. Sewage spills are the other primary source.

 

Swimmers and surfers exposed to such toxic materials are at risk for stomach, skin, lung and neurological disorders. The health of marine mammals, fish, mollusks and birds also suffers.

 

On Wednesday, NRDC officials, scientists and lawmakers gathered by San Francisco's Crissy Field beach, where they called for increased pollution monitoring.

The state's 426 beaches "are our gems, our jewels," said Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco. "We need to do whatever we can to maintain the beauty of our beaches."

 

The report studied about 90 beaches along the Bay Area coast, including popular Stinson Beach in Marin County, Ocean Beach in San Francisco and Montara State Beach in San Mateo County.

 

While Stinson Beach showed virtually no pollution, other beaches failed the tests. Forty percent of the water samples taken at Marina Lagoon in San Mateo County, for instance, violated federal health standards. A section of San Francisco's Baker Beach exceeded standards 17 percent of the time it was tested. Los Angeles had the highest countywide rate at 20 percent, followed by 13 percent for San Francisco and 12 percent for Contra Costa County.

 

For the first time, the report also detailed how climate change is likely to exacerbate pollution: More severe storms will increase runoff, warmer ocean temperatures will spur pathogen growth and sea level rise will submerge former wastewater treatment plants.

 

There were, however, some positives.

 

Beaches in six coastal counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Sonoma - had a combined 832 days of closures or pollution advisory days in 2008, compared with 1,106 days in 2007.

 

Statewide, there were more than 4,100 such days, down 13 percent from 2007.

 

Still, the study's backers warned against too much optimism.

 

Budget cutbacks have reduced beach water monitoring, and California's drought may be masking a worsening water quality problem, they said. What's more, testing is very limited, said Dr. Mark Renneker, clinical professor at the UCSF. Renneker started an advocacy group for surfers' health 25 years ago after falling sick from surfing at Ocean Beach.

 

For instance, the study's tests would not detect the chemical fallout from the November 2007 Cosco Busan spill, which dumped 53,000 gallons of fuel oil into San Francisco Bay.

 

"We really don't know what's going on in this environment because we're only testing certain things," Renneker said. "We're really just at the tip of the iceberg."

To read the report

Online: The report can be found at links.sfgate.com/ZBAO  #

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/29/MNMV1912KQ.DTL

 

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DWR’s California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff,  for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader’s services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news . DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.