Department of Water Resources
California Water News
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
August 19, 2009
4. Water Quality –
Central Valley continues marathon fight for clean drinking water
Sacramento Bee
Cleanup continues on Bay oil spill from old Navy tug
The Oakland Tribune
Filner takes on coastal panel;
Congressman vows to get new waiver for sewage plant
San Diego Union-Tribune
Imperial County supervisors back resolution urging passage of New River cleanup bill
Imperial Valley Press
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Central Valley continues marathon fight for clean drinking water
Sacramento Bee – 8/19/09
By Susan Ferriss
David McNeir is a bishop of his church and a man of faith. But he has found himself banging his hand on a table more than once when negotiating with public health authorities for clean drinking water.
"We've always had bad water," said McNeir, a cannery employee who lives in Monterey Park Tract, an area southwest of Modesto flanked by dairies and farms. "We've been on a list for a project now for four or five years. We've applied for every kind of grant there is."
Up and down the Central Valley, the frustration is palpable.
After years of effort by community activists, politicians and even young teens, the state's progress toward clean water for all is dwarfed by discoveries of more problems. Residents continue to rely on groundwater tainted by pesticides, nitrates, industrial chemicals and arsenic.
Californians have voted twice for bond money to ensure clean water, with $230 million in grants and loans aimed at mostly small and disadvantaged communities.
The state also receives annual federal money for clean-water projects, this year totaling $67 million. And, thanks to the federal stimulus plan, the state's getting another $160 million bump.
But a 2007 federal study estimated it will take $39 billion over 20 years to improve California's drinking water quality.
Adding to delays is the fact that budget problems forced the state to stop taking applications for bond money in December.
"Having money frozen is 10 steps back," said Susana De Anda of the Community Water Organization in Visalia.
De Anda's group has decided it's time to try a new tack: Pass a state law declaring clean water a human right.
A grass-roots movement
Joanna Mendoza, a 13-year-old in the Tulare County town of Cutler, said families are tired of receiving official warnings that their water contains a pesticide linked to cancer.
Residents spend money every month to buy bottled water, on top of paying for what comes out of the tap.
"The only thing that ever changes on those notices is the date," said Mendoza, who belongs to Youths for Water, a group of Central Valley teenagers who are urging their water districts to find ways to improve water quality.
Two decades ago, Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union rallied farmworkers in the Central Valley to demand better drinking water. As awareness and testing for contaminants grew, water districts and even entire communities have joined the call for action.
That's happening in Monterey Park Tract, where McNeir is chairman of a small utility district that provides water to 48 homes.
In November the state dropped the maximum allowable level of arsenic from 50 to 10 micrograms per liter of water. One well in Monterey Park Tract has three times that standard.
For two decades, McNeir said, local wells also have violated the standard for nitrates, which seep into groundwater from leaking septic tanks, farm fertilizers and – as the state's dairy industry has grown – cow manure.
Attempts to dig new wells have run into more pollution, and efforts to find funding sources have failed.
Now, McNeir's district is looking for money to drill a cleaner well farther away or to tap into a neighboring city's water system.
A growing problem
Officials at California's Public Health Department acknowledge it's difficult to monitor 8,000 public water systems and enforce more than 100 drinking water standards and regulations.
With limited funding, money goes first to water systems contaminated by an acute bacteriological threat, such as fecal matter that can sicken someone instantly. In those cases, the law requires public health authorities to act swiftly, ordering districts to close wells or provide bottled water.
It's much harder to get prompt action when contaminants pose long-term health threats, such as cancer risks.
Yet that may be the biggest challenge.
In November, California followed the federal government in setting a lower safety standard for arsenic in drinking water. That decision meant scores of water systems suddenly were serving up too much arsenic with their drinking water.
Arsenic is common in the West, seeping into water from rock or through runoff from mining or orchards. Even if concentrations do not trigger an immediate water system closure, they can pose cancer risks and vascular and skin problems.
South Lake Tahoe and Galt have water systems that violate the new arsenic standard. Both are developing treatment plants.
Though those two cities can handle the cost, that's not true of all.
"Small systems just don't have that ratepayer base," said Dennis Cocking, spokesman for the South Lake Tahoe utility district. After construction, he warns, districts must shoulder ongoing costs for maintenance and disposal of the concentrated arsenic waste.
In the Fresno County town of Lanare, population 640, a $210,000 arsenic treatment plant went on line in October 2006 and was shut down the following spring. Lanare couldn't afford the treatment chemicals or the electricity.
To the southwest, in Tulare County, Alpaugh – population 840 – received a notice from state health officials on Dec. 18 warning that its drinking water had violated arsenic standards for several years and should be cleaned up.
On Dec. 23, Alpaugh received another letter advising that its state grant had been frozen, and that it should not sign a contract yet to build an arsenic treatment system.
For months, the district waited. In April, the state Department of Finance lifted the stay on some grants awarded before the freeze, including Alpaugh's. But no one on Alpaugh's water board knew that until The Bee told them.
"Well, it's something I would have liked to have known," said Josephine Jennings, the board's executive director.
Contaminants spur warnings
Before arsenic became an issue, the Central Valley's major water-related concerns focused on other chemicals, including perchlorate, the pesticide DBCP and nitrates.
Public health officials consider nitrates an "acute" health risk, but the state policy in most cases is simply to issue a warning that water should not be boiled – which concentrates the nitrates – and that pregnant women and infants should not drink it.
Tulare County is the largest dairy county in the world, and nitrates are pervasive. In groundwater tests of small water systems with more than 200 customers, about 20 percent exceeded state limits.
The Tulare County town of Cutler has lost some of its wells to nitrates. Residents have been warned their water has too much of another contaminant, the pesticide DBCP, which was banned in 1977 for causing cancer and sterility.
Cutler was not listed as violating DBCP standards in a 2007 report. But a new state Water Resources Control Board database shows its wells have violated those standards since 1988.
On June 18, residents received notice once again that their water contains DBCP but that there is no immediate threat requiring them to stop drinking it.
The resulting confusion breeds suspicion, not just of the water, but of the surrounding farms.
Cutler resident Jesus Quevedo, 75, blames his son's death last year from leukemia on the water and on exposure to farm chemicals in the air.
"The farmers are fighting for water to grow crops," he said. "We agree with them. But we are also fighting for water to drink that is pure."
Dionicio Rodriguez, supervisor of the Cutler Public Utility District, said the district was approved for $2.2 million in state grant money this year to dig a new well and install a tank to blend water. That money was frozen.
Looming on the horizon is another potential monster cleanup problem.
More than five years past a January 2004 deadline set by the Legislature, California still has not set a drinking water standard for the carcinogenic industrial toxic substance hexavalent chromium, the subject of the movie "Erin Brockovich," set in the town of Hinkley. State researchers must adopt a public health goal before they can set a maximum contaminant level for the chemical in drinking water.
David Spath, former director of the drinking water and environmental management division of the state Department of Public Health, said hundreds of sources could be in violation once the standard is set. "That's the next train wreck, so to speak," he said.
Policy statement sought
Susana De Anda of the Community Water Organization in Visalia said watching communities struggle for so long without clean drinking water led her to believe a simple, strong statement was in order.
She's hoping AB 1242, a bill known as the Human Right to Water, will require that state agencies act more quickly to assist communities that keep getting overlooked because contamination is not considered an acute threat.
The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Los Altos. The Assembly passed it in May, and it is now in the state Senate.
"We're mindful of the budget problems, so it doesn't ask for money," De Anda said. "But this bill is one step forward because it sets a policy. Once you have a policy, then you have to act. It should not be taking years and years to get clean drinking water." #
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2120939.html?mi_rss=Top%20Stories
Cleanup continues on Bay oil spill from old Navy tug
The Oakland Tribune – 8/19/09
By Sean Maher
THE BAY — As much as 700 gallons of oil could be spilled into the Bay from a nearly 70-year-old tugboat that sank Monday near Treasure Island, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Tuesday.
By 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, crews resumed cleaning up oil spotted Monday morning near the decommissioned naval tug the USS Wenonah, a 100-foot vessel that had been moored to the eastern side of Treasure Island.
The Cosco Busan spill of 2007, by comparison, dumped about 58,000 gallons of oil into the Bay, according to the California Department of Fish and Game.
The Historic Tugboat Education and Restoration Society is listed as the owner of the vessel. The nonprofit group formed in 2002 to educate people about the restoration and preservation of vintage tugboats, according to the organization's Web site. The Wenonah is one of just two ships in the organization's fleet.
The Coast Guard is working to contact officials at the society and is cooperating with the state Department of Fish and Game, the San Francisco Fire Department and the Treasure Island Development Authority to assess the situation and clean up the spill, Lt. Junior Grade Jeremy Pichette said.
"Our No. 1 priority right now is the safety of the environment and the public," Pichette said. "So far we have no reports of injured or harmed wildlife. We're working to secure the pollution threat and have brought two contractors in to help contain it."
A pedestrian noticed the tug was sitting low in the water and reported it to the Coast Guard shortly before noon Monday, and crews worked into the evening on the cleanup, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The tug completely sank several hours later. The Coast Guard has earmarked a 200-yard safety zone around the site of the sinking.
"We got reports from some people in Berkeley who said they could see the sheen, but no boats in the marina were reported affected at this point," Petty Officer Danielle Couture said.
A 400-yard debris field, along with a sheen of oil spreading several hundred feet, was found in the vicinity. After assessing the situation from the air, officials realized that the sheen had spread to the Berkeley Marina.
The oil was extremely light in that area and cleanup will not be done there, officials said.
Pollution investigators used an absorbent boom and other cleaning materials to clean up Tuesday.
The boom is completely encapsulated around the eastern tip of the pier, officials said.
The Wenonah was decommissioned in April 1974 after serving 33 years with the U.S. Navy as a harbor tug. #
Filner takes on coastal panel;
Congressman vows to get new waiver for sewage plant
San Diego Union-Tribune – 8/19/09
By Mike Lee
SAN DIEGO — Rep. Bob Filner yesterday asked the governor to overturn last week's decision by the California Coastal Commission that could force San Diego to spend as much as $1.5 billion to retrofit its main sewage treatment facility.
But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lacks such authority in what is now a federal matter. In that case, Filner said, he will push President Barack Obama's administration to grant the third Clean Water Act exemption for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. As an additional measure, Filner vowed to introduce legislation in Congress to give the city that waiver.
"It's a full-court press on all tracks. Whatever works," said Filner, D-San Diego, a former San Diego councilman.
After being elected to Congress in 1992, Filner wrote legislation that resulted in San Diego receiving its first waiver for the Point Loma plant. He has long believed the exemptions are warranted because studies show discharges from the facility don't significantly harm the marine environment.
Filner said giving the city another five-year waiver may allow it to figure out a plan to recycle more wastewater. Such recycling could make it cheaper to upgrade the Point Loma facility so it meets the federal "secondary" treatment standard.
On Thursday, the Coastal Commission voted 8-1 to deny San Diego's request for the third exemption, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was prepared to grant. San Diego is the only city in California that hasn't committed to meet the secondary treatment level for discharges to the Pacific Ocean.
The Point Loma plant treats sewage from 2.2 million people inside and outside city limits to the advanced primary level. It discharges about 170 million gallons a day about 4.5 miles offshore.
Upgrades have been pegged at up to $1.5 billion, partly because the facility has very little room to expand. Agencies that use the plant almost certainly would have to raise sewage rates to pay for an overhaul.
Yesterday, Filner asked Schwarzenegger to override the Coastal Commission, which the congressman said "has again overstepped its authority in a blatant attempt to make a political statement."
Peter Douglas, executive director of the commission, said "there is no legal basis" for that type of veto. A spokeswoman for the governor said Schwarzenegger disagreed with the commission's decision but can't undo it.
In the early 1990s, Filner spent so much time pushing for San Diego's first waiver that he called himself "Congressman Sewage." He succeeded in 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed his bill to create the option for an exemption.
As Filner mulls his next moves, San Diego is considering whether to appeal the Coastal Commission's ruling to the U.S. commerce secretary, who oversees disputes in the coastal zone. #
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/18/filner-takes-coastal-panel/
Imperial County supervisors back resolution urging passage of New River cleanup bill
Imperial Valley Press – 8/18/09
By Silvio J. Panta
Citing the importance of addressing the public health problems posed by the New River, Imperial County supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to back a resolution urging the passage of an Assembly bill aimed at cleaning up the polluted river.
Authored by Assemblyman Manuel V. Perez, D-Coachella, Assembly Bill 1079 would identify solutions and lead efforts toward alleviating the problems that the New River brings with its concentration of contaminants and untreated water through Calexico.
Antonio Tirado, a former District 1 county supervisor who chairs the Imperial County Democratic Central Committee, appeared before the board to voice his support for improving, or perhaps "encasing," the New River for the benefit of residents who live near it.
Tirado is one of several hopefuls who are vying to succeed Victor Carrillo after Carrillo vacated the District 1 seat to become Calexico's city manager. Carrillo was in his second term when he left.
Should the Assembly bill gain passage, it would require $800,000 in matching state funds Perez obtained with $4 million in federal grant money to be used in exploring clean-up solutions and do what has "to be done to resolve the problem, finally," Tirado said.
Perez's Assembly bill is going through the process of being reviewed in the Legislature.
Known for its offensive odor and high degree of fecal coliform bacteria, the New River carries urban runoff, partially treated industrial wastes and agricultural runoff from Mexicali into the U.S., with an estimated two-thirds of its flow crossing into Calexico.
From there the New River flows into the Salton Sea and has been a problem since the 1940s, according to the board's resolution. A Senate bill by Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, authorized Calexico in 2005 to clean up and encase the New River within its city limits, the resolution read.
District 4 Supervisor Gary Wyatt said all the supervisors are ready to back up efforts to clean up the New River.
"It's a significant issue and one we are all united together in supporting," Wyatt said.
In other business, supervisors recently conducted a public hearing to consider updating and revising the conflict of interest code.
The item will be brought back for adoption Sept. 29. No one spoke in favor or in opposition to revising of the conflict of interest code.
The code Imperial County has was adopted in 1977. The conflict of interest code would require all designated county employees to file a Form 700, which discloses all economic interests, by April 1 of each year.
Supervisors also voted 4-0 to have the Imperial County Sheriff's Office receive more than $293,000 this year from the state Department of Parks and Recreation, Highway Division. The grant money would be used to help offset the costs of law enforcement at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2009/08/19/local_news/news04.txt
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