[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 5/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 28, 2009

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People –

 

South San Joaquin Irrigation District marks century

The Stockton Record

 

Protecting the Oceans Makes Economic Sense

IndyBay.org

 

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South San Joaquin Irrigation District marks century

The Stockton Record – 5/28/09

By Alex Breitler

 

MANTECA - A water district that forever changed the face of south San Joaquin County celebrated 100 years Wednesday.

 

And almond farmer Bob Schulz has witnessed much of that history himself.

 

Born in Escalon in 1937, Schulz watched as family farms - including his own - converted dairy fields to orchard crops thanks to the district's reliable supply of Stanislaus River water. And he watched as that water spurred growth in nearby towns and cities.

 

Just once can Schulz remember losing a crop, and that was during the state's worst drought, in the late 1970s. Such are the benefits of belonging to one of the oldest water districts in California and being among the first in line for water.

 

"This would be a desert if it wasn't for the irrigation," said Schulz, a district board member for 32 years.

 

South San Joaquin Irrigation District's wealth of water has benefited many outside its relatively small pocket of southeast San Joaquin County.

 

The district sells water to the Stockton East Water District, which treats it and delivers it to Stockton. And earlier this decade, South San Joaquin water began flowing to Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy, reducing those cities' dependency on groundwater.

 

"You've got cities both inside and outside (the district) that are really benefiting," South San Joaquin General Manager Jeff Shields said.

 

The district formed in 1909 to address contradictory problems: not enough water and too much of it. Without infrastructure to harness the river, farmers' crops either withered or drowned.

 

South San Joaquin and its sister district, the Oakdale Irrigation District, sold $1.9million in bonds - "You can imagine how happy people were about that," Shields joked - to pay for dams and canals to hold and move the water.

 

In a few short years, the population in the district grew from 3,000 to 15,000. Its irrigated acreage quintupled.

 

"In hindsight, it's just a miracle what's grown out of that decision to form the district," Shields said.

 

When New Melones Dam was built in 1979, the two districts were given first dibs on about 600,000 acre-feet of water. As a result, even this year - the state's third consecutive dry year - South San Joaquin has a full supply of water. Enough, in fact, that board members agreed this month to sell 7,000 acre-feet to the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, in a drought-stricken area south of the Delta.

 

Wednesday afternoon, more than 100 people gathered to celebrate the anniversary. They ate roast beef and watched grainy footage of dam construction.

 

The district's peers from Stockton East were there, too. Board member Paul Sanguinetti said it's been a privilege to be on the receiving end of South San Joaquin's water.

 

"Their water rights are important," he said. "If there's extra water in the area, we've got to utilize it in the area."#

 

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090528/A_NEWS14/905280326/-1/rss14

 

Protecting the Oceans Makes Economic Sense

IndyBay.org – 5/27/09

by IUCN

Protecting the oceans through marine protected areas can provide higher and more sustained income through tourism and controlled fisheries than continued exploitation.

 

Protecting the oceans through marine protected areas can provide higher and more sustained income through tourism and controlled fisheries than continued exploitation. This is the result of IUCN’s new compilation of case studies about the economic benefits of marine protected areas, launched on World Biodiversity Day at the 2nd International Marine Protected Area Congress in Washington, D.C.

Along the western coast of Hawaii, a network of marine protected areas was established in 1999 following concerns about over harvesting by aquarium fishers. Eight years later, the total catch and the catch for the top two commercial species in the adjacent areas were higher than in the previous 40 years. Western Hawaii case study

In the Navakavu Locally Managed Marine Area near Viti Levu Island in Fiji, finfish catch increased by 3 per cent in the four years after putting the area under protection, resulting in a revenue increase of US$28,700 for local communities. Navakavu case study

A third case study shows that fishermen near the Kulape-Batu-Batu Marine Protected Area, in the Philippine Tawi-Tawi province, were able to increase their income by about 20 percent only one year after the establishment of the Kulape-Batu-Batu marine sanctuary. Kulape-Batu-Batu case study

“These case studies show that closing selected marine areas to fishing or other extractive uses makes economic sense,” says Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of IUCN’s Global Marine Programme. “Marine protected areas, if well managed, help fish stocks replenish, which then increase yields in neighbouring areas and improve the economic situation of the local communities.”

Marine protected areas also attract tourism, which is the other important source of income through marine conservation.

Since all fishing has been banned in the British Lundy Island No Take Zone, a small four square km marine protected area set up in the Bristol Channel in 2003, tourism has picked up significantly: the business of the area’s tour operator, for example, has doubled since 2003. The fishing industry also benefits from the Lundy No Take Zone: lobsters have become more abundant and grown in average size, within and outside the protected zone, which is expected to replenish fish stocks in the area and increase fisheries yields. Lundy case study

“On World Biodiversity Day, IUCN gives the proof that protecting the oceans is not only good for biodiversity, but it also makes money,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General. “These examples from around the world prove that there are no excuses anymore for exploiting the oceans until nothing is left – it will ultimately destroy the fishing industry altogether, let alone the diversity of life on our planet.”

Less than one percent of the world’s oceans are currently protected, compared to about 12 percent of the land surface. Governments agreed under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to increase protection of the oceans to 10 percent by 2010.#

 

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/27/18598640.php

 

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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.

 

 

[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS -WATER QUALITY-5/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 28, 2009

 

4. Water Quality –

 

High levels of mercury in Lake Piru bass, study shows

The Ventura County Star – 5/27/09

By Zeke Barlow

 

An examination of pollutants in 152 California lakes found that largemouth bass in Lake Piru have levels of methylmercury that could make it unhealthy for women and children to eat.

 

Although further study is needed before a health advisory is issued for the lake, the initial results showed the largemouth bass, which often have high levels of mercury, were above the threshold for safe consumption levels.

 

Fish from Lake Casitas were tested but did not have high levels of mercury.

 

“There is definitely a concern,” said Jay Davis, a senior scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute, which did the study for the California Water Resource Control Board. “We don’t want to send the message that people shouldn’t eat fish or be fishing. It’s more that they should try to be informed and try to focus on the fish that have a lower level of the contaminants.”

 

The bass at Lake Piru are not alone in having high concentrations of pollutants.

 

Only 15 percent of the lakes that were sampled were determined to be “clean,” meaning the fish had levels of mercury, PCBs, DDT and other pollutants that were all below the limit at which officials establish health advisories, according to the report — “Contaminants in Fish from California Lakes and Reservoirs.”

 

Mercury levels over .44 parts per million in fish is considered unhealthy for women and children to consume. The largemouth bass in Lake Piru tested at .46 parts per million.

 

Methylmercury — a by-product from gold mining that was rampant in the state more than a century ago — was the main culprit. Of the lakes sampled, 74 percent had levels of mercury high enough to be considered unhealthy to eat more than three servings a week. Overall, 26 percent had even higher levels of mercury — considered unhealthy to eat at all by women and children.

 

Much more comprehensive tests of different species would have to be done before the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment issues an official warning against eating fish. Even if a fish, such as bass, is deemed unhealthy, other fish from the same lake further down the food chain are OK to eat. Brown bullhead from Lake Piru were also tested but had low levels of mercury, the study found.

 

Swimming in the lakes or other recreational activities are still safe, officials added.

 

In Northern California, where gold mining was much more prevalent historically, mercury was known to be a problem, but this is the first time the southern half of the state showed widespread problems, too, Davis said.

 

“It was somewhat surprising to see some lakes in Southern California with high concentrations,” he said.

 

It was news to United Water Conservation District, which stores water in Lake Piru to recharge the aquifers on the Oxnard Plain.

 

“This is the first sampling we know of,” said Dan Detmer, a hydrologist with the district. He said the district will look into the findings and potentially issue a warning if needed.

 

Detmer said some of the mercury contamination could be coming from the water the district gets from the Sierra Nevada, where there was a lot of gold mining. Mercury was used to extract gold and then dumped into the watershed where it accumulates in sediment and remains for decades.

 

Davis said mines around Southern California also could have contributed to the problem.

 

Fish at the top of the food chain, such as largemouth bass, tend to have higher concentrations of mercury because it is stored in the muscle.

 

Too much exposure to mercury can affect a human’s nervous system and women can pass on the pollutant to their fetuses.

 

Even if further tests show the bass in Lake Piru shouldn’t be eaten by children and women, some question the impact.

 

Most bass fishermen who come into Eric’ s Tackle Shop in Ventura are releasing the fish they land at Lake Piru, shop owner Eric Huff said.

 

“They are fishing for sport and not for food,” he said.

 

Clayton Strahan, a park ranger at the lake, said there aren’t any statistics on the number of fish caught and kept versus the number released. He estimates there are somewhere from 50,000 to 70,000 fishing trips per year at the lake, with many fishermen making return visits.

 

Dwayne Maxwell, a senior fisheries biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said many of the bass caught are released back into the lake — but a fair amount are eaten.

 

“A lot of people who fish in Southern California are subsistence fishermen,” he said. And even if a fish is deemed unsafe to eat, it doesn’t mean people are deterred.

 

“There have been signs up on the Cabrillo Pier (in San Pedro) cautioning people against eating white croaker, but that doesn’t keep them from taking them home by the bucketful,” Maxwell said.

 

These tests are the first in a long string of studies looking at the health of California waters. Next year, another round of tests will be done on lakes, followed by examinations of the pollutants in streams and the ocean.

 

If a water body is found to be very polluted, it could qualify for a federal cleanup of the waterway#

 

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/may/27/high-levels-of-mercury-in-lake-piru-bass-study/

 

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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.

 

 

[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 5/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

May 28, 2009

 

3. Watersheds –

 

Smelt operations a hedge against extinction

The Redding Record-Searchlight

 

Frogs find home on dam spillway

The San Francisco Examiner

 

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Smelt operations a hedge against extinction

The Redding Record-Searchlight – 5/28/09

By Dylan Darling

 

If the fragile Delta smelt winds up going extinct, the species could be restored where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers merge using a population being bred in the north state.

 

Scientists at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery, a small operation nestled on the Sacramento River close to Shasta Dam, have reared the fish since last year. There are now 1,400 of the tiny fish at the hatchery, and the goal is to create a stock of thousands.

 

The project is expected to continue while the smelt remain in danger of sliding into extinction, said Scott Hamelberg, hatchery manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

"We are all, of course, keeping our fingers crossed, hoping that doesn't happen," Hamelberg said.

 

Although the hatchery's crew members have mostly worked with winter-run chinook salmon that can be more than 30 inches long and weigh more than 30 pounds, they've learned how to handle the smelt. The small fish usually grows only to 3 inches in length, weighs a couple of grams and usually lives for about a year or two.

 

"You just do everything smaller," said John Rueth, assistant manager at the hatchery. "They are actually very similar to salmon."

 

Spawning the smelt requires squeezing eggs out of the females and sperm out of the males. Although, unlike with salmon, Rueth said the work on the smelt requires tweezers.

 

Also unlike the salmon, the smelt accumulating in the tanks at the hatchery are not for release, he said. Instead, they and another population being bred by University of California at Davis researchers in Byron are being held in case the wild population completely disappears.

 

Having the smelt living about 200 miles from the Delta at Livingston Stone allows the population here to also serve as a backup for the Byron stock in case there is an earthquake, power failure or other problem that kills the fish, said Bob Clarke, fisheries program manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service's regional office in Sacramento.

 

"You don't want to put all your fish in one spot," Clarke said.

 

The agency has two hatcheries in the state, Livingston and Coleman National Fish Hatchery near Anderson. Because of the problems with the smelt, the green sturgeon and Sacramento perch, the agency is considering building a new hatchery in the Delta, Clarke said.

 

He said a new hatchery could cost as much as $20 million, but it could be years before it's built.

 

In the meantime, the smelt safety net will stay in the north state.

 

"For years, they'll be breeding (the Delta smelt) at Livingston Stone," Clarke said.#

 

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/may/28/smelt-operations-a-hedge-against-extinction/

 

Frogs find home on dam spillway

The San Francisco Examiner – 5/27/09

By Katie Worth

 

SAN MATEO COUNTY — A vital reservoir near San Mateo that stores billions of gallons from the Hetch Hetchy water system will soon boost its capacity by as much as 10 percent.

 

The restoration of the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir comes 26 years after the state ordered the water level lowered 8 feet until safety concerns were addressed. Engineers at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns the dam, started considering how to address those concerns and return it to previous capacity.

 

Enter the frogs.

 

With water no longer flowing regularly over the spillway, the 119-year-old dam’s knobby top provided a perfect place for water to collect and for the red-legged frog, a threatened species protected by the state, to take up residence. A nearby spring flows onto the south end of the dam, perpetually feeding the pools of water, and the raised road on top shades the puddles, slowing their evaporation.

 

The frogs thrived, leaving the state, county and water agency stymied.

 

“We find red-legged frogs all over the county. This time we just happened to find them on top of the dam,” said Public Works Director Jim Porter, who added that his department worked for 15 years to find a solution to the problem.

 

It appears water will start flowing over the dam again within a few years, according to Public Utilities Commission project manager Tasso Mavroudis.

 

The county, which must replace the raised portion of Skyline Boulevard because it is seismically unstable, will be moving the frogs from the top of the dam to a new wetland area on land owned by the commission. The road and the columns supporting it will be removed, perhaps as soon as October 2010, Mavroudis said.

 

Once the demolition is complete, the San Francisco water agency will begin its work to improve the spillway and the basin below it that water flows into. The spillway is a lowered portion of the dam that catches excess water. When that’s finished — perhaps by early 2012 — San Mateo County will complete work on the road.

 

The water agency considers the project important — and will invest an estimated $32 million into it — because the additional 8 feet mean some 3 billion more gallons of Sierra Nevada water that could be stored in the reservoir. That increase comes on top of the 22.1 billion gallons the reservoir currently holds.

 

Storage is becoming an increasingly important matter as the state becomes more concerned about droughts, Mavroudis said.

 

One of the project’s goals will be to improve drainage on top of the dam, so the monolithic concrete structure never becomes an ecosystem for threatened frogs again, he said.

 

“A lot of the maintenance has been deferred for years because of the frogs,” he said. “It’s been a problem since Day One.”#

 

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Frogs-find-home-on-dam-spillway-46327667.html

 

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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.

 

 

[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 5/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

May 28, 2009

 

2. Supply –

 

EID Board Ends Stage 1 Drought Declaration for Entire Service Area
YubaNet.com

 

ENCINITAS: Water customers to face new restrictions

The North County Times

 

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EID Board Ends Stage 1 Drought Declaration for Entire Service Area
YubaNet.com – 5/27/09

By El Dorado Irrigation District

 

Placerville, CA May 27, 2009 - During a special meeting today, the El Dorado Irrigation District (district) board of directors terminated the stage 1 drought declaration that has been in effect across the district's service area since March 23. The unanimous decision came after discussion of customer response to the drought declaration, the effects of the wet spring, and a decision by the Bureau of Reclamation to allocate 100 percent of the district's municipal contract for water from Folsom Lake.

The board's action means that the stage 1 drought rate that went into effect concurrent with the drought declaration is also lifted. Upcoming customer bills will be calculated under non-drought rates, prorated as necessary.

"Until last Friday, we did not know what the bureau was going to do about our water contract at Folsom," said board president George Wheeldon. "They were proposing a fifty-percent cut in our allocation from the lake when we declared the stage 1 drought in late March. That would have made it difficult for us to get through the year without asking our customers to conserve more than they usually do. Now that the bureau has announced its final allocations for 2009 and because of early May rain and a very strong response by our customers, we're in better shape."

Significantly, from April 1-after the stage 1 drought was declared-through the middle of May, customer demand dropped nearly twenty-six percent from the previous three-year average during the same time period.

"This is very good news," said board vice president John Fraser. "And we encourage our customers to continue their conservation efforts. They'll not only save water, they can save money too. Our new rate structure definitely rewards water conservation."

Fraser was referring to the conservation-oriented rate structure that the board adopted in late March. District staff calculated that single-family residential customers who use 1,800 cubic feet of water every two months will be charged $37.03 under the new structure rather an average of about $45.00 under the old rate schedule. Residential customers who use 3,000 cubic feet every two months, which is about average in the District's service area, will see their bills drop $3 to $6 every two months.

The lifting of the declaration means the district's service area is now at drought management stage "0," which approximates normal conditions. The district encourages customers to take a number of sensible steps during stage 0, as follows.

* Water outside only when necessary.

* Sweep, don't wash, paved areas.

* Repair leaky faucets. Don't dawdle in the shower.

* Wash when your dishwasher and clothes washer are full.

* Don't run water continuously while shaving, brushing teeth, or washing dishes by hand.

* Agricultural customers who do not participate in the district's conservation-minded Irrigation Management Services (IMS) program are encouraged to submit a conservation plan.

Board resolution opposes state borrowing of local property tax revenues

The board unanimously adopted a resolution condemning recommendations to trigger Proposition 1A (from 2004) and thus allow the state to borrow eight percent of local property tax revenues in an effort to close California's budget deficit.

The resolution, introduced by Board president George Wheeldon, draws particular attention to the California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) proposal, which would load much of the burden onto water and wastewater districts. The LAO reasons that these districts have more flexibility to cut back on programs or increase their revenues through rate hikes.

"The state is obviously passing a hot potato to local governments and water districts," Wheeldon said. "Legislators were told pretty emphatically by voters just a week ago that new or higher taxes won't wash. So now the LAO recommends that state legislators borrow local property tax revenues and basically tell water agencies to raise their rates. That's nothing more than a not-so-hidden, state-induced tax hike."

The resolution notes that the District has been cutting its budget for more than two years, starting with a 10-percent, across-the-board reduction in the 2008 budget. In September 2008, the District downsized and reorganized its management ranks-eliminating and downgrading 18 positions-to save an additional $1.1 million in the 2008 budget and $1.4 million annually thereafter. Following the Wall Street implosion in September 2008, the District cut an additional $5 million through more reductions in supplies and services, the elimination of 8 vacant positions and 12 full-time equivalent positions through early retirements, a 12.5-percent reduction in Board member income, and the unfortunate layoff of 31 employees.

These actions resulted in a 19-percent reduction in the overall workforce from early 2008 levels and an approximate $6-million (12-percent) cut in the initial 2009 budget, which as finally adopted was nearly $2 million less than the 2007 budget.

"There's no way we can continue to make cuts like these and still provide reliable service to our customers," said board director Harry Norris. "The state will force us to make decisions we shouldn't have to make and all because of their inability to balance their budget."

District staff calculated that every $1 million in lost property tax revenues equates to a three-percent rate hike for water, wastewater, and recycled water services.#

 

http://yubanet.com/regional/EID-Board-Ends-Stage-1-Drought-Declaration-for-Entire-Service-Area.php

 

ENCINITAS: Water customers to face new restrictions

The North County Times – 5/27/09

By Barbara Henry

 

ENCINITAS ---- San Dieguito Water District customers will join the growing ranks of San Diego County folks who are facing water-use restrictions come July 1.

In response to statewide worries about water shortages, the Encinitas City Council in its role as the leaders of the water district unanimously agreed Wednesday to declare a "Stage 2" drought condition. The water district serves two-thirds of town. The remaining third is covered by the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, which has already agreed to water use cutbacks starting July 1.

For both the San Dieguito and the Olivenhain residential customers, the new restrictions will mean that they:

-- can only run their sprinklers for 10 minutes or less on set days;

-- must only water plants between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.;

-- cannot use hoses to wash off driveways or patios; and

-- must turn off their water fountain features, unless those fountains use recycled water.

Residents can expect to see plenty of publicity about the new restrictions in the coming weeks, said Larry Watt, the general manager of the water district and the city's public works department director. The district will insert announcements in people's water bills, among other things, he said.

Water customers across Southern California can expect to face similar restrictions this summer because of statewide drought conditions and new court-ordered protection measures for an endangered fish in the Sacramento River Delta region. Most of San Diego County's water supply is brought in via a complex system of aqueducts from the Colorado River and Northern California.

In addition to new restrictions on water usage, people can expect to pay more for the water that they do use. Districts around the county are raising water rates in response to fee increases from the region's main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Under the new water-use restrictions, Encinitas housing developers also will face additional limitations, Watt said. Developers with existing building permits can obtain meters, but those who don't yet have their applications in may be out of luck, he said.

City Council members Jerome Stocks and Teresa Barth are serving on a council subcommittee that is creating some options for those people, Watt added. One possibility would be to grant water meters to new developers if they agree to help pay for other water customers to reduce their water usage, particularly the use of drinking water to irrigate landscape plants. Some parts of town already use treated sewage water ---- commonly called reclaimed or recycled water ---- on roadway medians and other landscaping. That system can be expanded, Watt said.

While water districts across San Diego County are expected to declare "Stage 2" drought conditions, their new water-use restrictions may vary.

Both Olivenhain and San Dieguito water districts expect to limit the number of water meters that they will issue come July 1. The Carlsbad Municipal Water District, which covers about 80 percent of Carlsbad, doesn't place such a restriction on construction until it declares a "Stage 3" drought condition.#

 

http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/05/27/news/coastal/encinitas/zaa58245c59b72303882575c4001be7e0.txt

 

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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.

 

 

[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Items for 5/28/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

May 28, 2009

 

1.   Top Items–

 

America's Waterways Need Help - and, Yes, You Can Help

The Huffington Post

 

Supes seek political intervention for future for Redwood Creek levee

The Eureka Times-Standard

 

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America's Waterways Need Help - and, Yes, You Can Help

The Huffington Post – 5/27/09

By Steve Fleischli

 

The U.S. Supreme Court is wreaking havoc on America's wetlands, rivers and watersheds, and these waterways need your help. It's not that the nine honorable Justices are out filling our wetlands or dumping toxic waste into our rivers, but their razor-thin decisions in Rapanos and SWANCC are having the same effect. These two decisions have forced the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to undertake a case-by-case analysis of America's waterways to determine if they are worthy of federal protection. Now, only those waterways deemed to be "navigable" or to have a "significant nexus" to a navigable waterway are guaranteed federal protection under the Clean Water Act.

 

Defining America's waterways this way should force a hard look at where this is leading us: By some estimates, 60 percent of U.S. creeks, rivers, and streams and tens of millions of acres of wetlands and other sensitive waterbodies have lost federal protection in the last few years due to the Supreme Court's decisions. These waterways now are subject to unfettered development, industrial discharges, damage from agricultural withdrawals, and stormwater pollution.

 

At the heart of the issue are developer and industry interests long intent on undoing the 1972 Clean Water Act's protection of waters of the United States. For decades, these groups filed lawsuits trying to block federal agencies from regulating activities that harm America's waterways. Finally, they prevailed in the narrowest of victories at the nation's highest court (Rapanos was decided 4-1-4; SWANCC 5-4).

 

For the past several years, the Army Corps and the EPA - emboldened by the Supreme Court and empowered by the Bush Administration - embraced industry concerns. Both agencies reclassified waters of the United States at an alarming rate, and in ways that weaken enforcement of clean water laws. An internal EPA memo obtained by Greenpeace last year indicates that from July 2006 through December 2007, the Supreme Court's Rapanos ruling and associated EPA guidance have "negatively affected approximately 500 enforcement cases" at EPA.

 

Sadly, classifying waterways as to whether they are navigable is not entirely new. For nearly a century, Kansas has taken the classification of waterways to the extreme. Of the more than 10,000 miles of rivers and streams in the state, only three rivers are recognized as commercially navigable and therefore only three rivers -- the Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri rivers -- are recognized as publicly accessible under state law. In 2001, the year the SWANCC decision came down, Kansas led the way by reclassifying roughly 40 percent of its streams to remove federal protections.

 

What is new is the gusto with which developers and others are using the Court's 2006 Rapanos decision to try to remove waterways from federal protection. For developers, it is no longer a race to the courthouse; it is a race to the nearest wetland - to fill it.

 

In New York State alone, thousands of small but hydrologically significant wetlands are now vulnerable without federal or state protection, yet many are of major importance to New York City's drinking water supplies.

 

In western states like Arizona, upward of 96 percent of all waterways, commonly known as intermittent streams, are at risk.

 

In Southern California, the battle has taken center stage on the Los Angeles River. Decades ago, the Army Corps paved and, with the assistance of local government, fenced many of the local rivers. Last year the Corps achieved a new low by claiming the Los Angeles River is not a traditional navigable waterway, thus introducing the notion that many of its tributaries - and possibly much of the river itself - are not worthy of protection under federal clean water laws.

 

Under this navigability test, and particularly the Army Corps' interpretation of it, even significant portions of the Colorado River might not be considered navigable. It is not so far fetched. Even Wikipedia entries contend that "commercial navigation on the [Colorado River] is unimportant..." What more of an opening do those intent on undoing the Clean Water Act need to claim the river is non-navigable?

 

Tragically, unlike the Los Angeles River, the Colorado River no longer flows to a coastal waterway because dams and water mismanagement prevent the river from flowing freely to the sea. Some even call it a "water system" rather than a river. It all begs the question: If the Los Angeles River's tributaries lose protection, are we ready to accept that the Colorado River's tributaries may not have federal protection either?

 

As my former colleagues at Waterkeeper Alliance regularly point out, the current test just doesn't make sense. As a matter of science, there are virtually no waterways that are hydrologically or ecologically isolated. Water moves underground, forming complex physical, biological, and chemical connections, only to reappear in wetlands and other waterbodies. The destruction or pollution of any part of that system creates a ripple effect, damaging the integrity of the entire ecosystem.

 

The truth is, whether we talk about prairie ponds or streams, creeks or lakes, America's waterways desperately need federal protection. New EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson already has expressed support for congressional action on the issue. Now Congress - as the only entity that can untangle the mess created by the Supreme Court - should make this protection clear by restoring the integrity of the Clean Water Act with passage of S. 787 (Feingold) and reintroduction of H.R. 2421(Oberstar).

 

You can help by contacting your elected officials in the U.S. Senate. Twenty-four Senators already have co-sponsored the legislation. But many more are needed, and they need to hear in their local District Offices from the American public during this Memorial Week recess. Senators Feinstein (D-CA) , Klobuchar (D-MN), Specter (D-PA), Alexander (R-TN), Baucus (D-MT), and Voinovich (R-OH) are important key votes still needed. These bills must ensure maximum protection allowed by the entire extent of the U.S. Constitution (not merely the Commerce Clause). The bills are supported by a wide range of environmental groups from American Rivers to Ducks Unlimited to EarthJustice to the National Wildlife Federation to NRDC to the Sierra Club. Please go to the Clean Water Network's website to find out more about how to help.

 

Without strong congressional action and your help to secure it, America's waterways - navigable or otherwise - will be in even more serious trouble than they are today.#

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-fleischli/americas-waterways-need-h_b_207976.html

 

Supes seek political intervention for future for Redwood Creek levee

The Eureka Times-Standard – 5/27/09

By Jessie Faulkner

New Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements for flood insurance maps will likely mean the deaccreditation of Orick's Redwood Creek levees, resulting in a huge increase in flood insurance costs and a dampening of development activity in the county's northernmost community.

 

County Public Works Department staff came to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday asking for a letter to be sent to Rep. Mike Thompson asking that he meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in an attempt to remedy the situation.

 

”We think there's a need for him to be aware of the situation and discuss options with the corps,” said Hank Seeman, environmental services manager for the Humboldt County Public Works Department.

 

The board agreed by voting in support of the letter, which argues that the levees' inability to pass sediment through the system was a design deficiency that warrants consideration for a fix by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 

The request comes following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers December 2008 technical report that concludes the levees, in their current state, only provide protection level for a 13-year flood.

 

Orick is situated in a 100-year flood zone.

 

”If the FEMA standards are not met or the documentation is insufficient, then the flood insurance rate maps will be modified to show the 100-year flood plain as if the levee did not exist, and flood insurance requirements would apply,” according to the staff report.

 

The on-the-ground reality is that such a change would limit new construction in the area, limit modification of existing structures and would have financial impacts on property owners, Seeman said.

 

Public Works Director Tom Mattson, who lives near an unaccredited levee on the Eel River in the Fortuna area, says it costs him $1,300 per year for flood insurance.

 

Further, the county would have to remove 430,000 cubic yards of sediment to restore the levees to the protective quality present when they were new. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the Redwood Creek levees in 1967.

 

The initial agreement with the federal government for construction of the levees was that the county would assume responsibility for operation and maintenance of the earthen bank structure in perpetuity. The current problem is the county has no funds to complete the work that would be necessary to restore the levee to full function.

 

The cost comes in removing tons and tons of gravel -- a process the county has had to pay contractors to work on, according to Seeman.

 

One of the additional problems, Seeman said, is acquiring the necessary permits to remove the collected sediment, vegetation and gravel which provide habitat for endangered species.

 

In the best case scenario, according to Seeman's presentation, the Redwood Creek leeves could be made certification-ready for $650,000. Conversely, such compliance could run as high as $2.9 million to $3.4 million.#

 

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_12457606

 

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• Arlen Specter
• Supreme Court