WesternWaterBlog

Low levels of toxic metal found in Sunnyvale's groundwater

By Cody Kraat/Sunnyvale Sun

Sunnyvale's groundwater is polluted with chromium 6, a carcinogenic heavy metal, according to a 2007 Water Quality Report released by the city in 2008.

The average concentration in the city's seven wells — 1.4 parts per billion — is considered to be a very low dose and poses little danger, experts said. Chromium 6, also known as hexavalent chromium, was made infamous by the movie Erin Brockovich and a series of articles in 2000 about findings of chromium 6 in San Fernando Valley groundwater at levels as high as 30 ppb.

Sunnyvale residents receive 7 percent of their water from the wells, two of which in the southwest part of the city had concentrations between 2.2 and 3.1 ppb in 2002, in the most recent testing available. The tests were conducted in 2002, and the levels are considered to be below state and federal regulations.

However, the state has no specific standard for chromium 6.

The California Department of Public Health, which is responsible for regulating water quality, allows 50 ppb of total chromium, which includes chromium 6 and trivalent chromium, a harmless and somewhat beneficial nutrient. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows 100 ppb of total chromium.

The CDPH was required according to a section of the state Health and Safety Code to establish a primary drinking water standard — a maximum contaminant level — for hexavalent chromium on or before January 2004, , but the CDPH points the finger at the state Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment for the delay in scientific research. Sam Delson, and OEHHA spokesman, called the history of efforts to create standards "long and complicated." Read more

Rain the Best Bailout for Farmers...For Now

Reported by: Elex Michaelson

When it comes to rainfall so far this season, San Diego is way above normal. But, our reservoirs are still far under capacity. Years of drought in the state have left them so depleted, it is hard to imagine them filling up anytime soon.

Tenille Othero, a spokesman for the San Diego County Water Authority, said "we need enormous amounts of rain, Noah's Ark amounts of rain to make up for the dry spell." But California's farmers appreciate all the rain they can get.

Perhaps no professional group cheered the downpours more than those who grow avocados. Burnet Wohlford, who runs Heritage Ranch Management, said avocados require far more water than his citrus plants. His ranch in Escondido has a water bill of about $20,000 a month. Another ranch of his cost $40,000 a month. When it rains, he can stop the sprinklers for at least a month if not more.

The savings could help keep him in business--at least for now. "This year we've got the smallest crop possible in history--or at least in the last 20 years. Next year, it could be an abundant crop" he said. But the executive director of the San Diego Farm Bureau, Erik Larsen, is concerned the savings are a "short term band aid" to the problem.

The main issues, he said, is San Diego County's need to import 85 percent of its water and the large water restrictions the state recently enacted. "Comparatively, there are no farmers in the United States who pay more for irrigation water--we believe--than do farmers in San Diego County" he said. Read more

Auburn dam officially dies as board yanks water rights

By Chris Bowman cbowman@sacbee.com

The long-lived federal Auburn dam proposal is officially dead.

The state water board drove the last nail into the coffin Tuesday, unanimously revoking the water rights it dedicated to the American River project nearly 40 years ago.

"This is a death certificate," board spokesman William Rukeyser said following the 5-0 vote.

Under California's use-it-or-lose-it water laws, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had to put its rights to American River water to "beneficial use," as it had proposed with a 690-foot-high dam and a 68-mile canal to San Joaquin County.

But the bureau halted construction more than 30 years ago because of safety concerns following a 5.7-magnitude earthquake 50 miles north of Auburn. Environmental concerns and ballooning costs have delayed the project ever since, leaving the river's deep north fork canyon heavily scarred but not blocked.

"You have to use water with due diligence and due faith, and that hasn't been followed here," water board member Arthur Baggett said before casting his vote to rescind the bureau's rights to 2.5 million acre-feet of water a year. An acre-foot of water covers 1 acre a foot deep, enough to supply an average family of five for a year.

That's by far the largest amount of revoked water rights in memory, board officials said.

The revocation opens the door to other applicants for those American River water rights. The city of Sacramento and San Joaquin County already have filed.

The State Water Resources Control Board has rarely taken back water rights. It did so Tuesday only after 37 years had passed with no dam construction in sight. Read more

 

Governor tells staff to prepare for warming

Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Friday directing state agencies to study the effects of global warming and recommend how the state needs to adapt to such changes in land use planning and building new infrastructure.

"Given the serious threat of sea level rise to California's water supply, population and our economy, it's critically important that we make sure the state is prepared," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

The executive order was signed after a conference Friday in Long Beach on global warming and water infrastructure that was sponsored in part by the state Department of Water Resources, said Tony Brunello, a deputy secretary for climate change and energy for the state Resources Agency.

While California has embarked on an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gases that cause global warming, the effects of climate change - higher temperatures, less precipitation and higher sea levels - are inevitable, Brunello said.

Two years ago, Schwarzenegger signed the landmark legislation AB32, which requires the state to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. The California Air Resources Board, which has been charged with implementing AB32's goals, is set to consider Thursday its draft blueprint on how to limit California's greenhouse gas emissions.

"But even if we were to stop emitting greenhouse gases in California today ... the carbons that have already been emitted would still be with us and those impacts are still going to happen," Brunello said.

He said that while figuring out how to limit green house gas emissions has been receiving a lot of attention, how to adapt to the changing climate has been largely ignored. And while there are other states and nations that are researching how to adapt to the effects of global warming, Schwarzenegger's order is among the first directing agencies to put together a comprehensive plan, he said.

The executive order directs the Department of Water Resources, the California Energy Commission and the state's coastal management agencies to submit a request with the National Academy of Sciences for a sea level rise assessment report to be completed by Dec. 1, 2010. Read more

California Water Systems Facing Fines For Failing To Monitor E. Coli

Written by Imperial Valley News    

San Francisco, California - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered ten California public drinking water systems to monitor for Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the source water of their drinking water systems, or face penalties of up to $32,500 per day for each violation.

E. coli is a type of fecal coliform bacteria commonly found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals and humans. The presence of E. coli in water is a strong indication of recent sewage or animal waste contamination.

“It is vital that drinking water systems develop their plans and sample promptly,” said Alexis Strauss, the Water Division director for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “This requirement protects the public from potentially harmful microorganisms in drinking water.”

The EPA’s orders require these public drinking water systems to develop monitoring plans and conduct pathogen monitoring, as required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The monitoring plans are required of all public water systems that obtain their water from a surface source (such as a river, lake or a well that is under the influence of surface water) and are part of a year-long source water monitoring effort for E. coli, designed to prevent contaminated drinking water. Read more

 

California American Water Continues Infrastructure Replacement in San Gabriel and San Marino

More than 10,000 feet of aging water transmission mains being replaced

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Oct 24, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In its ongoing commitment to systematically replace aging infrastructure, as well as improve water delivery service, California American Water is nearing completion on the replacement and upgrade of 10,100 feet of water transmission mains in the cities of San Gabriel and San Marino

"The new pipe is eight inches in diameter. The result will be improved water volume for homes and businesses, and increased fire hydrant flow for the cities," says Operations Manager Garry Hofer. "The old 4-inch water main we're replacing includes some stretches that are more than 70 years old."

The upgrade is consistent with increased fire protection goals throughout the region. As water companies address the daunting prospect of replacing aging infrastructure, larger diameter pipes allow for increased fire protection.Read more

 

Change certain for the delta, report says

Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer

(10-22) 19:43 PDT -- With or without human intervention, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will change radically in the future, the result of climate change, invasive species and earthquakes, according to a new scientific report.

With implications for everything from drinking water supplies in California to urban planning, the study's authors hope their work will help policymakers to revive an ecosystem widely recognized as on life support.

"The delta is in crisis," said Joseph Grindstaff, director of the CalFed Bay-Delta program, sponsor of the report and the state agency that oversees the delta. "Now and in the next year or two, we'll make really important decisions - this report is a foundation."

Grindstaff and others spoke during a gathering in Sacramento on Tuesday for the release of "State of Bay-Delta Science, 2008," a 174-page report detailing the history of the delta and its myriad problems today.

The CalFed report, unveiled during a three-day conference on the delta, pulls together information from several other recent, influential studies.

A report earlier this year by the Public Policy Institute of California, for instance, recommended the building of a so-called peripheral canal, a massive pipeline that would route water from the Sacramento River to pumps in the southern delta. Last week, the governor-appointed Delta Blue Ribbon Task Force concluded some kind of conveyance system is necessary, along with new dams, reservoirs, desalination technology and a new governing body for the delta that would replace CalFed, an agency often criticized as ineffectual.

The CalFed report did highlight a handful of key points, including recent data showing dwindling groundwater supplies and land levels in the Central Delta declining to 30 to 40 feet below sea level by 2200.

Of immediate concern is the fate of crashing fish populations within the 1,300-square mile estuary. The delta smelt, a tiny fish that smells like cucumber, remains the most imperiled due to increasing toxicity, warmer water and to large-scale killings by giant pumps that send water around the state.

In response, a federal judge last year slashed water exports from the delta, adding urgency to plans to fix the hub of a system that supplies water to 23 million urban and rural Californians.

In their report, CalFed scientists said some "last ditch" efforts may be the answer to preserving species like the delta smelt. Those include freezing the fish's genetic material, genetically engineering the fish's ability to withstand higher water temperatures, or creating hatcheries, or "zoos" for the fish. Read more

Report: Water agency kept mum about uranium levels

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES—Southern California's largest water agency moved forward with a groundwater extraction project without disclosing that the water is contaminated with uranium and other toxic chemicals, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California knew eight years ago about a "major stumbling block" with the proposed Hayfield Groundwater Storage Program but failed to inform key officials or the public, according to an Orange County Register investigation.

Water tests in 2000 found that uranium contamination at Hayfield averaged roughly 16 picocuries per liter, with a high of 35 picocuries per liter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for uranium in drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter. The five largest community water agencies in Orange County report average uranium levels of 1.9 to 9.4 picocuries per liter.

Since those 2000 tests, planners have promoted the Hayfield project in Congress and at a water conference in San Diego. In July, the agency cited Hayfield as an available resource if drought conditions continue, saying nearly 4 billion gallons of water could be retrieved from Hayfield in 2009.

On Tuesday, the agency plans to ask the board to approve preliminary steps to extract water from the site.

District officials insisted the contamination is isolated and the water can be diluted with clean Colorado River water to make it safe. General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said that everyone who needed to know about the contamination was informed.

"It was never communicated as a show stopper because we didn't believe it was," Kightlinger said.

Water experts said that Metropolitan's plan to dilute the water to lower the concentrations is a common and generally accepted solution. District officials also said that all water tested at Hayfield represents "raw," untreated water. Before any of that water is delivered to residents it would be treated, which would further lower the level of contamination. Read more

Bacteria found in Downey's water supply

Public health officials have urged Downey residents to boil their tap water through Sunday after coliform bacteria were found in the city's water supply.

City, county and state public health officials issued a boil-water order about 6 p.m. Thursday after the city's water tested positive for the bacteria earlier that day, Deputy City Manager Desi Alvarez said Friday.

The action prompted the closure of scores of restaurants and trigged a consumer rush on bottled water.

Residents may continue to shower or bathe in water from the tap, but are strongly cautioned to boil it before drinking it or cooking with it, said Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. He suggested that they should instead drink bottled water..

City officials said Downey tests its water weekly.

On Thursday, the city received the results from water quality tests conducted Tuesday, showing a positive reading for the coliform bacteria at three of the city's 25 sampling locations, Alvarez said. The three sites were spread throughout the 12.5-square-mile city of 110,600 residents.

"Boil-water orders are fairly common in California, but boil-water orders affecting a community of this size [are] rare," said Stefan Cajina, district engineer for the state Department of Public Health. Downey has the only active boil-water order in Southern California, he said.

Southern California derives its water from a variety of sources that may become contaminated.

In December, San Diego County health officials ordered a nudist camp to boil its water after tests found coliform bacteria. Sun Island Resort near El Cajon, one of the oldest nudist camps in Southern California, gets its water from wells, which are tested monthly.

Coliform bacteria are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator of other, potentially harmful bacteria, Bellomo said.

But E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria, which have the potential to pose a serious health problem, have not been detected in Downey's water, Cajina said.

The source of the bacteria in the water has not been determined, and health officials said that sometimes tests can show a false reading, said Mayor David R. Gafin. Read more

State gets serious about deepening drought

Kelly Zito/Chronicle Staff Writer

Sacramento -- Anticipating another bone-dry winter, California is preparing to act as a water go-between next year, buying from water-rich districts in the north and selling to cities and farmers hit hard by drought.

The initiative, known as the 2009 Drought Water Bank, harkens back to measures taken during the long dry spell of the late 1980s and early 1990s and underscores the state's efforts to squeeze every drop out of a system strained by climate change, a booming population and environmental rulings that have slashed pumping out of the linchpin Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

On Thursday, the state Department of Water Resources announced the formation of the water bank during a "drought summit" in Sacramento attended by urban, agricultural and other groups that represent a total of about 25 million people, or a majority of California's water users.

Faced with forecasts showing a period that could resemble either the short, deep drought in the late 1970s or longer drought of the late 1980s, officials said they must plan for the worst. Already, many of California's reservoirs stand at record-low levels - some as low as 13 percent of capacity - after two critically dry years.

"There are a number of scenarios where we don't regain snowpack and because the reservoirs are low, we're in a lot of trouble - and that's what we're down to," said Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the winter rainfall, many of the details surrounding how the water bank will work - including when the transfers would take place, how much buyers may pay for water and which districts are willing to sell - remain unclear. However, most observers agree that water prices are rising quickly. At Thursday's announcement, one official said a rice farmer may be able to sell his water for as much as $200 per acre-foot - up from $50 per acre foot not long ago (1 acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons and enough to cover 1 acre of land in 1 foot of water).

While water officials said they would not be able to control water prices across the state, deputy director Gerald Johns hopes the bank will help keep prices rational. Read more