Sandia National Laboratories is testing whether one of California’s largest and most polluted lakes can transform into one of its most productive and profitable. Southern California’s 350-square-mile Salton Sea has well-documented problems related to elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff. Algae thrives on these elements — a fact that causes environmental problems but could also be a solution to those problems.
Federal and state water-quality regulators have cleared the way for the city of San Diego to avoid costly upgrades to an outdated wastewater treatment plant, as long as local officials continue to pursue a $3 billion water recycling program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board approved on Monday the city’s permit application to operate the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant for another five years despite it being the only facility of its kind not to meet federal clean water standards.
The measure, called the “Gaining Responsibility on Water Act” or GROW Act, has already passed the US House, largely along party lines. Supporters, including many Central Valley Republicans and farmers, say it would cut the red tape that prevents dams and water storage projects from being built. While that might normally sit well with powerful Southern California water interests, this bill is unlikely to garner support from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger says the measure doesn’t strike the right balance between water supply and the environment.
To explain why she authored a bill to protect water in the Mojave Desert, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman goes back to her childhood. Growing up in Plantation, Florida, on the edge of the Everglades, the 50-year-old Glendale Democrat had a “front-row seat” to the destruction of the swamps, sloughs, and mangrove forests that spread across most of South Florida. “I saw the devastation that was wrought from not caring about that resource,” Friedman says. South Florida’s water is less protected now, and its coastline is more vulnerable to the sea-level rise that accompanies the changing climate.
Nestled in the mountains of the quiet California town of Ojai is Matilija Dam, which has become a poster child of the national dam removal movement. At 168ft high, the dam towers above Matilija Creek. Since the dam’s construction in 1947, an estimated 8 million cubic yards of sediment have clogged Matilija reservoir, rendering it useless for water storage and flood control, while trapping sediment that would have flowed into the Ventura River and then fed Ventura’s coastline nearly 16 miles downstream.
For those interested in water conservation, it’s time to get tough on turf. That’s right. Douse it with earth-friendly herbicides, suffocate it with plastic, sheet mulch it to death with newspaper/cardboard or dig the whole thing up. Whichever deadly method you choose, turf removal is a great way to conserve water and save money. “Conservation is still the cheapest and best way to ensure our water viability,” said Ray Hiemstra, associate director of programs for Orange County Coastkeeper, one of several local agencies ready and willing to provide the how-to’s of the equation.
If Senate Bill 231 (Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys) becomes law, property owners would be saddled with thousands of dollars in additional, annual property taxes. What’s worse is that this bill would allow these tax increases to be implemented without a vote of the people. Political sleight of hand? Yes, and here’s how .SB231 redefines the word “sewer” to include storm-water and storm drains, thereby allowing local governments to evade Proposition 218 taxpayer protections. That 1996 initiative requires that all new property-related taxes and most fees proposed by a local government or agency be approved by two-thirds of voters.
The measure, called the “Gaining Responsibility on Water Act” or GROW Act, has already passed the US House, largely along party lines. Supporters, including many Central Valley Republicans and farmers, say it would cut the red tape that prevents dams and water storage projects from being built. While that might normally sit well with powerful Southern California water interests, this bill is unlikely to garner support from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger says the measure doesn’t strike the right balance between water supply and the environment.
As the Salton Sea shrinks — exposing land that was once underwater to desert winds — one concern has been that increased dust emissions will make already poor air quality worse for nearby residents. A recently published study out of UC Riverside confirms this is already starting to happen. “With drying up of the lake and exposing of the shoreline, we get an additional source of airborne dust,” said UC Riverside associate professor of atmospheric science Roya Bahreini, who led the study. “And exposure to these particles can have health impacts for humans.”
This legislation might be hard to swallow: Lawmakers are considering a bill that would clear the way for California communities to put highly treated wastewater directly into the drinking water supply. “The media likes to start off with the catchy phrase toilet to tap,” said Jennifer West, managing director of Water Reuse, about the intensive purification process. “But there’s a lot that goes on between toilet and tap.” Assembly Bill 574, authored by Assembly Member Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, would require the State Water Resources Control Board to develop regulations in four years for “direct potable reuse” provided research on public health issues is completed.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
