News

Groundwater Depletion Is Detected From Space

5/30/11

Scientists have been using small variations in the Earth’s gravity to identify trouble spots around the globe where people are making unsustainable demands on groundwater, one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water.

They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, northeastern China and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley in California, heartland of that state’s $30 billion agricultural industry.

Jay S. Famiglietti, director of the University of California’s Center for Hydrologic Modeling here, said the center’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, known as Grace, relies on the interplay of two nine-year-old twin satellites that monitor each other while orbiting the Earth, thereby producing some of the most precise data ever on the planet’s gravitational variations. The results are redefining the field of hydrology, which itself has grown more critical as climate change and population growth draw down the world’s fresh water supplies.

Grace sees “all of the change in ice, all of the change in snow and water storage, all of the surface water, all of the soil moisture, all of the groundwater,” Dr. Famiglietti explained.

Yet even as the data signals looming shortages, policy makers have been relatively wary of embracing the findings. California water managers, for example, have been somewhat skeptical of a recent finding by Dr. Famiglietti that from October 2003 to March 2010, aquifers under the state’s Central Valley were drawn down by 25 million acre-feet — almost enough to fill Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir.

Greg Zlotnick, a board member of the Association of California Water Agencies, said that the managers feared that the data could be marshaled to someone else’s advantage in California’s tug of war over scarce water supplies.

“There’s a lot of paranoia about policy wonks saying, ‘We’ve got to regulate the heck out of you,’ ” he said.

There are other sensitivities in arid regions around the world where groundwater basins are often shared by unfriendly neighbors — India and Pakistan, Tunisia and Libya or Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories — that are prone to suspecting one another of excessive use of this shared resource.

Arcata expanding wastewater marshes to increase efficiency, add 40 percent more acres of treatment

6/7/11

Arcata is hoping to complete a major portion of its most significant expansion of its wastewater treatment system before the year is over.

The city finished grading work last year for the two new Arcata Marsh ponds -- located within the Arcata Corporation Yard property -- and plans to be done with the planting for the ponds before November.

Environmental director Mark Andre said the new marshes will add 40 percent more acres of treatment to the current configuration.

”This is the biggest expansion in 25 years,” he said.

Once completed, the expansion is expected to provide increased performance for water treatment as well as the flexibility to improve treatment capacity. According to wastewater superintendent Eric Lust, the ponds are generally about three acres or smaller and are within the original perimeter of the oxidation pond established in the 1950s.

Lust said the new ponds will allow the plant to take other areas offline if necessary and avoid potential violations if any emerging pollutants occur.

”We've been making do with three ponds for over 20 years, so this is a big deal for us,” he said.

Lust said visitors to the marsh can expect to see work beginning in July -- weather permitting.

”We have a narrow construction window because of the weather,” he said.

Once established, the new ponds will take two to three years to operate fully.

The project is part of work being done by environmental engineer Robert Gearheart and Humboldt State University master students to improve the overall efficiency of the plant. He and several students work out of a lab located at the plant.

Gearheart said the students -- who are engineering students currently, but can come from a variety of disciplines, including chemistry and biology -- conduct water quality analysis, gather data and are working on upgrading the plant's operational manual.

For the expansion project, a student helped with the design work and started a nursery for the wetland plants that need to be planted.

”It's been a very active learning experience for these students,” he said.

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Arcata wastewater treatment marshes designation put on hold

6/7/11

As the city of Arcata continues its largest expansion ever of its renowned wastewater treatment marshes, the status of its sanctuary ponds remains a question in the eyes of regulators.

Arcata staff and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board said they are working on finding common ground for permitting without having a designation.

The city applied for a designation -- which would clarify whether the city's three sanctuary treatment ponds are considered federal or state waters -- from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last August.

The city is worried that an apparent shift in how the marshes are viewed by regulators could force it to spend millions to develop a new treatment system and potentially imperil the marshes. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, however, isn't convinced that the way the wastewater is treated now is best for the marshes and their ecology.

Environmental Services Director Mark Andre said the city has decided to shift its focus from the designation to working on a water board permit.

”It's possible that (the designation) will be put aside for now while we're working on this other stuff,” he said.

The city is currently pursuing a significant expansion of its marshes. The two new ponds will be within the city's corporation yard property and are not subject to the designation discussion, Andre said.

Laurie Monearres, the regulatory north branch chief for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the process for the three existing sanctuary ponds is currently on hold.

”We're waiting on some more information from (Arcata),” she said. “It's possible that they may be withdrawing their request.”

Monearres said the designation would help determine what regulations and permits the city can obtain from the Army Corps.

In the meantime, the city said the discussions with the water quality control board are progressing.

The agency has said that it believes the ponds have always been subject to federal regulations .

The water board staff believe that the marshes, into which treated wastewater flows before eventually being discharged into Humboldt Bay, are subject to federal Clean Water Act regulations. They are “waters of the United States,” according to the regulators.

Board Executive Officer Catherine Kuhlman said she hopes a permit can be issued by next summer. Staff of both parties have been meeting to look at permitting options that treat the ponds as waters of the state in order to gain regulatory flexibility, she said, adding that there are many options the staff is considering.

”We all want to get to the same place, but we have some bureaucratic knots to untie,” Kuhlman said.

Andre said the plant's priority is still to ensure that water is treated before it goes into Humboldt Bay. He said he is optimistic about the discussions.

”I'm pleased that (the water board) is acknowledging the individuality of our system,” Andre said. “Therefore, the permit end should be tailored to the attributes, and that's important to us.”

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Celebrate the sea through World Oceans Day

While waiting for the light to change, I saw a fisherman friend of mine on the opposite side of the street. Red turned green and we crossed, with a quick exchange of hellos and a promise to connect soon. Fitting that we should meet in the middle of the road, as our initial introduction began on opposite sides of the Marine Life Protection Act. Ultimately, we found enough common ground to create, along with the rest of the regional stakeholder group, a unified marine protected area network proposal -- a unique achievement on the North Coast. (The proposal continues to wend through the California Fish and Game Commission. See fgc.ca.gov.)

Working so closely with fishermen from Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties taught me a lot about marine wildlife, oceanographic currents and the art of negotiation. But the stakeholder experience also opened my eyes to the unique challenges commercial fishermen face, including our notoriously harsh North Coast weather. So when the March 11 tsunami destroyed Crescent City's harbor, the effect on the fishing fleet's ability to make a living was felt keenly among our MLPA colleagues -- from all sides. We'd worked together for over a year, spending time in meetings, over coffee, on the phone and via email. When the bad news arrived, it hit home.

We couldn't fix the damage, of course, or compensate for all the wages lost, but Ocean Conservancy, Humboldt Surfrider and Humboldt Baykeeper figured we could at least raise some funds during our monthly Ocean Night event at Arcata Theatre Lounge. The word went out. Reweti Wiki proved generous as ever, donating dinner and a night's stay at his Requa Inn. Local shaper Mark McClendon donated a custom surfboard. Each hosting organization donated goods and funds to make this Ocean Night extra special -- and the community responded in kind, with new faces and larger donations. All together, we raised close to $1,000 for the Redwood Region Rotary Relief Super Fund. Our gratitude goes out to those who stepped forward to help and our best wishes go to those still recovering from the devastation of the harbor.

Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard and California Department of Fish and Game worked together to complete pollution mitigation efforts for several weeks after the tsunami. Cleanup crews hauled out over 2,100 gallons of petroleum products and 2,260 cubic yards of oily debris. Simultaneously, we passed the one-year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, reminding us yet again of the importance of a clean, healthy ocean for our entire community.

Even more recently, I had the pleasure of helping Trinidad School kick off their Marine Activities Resources and Education Month. Each class studied a particular habitat, showing up to the assembly decked out in costumes ranging from sea stars to jellyfish. Designing Marine Protected Areas taught me a great deal about the range of habitats and sea life along our coast -- seeing the kids already so knowledgeable about those very things thrilled me. The more we love and understand our ocean, the more likely we, and future generations, will strive to protect it.

June 8 offers a chance to especially celebrate the sea through World Oceans Day. On June 1, Arcata's City Council issued a proclamation in honor of World Oceans Day and on Friday, June 3, Ocean Conservancy, Humboldt Baykeeper and Humboldt Surfrider present another Ocean Night, this one focusing on sharks, one of the most feared and least understood creatures of the sea. Filmmaker Rob Stewart debunks historical stereotypes of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and films start at 7 p.m. Ocean Night is always all ages with a $3 donation requested and a raffle held between movies. For more information, see surfrider.org/humboldt or humboldtbaykeeper.org.

Jennifer Savage serves as Ocean Conservancy's North Coast Program Coordinator and Humboldt Surfrider chair.

Sport fish contaminated along California's urban coastline

5/26/11

Mercury and PCBs contamination is widespread in sport fish in urban coastal waters across California, though mostly in moderate concentrations, a survey released Thursday by the state Water Board found.

Nineteen percent of the urban coastline sampled by researchers had fish with mercury in such high concentrations that they shouldn’t be eaten by young women and children. Fourteen percent of locations had similarly elevated levels of PCBs.

The findings are part of the largest statewide survey to date of contaminants in sport fish along the California coast. The report was based on the first year of a two-year survey, which examined more than 2,000 fish from three dozen species gathered in 2009 from waters near Los Angeles and San Francisco, including San Francisco Bay.

Researchers said the study highlights the health problem of lingering mercury, a poisonous metal that is found in fish globally, and PCBs, toxic chemicals the United States banned in the 1970s. Both substances continue to pose a risk to people who eat fish caught on the California coast because they can lead to nervous system damage and developmental problems in children and can cause cancer, liver damage and reproductive harm.

“Unfortunately, we're not seeing many areas that are totally clean,” said Jay Davis, a senior scientist for the San Francisco Estuary Institute and lead author of the study. But a catalog of where and in what fish the toxins abound should help anglers make better choices, he said. “With good information, people can reduce their exposure significantly.”

Sharks had some of the highest levels of mercury because of their unusual tendency to accumulate the contaminants in their flesh, researchers said. The most elevated concentrations of the pollutants were found in San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay.

As for which species is the safest: Southern California anglers can be rest easy catching and eating chub mackerel because it had the lowest levels of contamination in the survey.

The results of the survey were used in part to help craft new fish consumption guidelines issued earlier this week for anglers in San Francisco Bay -- the first update there by state health officials in 17 years. The advisory identifies shiner perch and other surf perches as unsafe to eat in any quantity and warns young women and children not to eat white sturgeon, striped bass and sharks caught in the bay.

The buildup of metals and other chemicals in fish is such a problem along the Southern California coast that health officials two years ago expanded the number of fish on the "do not eat" list from one to five species because of high levels of PCBs, mercury and the banned pesticide DDT.

Next year the state is expected to release the next portion of the survey: data on fish collected from the less populated central and north coasts. After that, researchers will show test results from fish in rivers and streams.