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Bulletin Board
Peace through Watershed Art ?
Eight Alameda County artists are working with teachers and students in four K-6 schools to combat youth drug involvement and gang activity through a new Watershed Arts-in-Education Program. Students are painting watershed murals, making creek critter puppets, keeping earth journals and playing movement games to help them understand ecosystem concepts. Program backers - Alameda County's Public Works Agency and Art Commission - hope the program will not only enhance self-esteem and deter bad behavior but also increase art skills and environmental awareness. Contact: Constance Moore (510)208-9646
Leg-hold Trap Ban
Friends and foes of foxes and other furry predators will battle it out at the ballot box this fall over an initiative that would ban the use of leg-hold traps, including padded jaw traps, on wildlife, cats and dogs. Animal rights activists claim the traps are inhumane, but wildlife managers and others are worried that such a ban would cripple efforts to protect clapper rails and other endangered birds from predation. "Non-native red foxes have wiped out entire bird colonies," says wetland activist Florence LaRiviere. "The padded traps are not inhumane and they are the only effective way to control the foxes. These animals have to be removed or all of our work [to protect endangered birds] in the South Bay will be for nought."
New Life for Toxics Clean Up?
The Bay Protection and Toxic Cleanup Program, established in 1990 to identify, evaluate and monitor toxics in California's bays and estuaries, may get a new lease on life if a bill now moving through the state legislature becomes law. The bill, AB 2339, introduced by Assemblymember Mike Sweeney, would require the State Board and regional boards to complete studies of toxic hot spots that were cut short last fall when Governor Wilson vetoed continued funding for the program and ordered the regional boards to complete their clean-up plans by the end of the year. In particular, the bill would require the boards to determine the areal extent of each hot spot; it would also require the State Board to implement clean-up plans for sites where responsible parties are known. The bill also expresses the legislative intent that funding for the program come out of waste permit fees paid by dischargers.
Slow the Flow
El Niño's relentless rains not only pushed some Bay Area residents to the brink of despair, they also pushed some Bay Area sewage systems well beyond their discharge permit limits, prompting a new effort to encourage conservation by a coalition of South Bay organizations. "We can't control El Niño but we can do something about wastewater from households," says Chris Elias of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which is sponsoring the "Slow the Flow-Save the Bay" program together with the City of San Jose, the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. By working with area employers to encourage their employees to take advantage of rebates for ultra-low-flow toilets and shower heads, the program hopes to reduce flows to the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant. Elias says the winter and spring rains caused so much infiltration and inflow to the areas sewage lines that the plant has exceeded its 120 million gallon per day discharge permit limit by as much as 24 million gallons per day. Contact Chris Elias (408)501-7852
Basin Plan Changes
How to define beneficial uses for groundwater; combat mercury pollution on a watershed scale, improve dredged material testing guidelines and permit review, and develop a stream protection strategy are among amendment topics being considered this year for the S.F. Bay Basin Water Quality Control Plan. Also on the table is the triennial basin plan review required under the Clean Water Act - key topics for public review include local implementation of federal PCB, PAH and dioxin standards, as well as NPDES permitting issues. Various opportunities for public comment may occur throughout the year as the S.F. Regional Board holds hearings on amendments and review issues. Contact: Ron Gervason (510)286-1325
Pike Woes Continue
As if the wrath of an entire town weren't bad enough, Cal Fish & Game is now facing criminal charges stemming from its effort to eradicate the voracious northern pike from Lake Davis. The Plumas County district attorney has charged the agency with violating state water laws when it poisoned the lake last fall to eliminate the illegally introduced game fish and prevent it from spreading to the Delta. The poisoning took place despite the strenuous protests of the nearby town of Portola, which relies on the lake for its drinking water during the summer. The complaint also claims that the agency violated discharge requirements by failing to adequately neutralize poisons flowing over the Lake Davis dam. The resulting spill killed fish in a five-mile stretch of Grizzly Creek. To top things off, a fisherman claimed to have caught a pike in Lake Oroville this March. By mid-May, however, no additional pike had been found outside Lake Davis. Prior to treating the lake last October, Fish & Game officials had assured area residents that the chemicals would dissipate within two months. However by May traces of one chemical, piperonyl butoxide, remained in the water. According to Fish & Game's Pat Foy, the chemical remaining in the lake is not toxic to either humans or wildlife, "but we made a commitment that we would not reconnect the lake to the drinking water until every trace was gone, and we are sticking to that." The agency is digging new wells to ensure that the town has an adequate water supply during the period when it would otherwise rely on Lake Davis.
CALFED Reprieve
In response to numerous requests that CALFED extend the public comment period for its draft EIS/EIR, the program has extended the period to July 1. In addition, CALFED will release a revised draft EIS/EIR later this year, with a final EIS/EIR scheduled for 1999. "We decided it was more important to take the extra time to make sure we come to good conclusions rather than try to meet an artificial deadline," says the program's Rick Breitenbach. The revised draft will include several new documents, including an environmental compliance appendix, a mitigation monitoring plan and a response to comments report, as well as revising a dozen sections to "reflect public comments and current thinking," says Breitenbach. Contact: CALFED (916)657-2666
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