Coastal Commission Wearies of Poseidon Ocean Desalination Plan; $530 Million in Public Subsidized Funding is Next Hurdle

By Joe Geever
Surfrider Foundation

Yesterday, after hours of deliberation the California Coastal Commission voted to reject a request by public-interest groups to revoke a permit for the largest desalination plant in the western Hemisphere in Carlsbad.

The groups had brought the revocation request after it was revealed that Poseidon Resources submitted incorrect environmental impact data – drastically underestimating the amount of marine life that would be killed by the plant. After the vote Commission staff disclosed new allegations of wrongdoing related to the plants greenhouse gas emissions.

One Commissioner, who voted against revoking the permit this time, commented that the repeated disclosure of misleading information from Poseidon was having a “cumulative effect.” “It’s like a rain of new problems,” according to Commissioner Burke – signaling what may be a sense of weariness by the Commission over the project’s proponent’s lack of accurate disclosures.

Taking away a developers permit after it has been granted is an extraordinary move and the Commission rarely takes this step. But members of the Commission expressed serious concern that Poseidon had withheld information from Commission staff on how much marine life would be killed in the ocean water intake.

When that information finally came at the last hour, it turned out to be erroneous and far underestimated the marine life mortality. According to Commissioner Sara Wan, “This is the clearest case for revocation I’ve seen in my many years on the Commission.” Other members, however, were not convinced that Poseidon had “intentionally” submitted false information and so voted not to revoke the permit.

In the end it remains unclear how the next revocation request may be viewed by the Commission. If Commissioner Burke’s observations reflect those of a majority of the Commissioners, Poseidon is setting what appears to be a pattern of misleading and erroneous information on the project that may sway some to believe these multiple misrepresentations were intentional and the project really does require a second look.

The project’s next hurdle is at the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, a panel that allocates tax-free bonds to fund projects with public benefits. Poseidon has similarly misrepresented the cost and financing, originally saying it would require no public financing and cost $270 million.

The company, however, is seeking $530 million in tax-exempt bonds (representing a $70 million taxpayer subsidy of the project) on top of $350 million ratepayer subsidy from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The committee, made up of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chaing and Governor Schwarzenegger, will meet to decide if Poseidon should receive these funds on January 14.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joe Geever is the Southern California Coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans,waves and beaches.

See the full article

San Diego Ranks #9 in Cities with Worst Tap Water

• Cities with best and worst tap water


• EWG's water filter buying guide

Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show

This article shocked me on how often people expect clean water and are exposed to water that does not pass basic safety tests. Perfect time for a quick reminder on how pure recycled water the goes through the Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) process: so pure that minerals needed to be added back in so it does not corrode pipes. The reverse osmosis step used kills all of the 'gender benders'/endocrine disruptors that people are rightly concerned about.

Full New York Time Article

quick excerpt:
"An analysis of E.P.A. data shows that Safe Drinking Water Act violations have occurred in parts of every state. In the prosperous town of Ramsey, N.J., for instance, drinking water tests since 2004 have detected illegal concentrations of arsenic, a carcinogen, and the dry cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene, which has also been linked to cancer.

In New York state, 205 water systems have broken the law by delivering tap water that contained illegal amounts of bacteria since 2004.

However, almost none of those systems were ever punished. Ramsey was not fined for its water violations, for example, though a Ramsey official said that filtration systems have been installed since then. In New York, only three water systems were penalized for bacteria violations, according to federal data.

The problem, say current and former government officials, is that enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act has not been a federal priority."

Cycle of Insanity: the Real Story of the Water Cycle

About a year ago, the San Diego chapter began working with Surfrider’s California Policy Coordinator, Joe Geever, on a new program: Know Your H20. We wanted to raise awareness of how fresh water management issues create a lot of problems for our oceans and beaches.
One idea we had was to build a website, but because the content of the problem is so overwhelming, and somewhat boring, we decided to build a flash-animated website. The project grew over time, as more folks through-out our California chapters heard about it, and wanted to help.
Naturally, almost all of our CA chapters are faced with the same problem: water is delivered from over thousands of miles away using huge amounts of energy, and at a huge expense. The water is used (often only once,) sent to a waste-water treatment plant, and then dumped in the ocean. And now, we are spending billions of dollars to build ocean desalination factories to pump the water back out of the ocean that we just paid for and transported. To us, it seems like an insane cycle of wasted energy and water resources. We wanted to show people that by conserving, and planting climate appropriate plants that we could in fact use less water, and that by recycling it to drinking standards, we could re-use our water. Both of these solutions would mitigate our need for desal factories which use way more energy than transporting our water thousands of miles, and in the process, contribute to climate change.

Paul Jenkin, at our Ventura chapter, along with Joe, began working with us on the content. We presented the facts to the West LA/Malibu chapter, and they said, “we can help build that flash movie!” Then the South Orange County chapter agreed to help fund, as did Monterrey, and Newport Beach.
We began writing the script, creating story boards, and then our friends at Scripps Institute of Oceanography connected us to the actress, and environmentalist, Zuleikha Robinson from Lost, who agreed to narrate our film. We are still a few months from completion, but because the film is one of the few to offer actual solutions to our water issues, we believe it can have a great impact on our consumers, businesses and agencies.

Right now we need your help securing a grant for the film's website. We have applied for a grant from Free Range Studios, who had 400 applicants. To help them narrow down a winner, we need your vote! Can you go here, and give us all 3 of your votes? We just need to finish in the top 20, and right now, we are at around #23.

Ocean Protection Council Is Holding an Informational Panel on Ocean Desalination

The Ocean Protection Council, after many requests from Surfrider Foundation and our partners in the environmental community, is holding an informational panel on ocean desalination. The meeting is right here in San Diego:

November 30, 2009
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Scripps Seaside Forum
8610 Kennel Way (formerly Discovery Way)
La Jolla, CA

It is our hope this panel presentation and public input will lead to an informed resolution from the OPC to several government agencies that will finally set standards on the best technology and location for ocean desalination. But maybe more importantly, the resolution can identify a set of alternatives to ocean desalination that restore our coast and ocean while meeting our demand for freshwater.

We want to emphasize that ocean desalination, if not done properly, will unnecessarily kill marine life in the seawater intakes and because of it’s enormous energy demand will increase the State’s cumulative greenhouse gas emissions — undermining the State’s efforts to restore healthy marine life populations and reduce climate change and all the threats it creates to our coast and ocean.

Before we race into building massive ocean desalination facilities, we should fully implement water conservation programs that not only lower our demand, but eliminate polluted urban runoff — like our Ocean Friendly Gardens program.

We should also eliminate partially treated sewage discharges to the ocean and purify that water for re-use. Between Ventura and San Diego, we discharge approximately 1.3 billion gallons of water a day from our wastewater treatment plants. Recycling just a fraction of that water would eliminate the need for ocean desalination. And for those of us who care about our coast and ocean, water recycling eliminates a source of pollution and dramatically reduces the current energy demand of importing water to the region. Ocean desal INCREASES both the energy demand “embedded” in water, INCREASES the water we waste by discharging it to the ocean — and kills fish in the process.

Join us in telling the Ocean Protection Council that we want California to prioritize alternatives to our water supply portfolio that are consistent with our goals to restore and protect our coast and ocean. The current so-called “water crisis” is a call for water management reform — not expensive and environmentally damaging “band-aid” fixes like ocean desal that only make the problems we’re trying to solve worse.

Cape Coral FL reusing all of its wastewater in 2009 - good on ya!

Click Here for the story.

Nothing Cape Coral residents flushed this year went to waste.

The City of Cape Coral this year recycled all of its wastewater, Public Works Supervisor Chuck Pavlos said. The city has come close in the past, but this is the first year the city has reused all of its water.

The city five years ago launched a half-billion dollars worth of water and sewer treatment plant expansions. The facilities treat wastewater and pump it back through the city’s irrigation system.

The system is designed to reuse treated water instead of dumping it into nearby waterways. Beyond protecting the waterways, it assures the city has a reliable water sources all year.

“It’s a very good thing,” said state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Rhonda Haag. “We’re very proud of them. Their wastewater program is a model for other cities.”

Dr. Peter Gleick on Carlsbad desal

This guys seems to have it right in my opinion....

"Water Number: $350 million in public subsidies to a private group. Earlier this week, one of the subsidies demanded by Poseidon was granted. The Metropolitan Water Board approved a subsidy of up to $250 per acre foot per year for 25 years, which will make MWD customers pay more for water than they would otherwise have paid, with the profits going to a private company. Up to $350 million over 25 years.

This decision by MWD effectively proves two things: first, that desalination, as envisioned and designed by Poseidon, remains a premature and expensive choice for California. Second, that for all of Southern California's claims of improved efficiency, it is still easier for water agencies to spend $2 (or $3 or $4) to build a water-supply project than to spend $1 to get the same water through water-efficiency programs."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gleick/detail??blogid=104&entry_id=51464#ixzz0WhHmHSN9

EPA tests porous pavement to combat contaminated rain runoff

Wouldn't it be great if we had porous pavement in every town and city in Southern California? Imagine how much cleaner our oceans would be!

Replacing all the old hard surfaces might cost some money, but replacing it would create a few jobs too. Wow - cleaner oceans, rivers and streams, and green jobs!

This is a study we will definitely keep our eyes on.


EPA tests porous pavement to combat contaminated rain runoff
Scientific American-10/30/09
By Larry Greenemeier

In an effort to prevent polluted parking lot rain runoff from contaminating surrounding soil and underground water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it has launched decade-long test of permeable materials to find one that can filter out impurities in rainwater before it flows to its final destination.

Pavement tends to collect grease, oil, antifreeze and other chemicals leaked from the cars that park there. When a heavy rain or snowstorm passes over this area it tends to wash these toxins toward the nearest porous surface. Sometimes this water rushes to a storm drain but other times storm drains are overwhelmed and runoff keeps flowing until it reaches the nearest patch of soil or body of water.

The EPA's first test site is its Edison, N.J., facility, where the agency has replaced a 3,995-square-meter section of parking lot with three different types of permeable pavement—interlocking concrete pavers, porous concrete and porous asphalt—and planted several rain gardens (pdf) with varying vegetation for the study. (Note: Interlocking concrete pavers are often called porous pavers, although the pavers themselves are not porous.)

Researchers will over time evaluate the effectiveness of each pavement type and the rain gardens in removing pollutants from stormwater, and how they help water filter back into the ground, according to the agency.

This long-term porous pavement research is part of the agency's Green Infrastructure Research Program and expected to let the EPA document the performance and capabilities of three porous pavement systems simultaneously at the same site, according to an EPA document describing the study.

Each of the monitored porous pavement parking rows has subsections lined with an impermeable geotextile fabric to collect the infiltrating water as well as sections that infiltrate into the underlying soil. Each impermeable section has a perforated pipe that drains the accumulated runoff through pipes under the roadway to a dedicated collection tank to the side of the lot.

Pollution runoff from hard surfaces remains a complicated problem, an EPA spokesman says. In urban areas, polluted runoff often flows from pavement into storm drains. "When heavy rain events occur, polluted water is often released into rivers, streams and oceans through events called combined sewer overflows," he says. "In rural areas, polluted runoff can flow off of paved areas directly into water bodies or onto land that may be used for farming."

Regional Liquidity: A Virtual Panel Hosted by voiceofsandiego.org & Equinox Center

This virtual panel features several articles on San Diego water issues:

• The Game of Pricing Water in San Diego: What Is This?



• Win the Hearts and Minds to Get Recycled Water



• The Problems with Irvine Ranch's Celebrated Water Prices

More articles can be found at www.voiceofsandiego.org

City Eases Water Policies, State Discusses More Conservation

Via kpbs.org

Mayor Jerry Sanders announced this week that the city will modify its water conservation plan for the winter. San Diego residents have conserved more than the city expected, and will not be asked to reduce watering to one day a week. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are discussing ways to improve California's water delivery system.

You can listen to the roundtable discussion with JW August, managing editor of 10News, Leslie Wolf Branscomb, editor of San Diego Uptown News, and Scott Lewis, chief executive officer of voiceofsandiego.org at kpbs.org

Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic Rainforest!

interesting psa from a Brazilian enviro group...

What Happens Upstream Don't Stay Upstream

Nothing like a warm cup of Earl Grey with a splash of Barium, Arsenic and Lead while reviewing the Old Testiment. I'm over sugar and milk - bring on the heavy metals.

Check out an article from the New York Times on how solving one environmental problem can create a major issue for water quality by clicking here.

California water war spreads to Congress

Via The Associated Press

The House approved a seemingly benign water recycling program Thursday for the San Francisco Bay area, but only after Republicans fought to broaden drought relief to California's farm belt.

More...

How IPR can Enhance CEQA Compliance

WateReuse is sponsoring a workshop on how using IPR stands to help wastewater districts be compliant with CEQA requirements.

Email me if you are interested in learning more or going at jared@surfridersd.org

Jared

Council To Take On Water Conservation

via kpbs.org

By Katie Orr

October 5, 2009

SAN DIEGO — Water in San Diego is becoming more scarce and more expensive. The city council will begin to look at ways to deal with San Diego’s limited water supply at its meeting Monday.

Council President Ben Hueso called for a Water Action Day to solicit ideas from experts and the public on how to better conserve. Hueso says the city should always take conservation seriously, not just when there’s a drought.

“We need to put a policy in place that gets to sustainable conservation. Not just conservation when we have a crisis, but conservation that’s going to make water available in San Diego on a consistent basis,” he says.

Hueso says the city should look into tiered water rates that give people financial incentives to use less. He says San Diego should also find renewable sources of water that reduce the city’s dependence on the Colorado River and San Joaquin River Delta.

Consumers' cuts drying up revenue for districts

This was a particularly frustrating article - it showed on one hand what Surfrider's been preaching for years: that if we just conserve water, we can make a big impact on our demand and supply, and potentially won't need to build desal plants up and down our coastline. But, on the other hand, it also pointed out how water agencies seem to be retailers willing to keep selling us as much as we want to consume, and in fact, depend on us to consume as much as possible so they can keep 'growing.'

Some of the comments below the article were particularly poignant, so please read on past the article, and let us know what you think.


California's Water: A Vanishing Resource
Consumers' cuts drying up revenue for districts
By Mike Lee
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. September 13, 2009


Be careful what you ask for.

Since California's drought began three years ago, water districts have increasingly urged residents and businesses to reduce consumption. In San Diego County, most of those agencies ramped up their pleas in April and then introduced mandatory restrictions in July, with the overall goal of cutting usage by 8 percent to 10 percent.

Now, they're facing too much of a good thing.

Countywide water use has plummeted more than expected, slashing water districts' sales revenue. Several agencies have seen their sales drop about 20 percent from April through July compared with the same time a year ago.

Water managers attribute the high savings rates to several factors, including the mandates, rapidly rising water bills and recession-weary households trying to lower their expenses.

The districts might have to keep boosting prices, tap reserves and shrink operating expenses while still carrying out projects required by state and federal laws.

Some have decided to ease their conservation outreach efforts and relax irrigation rules — an awkward position because climate experts don't expect the drought to end soon.

In the short run, the districts could encounter a more pressing challenge if the forecast atmospheric phenomenon called El Niño brings better-than-average rainfall this winter and enables residents to further curb their outdoor water use. That would cut deeper into sales.

“We don't need to keep telling (customers) to do a better job,” said Bill Rucker, general manager for the Vallecitos Water District in San Marcos.

His agency's sales fell 20 percent in the April-to-July period compared with the same period in 2008. To make up for the downturn, the district will leave some positions vacant and roll back conservation education.

During a meeting of the region's top water managers in late August, “everyone was concerned about the lost revenues,” said Dennis Lamb of the Vallecitos district.

He said the decision-makers expressed support for allowing residents to continue watering their lawns and other landscaping a maximum of three days a week during the winter and spring, even though current regulations call for irrigation only once a week from November through May.

Lamb, Rucker and other water officials said it's too early to panic about the financial bottom line. The figures for countywide water consumption in August haven't been finalized, and the heat wave at the end of that month may have boosted usage closer to normal levels.

Kristen Crane, who oversees Poway's water conservation team, wonders whether residents downsized their consumption so quickly that they'll soon burn out and return to old habits.

“If they just shut their sprinklers off altogether, that was not our goal,” she said. “We don't know if it's a knee-jerk reaction or if it's sustainable.”

Poway's water use during the April-to-July period dropped 22 percent compared with the same time last year. Crane said usage has decreased about 30 percent since 2007.

“If the conservation levels continue at 30 percent, we would have to evaluate the impacts of that on our rates,” Crane said.

Bill Lampshire, a 20-year resident of Scripps Ranch, said he believes the recent surge in conservation will be long-lasting.

He has curtailed his water use by irrigating his roses with dishwater, letting his lawn die and pushing his family members to shorten their showers. The result: a year-over-year reduction of more than 40 percent.

Lampshire also is looking at installing artificial turf instead of reviving his lawn.

His neighbors seem to be conserving, too. Virtually every yard in his neighborhood has a brown lawn or drought-tolerant landscaping, including rocks and cactuses.

Lampshire doesn't extend much sympathy to water districts squeezed by falling revenue.

“If they are not earning enough money, well, shame on them. They have earned enough in the past,” Lampshire said.

Uncertainties such as how intent people are on long-term conservation, how long California will remain parched and how certain wildlife preservation efforts will affect water supplies leave district managers nervously monitoring their sales figures.

“When we are mandated to cut back 8 to 10 percent, ideally we cut back 8 to 10 percent,” said Bob Cook, general manager for the Lakeside Water District.

But Lakeside is exceeding expectations and is among the county leaders in conservation. Its water use was down 20 percent during the April-to-July period compared with the same time a year earlier.

“Our (customers) are at the forefront of this economic downturn, and I am certain that has something do with it,” Cook said. “I bet their electricity bills are down. I bet their gasoline bills are down, too.”

Water agencies' expenses typically are tied to state and federal quality standards, so the districts can't make significant budget cuts without threatening public health and risking fines.

In addition, as inventories shrink amid drought, retail water agencies statewide are having to pay more because wholesalers are spreading their fixed costs over fewer gallons.

The Lakeside district's leaders are weighing their options.

“In the short term, we are going to rely on reserves,” Cook said. “In the long term, nobody has come to a decision on that.”

San Diego, by far the largest retail water agency in the county, isn't hurting as badly as some of its neighbors, said utilities director Jim Barrett.

He said the city budgeted for a 15 percent sales reduction during the fiscal year that started in July. San Diego's actual savings was about 18 percent for the April-to-July period compared with the same time last year.

The city's sales estimate was driven by initial projections that water supplies could be cut by 15 percent or more in Southern California. That conservation target was lowered in April, but San Diego stuck to the original forecast.

Still, Barrett said, the district could relax its outdoor-watering protocol for November through May. One irrigation day per week “is probably a little bit too severe” amid the current conservation trend, he said.

At the Olivenhain Municipal Water District in Encinitas, officials plan to leave their three-day-a-week system in place at least through December.

The amount of water saved by the district's customers in July and August equaled the agency's target for the entire fiscal year, General Manager Kimberly Thorner said.

“We don't want to be reactionary to just a couple of months of reduced demand . . . but essentially, since we are already getting 23 percent reduction with three watering days, let's just keep it up,” Thorner said.

San Diego Council Steps In on Water After Mayor's Plan Falls Flat

Interesting article from the Voice of San Diego...

Sunday, July 19, 2009 | When the first reduction in San Diego's water supplies in two decades loomed earlier this year, a long list of people weighed in on Mayor Jerry Sanders' proposal to reduce citywide use.

Lobbyists lobbied. Economists critiqued. Concerned residents questioned.

One group was notably silent: The City Council.

That changed in early April after voiceofsandiego.org revealed misrepresentations that Water Department staff had made about the benefits of Sanders' proposal, which had based proposed cuts on residents' historic use. Very quickly, the council got a lot more interested in shaping a policy that had previously been entrusted to the Mayor's Office and Water Department staff to develop and market.

Then San Diego got a reprieve. The 20 percent supply cut the city had prepared for didn't manifest. Instead, the region is coping with an 8 percent reduction. But as the potential for cuts looms again next year, City Council President Ben Hueso is now prodding his colleagues to develop their own water-reduction strategy -- not rely on the mayor.

In a recent memo, he asked them to submit ideas for promoting water conservation and new supplies and has proposed a series of public meetings about water.

Click Here for the full VoiceofSanDiego.org article.

Microbiologist's view on water reclamation in SD

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 | As a professor of Microbiology and a concerned citizen of San Diego, I am extremely concerned about the reports Councilor Lightner has had a change of mind concerning the City's water reclamation plan. We have a serious and growing water crisis in the San Diego region and this plan is incredibly important to our region's water security. I have looked at the plans in detail and I know that the water we will be getting from this proposal will be significantly cleaner than our current water sources.

Remember, our current water source is already sewage contaminated from the run-off of upstream cities and is not nearly as heavily treated and filtered as the reclaimed water will be. People may think that desalination is safer option, but the ocean is loaded with bacteria that needs to be removed. With desalination, you not only have to get rid of the bacteria and virus, as with reclamation, but you also have to deal with all the salt making the process much more expensive and energy intensive. And if energy prices take off again, desalination becomes even more expensive.

I am not arguing against desalination; we will probably need that too along with much tighter water restrictions and loads of xeriscaping. However, we cannot afford to miss out on any source of water, especially from the relatively cheap and clean source provided by reclamation. San Diego will need every possible source of water in the future given our continuing drought, population growth and climate change.

People are afraid of this plan because of the psychological "yuck" factor: there is no scientific reasoning behind this fear. I hope the City Council members and the mayor are able to see past the temporary political ramifications and see the larger picture for the citizens of San Diego. We have a crisis here and we need intelligent and brave leadership to secure this most precious resource for future San Diegans.

Dr. Scott T. Kelley is the Associate Professor of Microbiology at San Diego State University

www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/07/09/letters/128lightner070709.txt

Re-Recycled Sewage Vote Fails

and it's a good thing! The IPR pilot project is still on track, although a little late. Thumbs up to Councilmember Kevin Faulconer for voting to honor the already issued contract.

From the Voice of San Diego...

The City Council voted 5-3 (on July 7th) to reject Councilwoman Sherri Lightner's request to revoke a $438,000 contract that's a key part of the city's examination of recycled sewage as a drinking-water source.

Lightner, Carl DeMaio and Tony Young voted in favor of revoking the contract; Donna Frye, Todd Gloria, Marti Emerald, Ben Hueso and Kevin Faulconer supported maintaining it.

Faulconer, who has opposed sewage recycling in previous votes, served as the swing vote. His spokesman said yesterday that Faulconer didn't support reneging on an already issued contract.

While some sewage recycling proponents worry that Lightner's request signals an end to their once solid majority on the council, Lightner said she does support the concept so long as it comes with "fiscal responsibility and public health protections."

Click Here for the Voice of SD article.

CLICK HERE for a more in-depth story about the vote and water resue that I just came across from the SD Union-Tribune. Here's part of it...

"More than a decade after San Diego started looking at how to turn wastewater back into tap water, the proposal remains in a political quagmire and city officials have lost a major chance to win federal stimulus money for it.

The City Council took a small step yesterday to preserve the latest water-reuse effort, which supporters call reservoir augmentation and critics dub “toilet to tap.” The council kept a $420,000 contract to study one part of the plan.

But the overall project's future is increasingly tenuous. Before the City Council's makeup changed in December, the concept was backed by five of the eight council members. Now three are opposed, four are in favor and Sherri Lightner says she is unsure."

Oh La La! Sexy Water Recycling Embraced in San Diego!

According to a San Diego County Water Authority Study, Attitudes and Perceptions are Changing Concerning Water Recycling

• Respondents (85 percent) are largely aware that recycled water is already in use in San Diego County for irrigation and other non-drinking water purposes. Residents (89 percent either strongly favor or somewhat favor) support the use of recycled water for non-drinking purposes, and this finding is consistent with previous surveys.

• Over one-half (53 percent) of respondents believe that it is possible to treat recycled water to make it is pure and safe for drinking, and over one third (35 percent) think that drinking water already contains recycled water. Among those who hold this belief, 22 percent feel this way because the water tastes or smells bad, and 18 percent learned about the use of recycled water through the media.

• Over three-fifths (63 percent) of the respondents either strongly favor or somewhat favor advanced treated recycled water as an addition to the supply of drinking water. Support for recycled water in all of its proposed or current uses is significantly stronger among those who know that it is presently being used in the County than it is among those without such knowledge. The interest in using recycled water for drinking purposes has increased substantially since 2005 when 28 percent either strongly favored or somewhat favored such use of recycled water.

• It is noteworthy that approximately 40 percent of those who were originally not strongly in favor of using recycled water for drinking purposes would find it acceptable if it received advanced treatment and upon learning about certain other safety provisions to be undertaken.

• More specifically, it is most interesting of all is that 30%-47% of those who are initially not
sure or somewhat opposed to the use of recycled water for drinking can be positively influenced.

2009 Public Opinion Poll Report Rea & Parker Research San Diego County Water Authority April, 2009

Backing water-reuse preferred over desal in Singapore

"SMART money prefers backing water-reuse projects over desalination ones, says a study done jointly by Singapore and foreign consultants.

This is because it is cheaper to purify the outfall from water reclamation plants than to turn sea water into drinking water."

Makes sense to me and something that transfers well to California. Think about the massive amounts of energy that we use to move water around the state coupled with the amount of energy that wastewater treatment plants use to cleanse it to secondary or tertiary standards. Why throw all of the energy down the drain or ocean outfall? Take a few more steps and add it back to our water supply. After conservation (think irrigation) I believe IPR is most vital for the future water supply.

Click Here for the full story from te Straits Times in Singapore.

H2NO: San Diego Going Dry

Catchy name for this in depth series from kpbs.org in San Diego about the current water 'situation'.

"California is teetering on the edge of the worst drought in the state’s history. The lack of rainfall and melting snowpack is causing reservoirs to shrink and rivers to run dry, and the water supply for millions of residents is being threatened. KPBS looks at the impacts of going dry."

CLICK HERE for the full story.

Smarter Showering

It’s hot, it’s steamy, and you do it every day — shower, that is. But do you get wet in the most eco-friendly way? Umbra Fisk drops some nozzle knowledge that’ll make your shower greener, and keep your hard-earned money from going down the drain.

Grist.org is a great website from the Pacific Northwest that has a cult-like following. Umbra is their question answerer. Toss her any sort of environmental question and she will logical solutions. Her latest installment covers showering...

Top 10 San Diego Water Users

San Diego News Network created a list of the top 10 water users in San Diego. The list includes Caltrans, UCSD, SDSU and SeaWorld. The City of San Diego is the largest single wholesale agency the Water Authority works with. The top 10 is beginning to change it's water usage and have come up with ways to conserve water. Click here for the rest of the list.

Desalination in Pendleton?

The San Diego County Water Authority, perhaps emboldened by the imprudence demonstrated the Regional Water Quality Control Board in permitting an atavistic approach to desalination, is exploring a desalination plant in Camp Pendleton. This would be the largest by volume of water produced and most expensive plants in the US by 3x.

This is a great time to start working with the County Water Authority to be sure that this massive project is progressive in approach. Come out to the June Know Your H20 meeting to speak with Toby Roy of the San Diego County Water Authority to be sure this is done right.

Check our Rob Davis of the Voice of San Diego's interview on the topic.

New San Diego Water Conservation Ordinance

As of June 1st the City of San Diego has enacted new rules and restrictions for water usage. There are new limitations on the amount of time and the days that San Diegans can water their lawns and plants. The City Council is asking that San Diegans only turn on outdoor water systems 3 times a week before 10am and after 6pm.

Homes with odd-numbered addresses will be permitted to water on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Homes with even-numbered addresses can water on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Apartments, condos and businesses can water only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

They are also asking that when washing cars that you use a bucket, a hose with a nozzel that shuts of automatically, or that you go to a local car wash service. San Diegans are also being told not to water down their driveways, garages, or sidewalks. There will be penalties for not following the new measures.

These are all new steps that the city hopes to instill in everyone so that they become conscious and aware of their water usage.

Heroes in a time of drought

Brook Sarson: 

Brook Sarson, a San Diego resident, is doing her part to decrease human impact on Earth's ever-decreasing water supply. Sarson has a 1,300 gallon rainwater tank in her backyard for her family's water needs and uses greywater from her laundry machine and shower to hydrate her enviable backyard garden. Sarson reports that she uses about twenty gallons a day per family member from her rainwater tank and since using the tank her water bills have been cut in half. In addition to cutting down on water usage and saving money, Sarson's garden has produced ten times more food since beginning her water-harvesting endeavors. She claims that not only is her backyard for her and her children, it is also a symbol of how things should be. For information on Brooke Sarson's water harvesting company, H2OME, email brook@h20-me.com or call 619.964.4838

Tom Warner:

Tom Warner, a Talmadge resident, let his green lawn die when the unending drought and ever-increasing water bills forced him to stop watering grass. He states that, "unless you have a dog or children, you don't necessarily need a lawn". That is why Warner turned to rockscapes. He purchased Mediterranean and tropical drought-tolerant plants for $300 and collected rocks from his friend's yard for free and, voila, a low-hassle, low-cost, guilt-free front yard. Warner will turn off his irrigation from winter to spring. Then, Dockery suggests watering deep and allowing soil to dry up before the next sprinkling. Roots learn to search out water below the surface, he explains.

“Our kind of feeling about plants is push them a little bit,” agreed Marty Eberhardt, executive director of the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College. “Try the low end and then give it a little bit more water instead of giving it so much everyday.” Eberhardt says low-flow toilet rebates have been around for years, but there’s been little emphasis on outdoor landscape - which consumes 50 to 70 percent of San Diego’s dwindling and largely imported water supply.

Warner leaves us with a personal mantra, "Where there is a rock, you don't have to water". 

Joe Randazzo

"It's the best move I've ever made," says Joe Randazzo of investing in AstroTurf to replace his natural-grass front lawn. Tired of the maintenance of a grass lawn and plagued by increasing water bills from watering, Randazzo decided to switch to the polyethelene synthetic grass. According to him, people don't even know the grass is synthetic! By installing the AstroTurf and landscaping simply with water-wise planters, Randazzo has cut costs by saying goodbye to gas for the lawnmower, the entire sprinkler system, fertilizer, and half of the water bill. Now, instead of caring for the lawn, his formerly least favorite chore, he now only waters the planters by hand every couple of weeks. 

There are certain drawbacks to having a synthetic front lawn, though. First of all, the artificial grass is made using petroleum, which is a finite resource like water.  Also, the instillation of a artificial lawn can be quite pricey, costing a homeowner up to $6,000 for a 20x30 yard. Furthermore, barbecues and other gas-operated machinery should be steered clear of. Lastly, the grass can get very hot so you must keep that in mind if you picture children playing on the lawn.

Randazzo doesn't play on his front lawn, though, and claims that the high cost of the lawn will pay for itself in the way of no water bills or maintenance fees. Randazzo points out that he certainly doesn't want to run out of water because, "without water, we run out of everything". This mentality should be shared by all of us on Earth because of the effects of wasteful water practices. 

Ken Muehleman

Like an child ready to play, Ken Muehleman is eager to share the area nearest to his heart: a 400-square-foot organic vegetable garden, smack alongside busy Catalina Boulevard. The electrical engineer harvests a bounty of greens from oregano to arugala, snow peas to swiss chard. “Gardening is the prime motivator,” said Ken gesturing to the crop of spring vegetables. “But the challenge is to do it in the most efficient way, to get the most while not wasting water.”

Here’s how he does it: soaker hoses and drip irrigation concentrate moisture where it’s needed most, laying newspaper and wood chips over the dirt reduces evaporation, and vetch groundcover enriches soil and saves water. Conserving, composting, even his worm bed are all part of being a global citizen, Ken figures, especially in a place that is warming and drying.

“They talk about people watering only two or three times a week. I find that very hard to take,” Ken gestures to his heart as he talks of the county mandates. “We like to see if we can water once a week and grow decent vegetables.”

Not a New Problem

Southern California has always had a problem with water- a problem getting the water from where it was to where the people that needed it lived. In San Diego, they solved the problem by building a dam, and building six miles of aqueduct to get it to the Mission Valley area. This happened in 1769. The problem is exactly the same today as it was then — getting the water to the people who need it.

Of course, the problem is compounded by the fact there are several million people who need the water, and that the water is now in very short supply. The bigger problem, though, is the fact that fully 90 percent of the water people need is not six miles away, but hundreds of miles away — in Northern California and in the Colorado River.

How did San Diego get into this fix? Click on the link below to read about the history of water supply issues in San Diego...

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-05-27/special-sections/water/san-diegos-water-problem-not-new

One Small Sip for Man and a Giant Gulp of Recycled Urine For Mankind

Wednesday, May 20th made history as the day that NASA astronauts took their first drink of water recycled from their urine, sweat, and water that is condensed when air is exhaled. Astronaut Michael Barratt claims that, "the taste is great". While the American side of the space station is drinking water made from urine, sweat, and exhaled air, the Russian side of the station is only producing water from the last of the three. 

The urine recycling system is used at outposts on the moon and on Mars. This innovative system will save NASA money on water transportation to space and will allow crews on the space station to consist of six people instead of three. How, you may ask, is drinkable water created from urine? Well, it's quite simple, actually. The new system takes the combined urine of the crew from the toilet, moves it to a big tank, where the water is boiled off, and the vapor collected. The rest of contaminants — the yucky brine in the urine — is thrown away, said Marybeth Edeen, the space station's national lab manager who was in charge of the system. The water vapor is mixed with water from air condensation, then it goes through filters, much like those put on home taps, Edeen said. When six crew members are at the space station, they can make about six gallons of urine in about six hours.

Edeen also points out that the drinking of recycled urine also occurs on Earth, although with more time between urine and the tap. In space the process only takes about one week. This system has already been used for quick water purification after the 2004 Asian tsunami. While this technology has only been embraced by those floating in space thus far, it is still a glimmer of hope for us Earthlings. With this kind of technology, waste water can be reused, reducing our impact on the world's natural water supply. 

Irresponsible Fear-Mongering Advertisement from Rescue Rooter

I received this irresponsible fear-mongering from "Rescue Rooter" just the other day. I'm angered to see such an irresponsible advertising campaign. Tertiary reclaimed water is safe to drink and a great option. Please let "Rescue Rooter" know that you disapprove of this marketing strategy by boycotting their services.

A Shout-Out On The Drought by Larry Himmel

a clever take on our water situation from CBS reporter Larry Himmel...

Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
Squandered when we wash the car, wasted in the kitchen sink.
Too much agua on the lawn and in the garden too
We need to make some changes, and it's up to me and you.

You know it wasn't that long ago when folks used to say
To be healthy we had to drink at least eight glasses a day.
And we all carried gallon jugs, it became of trendy fashion.
It now appears that eight glasses will become our monthly ration.

There will be mandatory rationing until we change our ways.
Unless you're rich enough to water your grass with Perriers.
And the city will hand out fines, if our water use does increase.
You could be handcuffed and rubber hose-whipped by the water police.

Now I'm not being flippant, this comes from the heart.
We're all in this together, so let's just play it smart.
Water at a later hour for a shorter amount of time.
Sprinkle just three days a week and soon will all be fine.

Now I'm not suggesting that we take a backwards path.
And return to the days when folks only took a Saturday night bath.
Or limit your total hygiene to a toothbrush and a sponge
And turn America's Finest City into the city of the grunge.

Soon it will be mandatory to save every precious drop.
And change the way we live after the rationing will stop.
But I'll ask the city and county with all of my silly poems
If we live in the parched desert, why do we keeping building homes?

But let's all roll up our hoses and plant for xeroscape.
Wash the car after 6, until were out of our current scrape.
If we don't change our ways, soon we'll be a fruitless plain.
Heed the warning, turn off the tap and then let's pray for rain.

Click Here for the video.

Does Rehoboth Beach DE Know It's H2O?

The City of Rehoboth Beach has to decide what to do with it's wastewater now that it has to stop dumping into the canal by 2011 and Surfrider enthusiastically supports LBA. LBA or spray irrigation is a universally accepted method for treating and reclaiming waste water into irrigation water for farmers, whereas an ocean outfall is a pipe leading out into the ocean which discharges treated effluent from a sewage treatment plant. Each year billions of gallons of fresh water are lost from effluent discharge into water bodies.

Please click the link below, sign the petition and send it to your friends and family.

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/rehobothbeach_outfall

From the action alert: "Spray irrigation will help Delaware agriculture, recharge groundwater aquifers, keep water in the watershed, not the ocean; create sustainable farming, maintain open space for farming & recreation, and is an economically proven and permissible technology. Spray irrigation helps replenish our diminishing ground water aquifers while an ocean outfall puts all waste water in the ocean and none goes to Delaware agriculture. An ocean outfall empties billions of gallons of freshwater into the ocean each year, which cannot be reclaimed or recycled into the ground water. With the population growth causing an increasing demand on Delaware's water supply and waste water capacity, we need a system which will be able to process more waste water while preserving precious fresh water for the future."

Mandatory water conservation, coming to San Diego June 1, 2009

It's coming! Mayor Sanders unveiled his plan for how it could work, so let's hope the city council votes for it!

Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System Wins National Civil Engineering Award

From the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE):

April 23, 2009: Turning Wastewater Into Drinking Water
Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System Wins National Civil Engineering Award

Reston, Va. – Orange County faced a serious challenge: how to continue providing water for its growing population and economy. In the past, water purchased from outside Southern California had been the answer. Realizing that the old solution wasn’t a sustainable answer, the Orange County Water and Sanitation District’s new Groundwater Replenishment System (GWR) provides a high quality, reliable water supply. In recognition of its success, the Groundwater Replenishment System has been honored with the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2009 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) Award. Presented this evening at the 10th annual Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va., the OCEA award recognizes the project’s significant contributions to both the civil engineering profession and the local community.

“Sufficient water sources are not guaranteed,” said ASCE President D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, “especially not in Southern California. The Groundwater Replenishment System is a safe, reliable option for meeting the increasing water demands of north and central Orange County, and it is an excellent example of how civil engineering can contribute to a community’s economic success, improve residents’ quality of life and protect public safety.”

The projected water demand in central and north Orange County for the year 2020 is 600,000 acre-feet (which is enough water for 1.3 million families annually) compared to current consumption of about 500,000 acre-feet per year (which is enough water for one million families annually). These projections indicate that demand will far outweigh supply. This imbalance will become even more pronounced in a drought. Included as a case study for raising the Drinking Water grade in the ASCE 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the GWR system to meets growing demands and reduces reliance on water imported from other sources.

The GWR system takes water through an advanced purification process. This purified water is of a higher quality than required by all state and federal drinking water standards and is similar to distilled water. The system uses the latest water treatment technologies, and its structures have been designed to accommodate solar power, providing a reliable, drought-proof source of pure water for the county, reducing saltwater intrusion into the groundwater basin and lowering the amount of wastewater discharged to the ocean. Water from the system will be between 35 and 75 percent cheaper than water produced by seawater desalination, and the purification process will consume about half the energy.

The GWR System provides a new drought-proof water source for northern and central Orange County, will reduce reliance on imported water, and will save additional funds in the future by improving the quality of the water in the Orange County groundwater basin. This water quality improvement takes place when the new purified water, low in minerals, mixes with existing groundwater, lowering the average mineral content. Lowering the amount of minerals in the water, or reducing water hardness will decrease maintenance costs for residents and businesses by extending the life of water heaters, boilers, cooling towers and plumbing fixtures.

The contenders for the 2009 OCEA Award included the I-35W St. Anthony’s Falls Bridge Project in Minneapolis; the H. Clay Whaley, Sr. Memorial Water Plant in St. Cloud, Fla.; the Lake Brazos Labyrinth Weir in Waco, Texas; the Montagua Bridge in LaGarrucha, Guatemala; and the Elk Creek Tunnel Bridge located between Elkton and Drain, Ore.

Established in 1960, the OCEA program recognizes projects on the basis of their contribution to the well-being of people and communities, resourcefulness in planning and design challenges, and innovation in materials and techniques. Previous winners have included the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project on the Washington, D.C. beltway, the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit in San Francisco, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse relocation in North Carolina and the Saluda Dam Remediation project in Columbia, S.C.

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 146,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. For more information, visit www.asce.org. For more information on the awards program, please contact Anthony Reed at areed@asce.org or (703) 295-6413. ###

Poseidon as puppet master?

"Ben Hueso—City Council president, California Coastal Commission member and state Assembly candidate—really, really wants there to be a desalination plant in Carlsbad. Whenever he’s been asked about the prospect of Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources constructing a plant to turn seawater into potable water, he’s expressed his strong support for the project. He supports it so much that he’s even willing to let the company write salutary letters that he then sends under his own name.

Poseidon’s proposed plant would take in 304 million gallons a day of seawater and provide 50 million gallons a day of drinking water to the San Diego region. As threats of water rationing hang over the region like the storm clouds we wish would come, the company has received renewed support from elected officials—from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Chris Kehoe to the Carlsbad City Council. And Hueso.

The documents, obtained by CityBeat under California’s public-records law, show that on at least two occasions, Poseidon vice president Scott Maloni sent e-mail to Hueso’s chief of staff, Alonso Gonzalez—himself a candidate for City Council—drafts of letters Maloni wanted Hueso to send to the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Both letters emphasized Hueso’s position as a Coastal Commissioner, and both asked the water board to vote to approve the desal plant. In both cases, Hueso sent the letters unedited."

That's an excerpt from a recent San Diego City Beat article. Click Here for the full story.

Climate Change Means Shortfalls in Colorado River Water Deliveries

Hot off the wire from UCSD/Scripps! April 20, 2009

Climate Change Means Shortfalls in Colorado River Water Deliveries

Scripps researchers find that currently scheduled water deliveries from the Colorado River are unlikely to be met if human-caused climate change reduces runoff in the region.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography/ University of California, San Diego

The Colorado River system supplies water to tens of millions of people and millions of acres of farmland, and has never experienced a delivery shortage. But if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier, scheduled deliveries will be missed 60-90 percent of the time by the middle of this century, according to a pair of climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.

"All water-use planning is based on the idea that the next 100 years will be like the last 100," said Scripps research marine physicist Tim Barnett, a co-author of the report. "We considered the question: Can the river deliver water at the levels currently scheduled if the climate changes as we expect it to. The answer is no."

Even under conservative climate change scenarios, Barnett and Scripps climate researcher David Pierce found that reductions in the runoff that feeds the Colorado River mean that it could short the Southwest of a half-billion cubic meters (400,000 acre feet) of water per year 40 percent of the time by 2025. (An acre foot of water is typically considered adequate to meet the annual water needs of two households.) By the later part of this century, those numbers double.

The paper, "Sustainable water deliveries from the Colorado River in a changing climate," appears in the April 20 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The analysis follows a 2008 study in which Barnett and Pierce found that Lake Mead, the reservoir on the Colorado River created by Hoover Dam, stood a 50-percent chance of going dry in the next 20 years if the climate changed and no effort was made to preserve a minimum amount of water in the reservoir. The new study assumes instead that enough water would be retained in the reservoir to supply the city of Las Vegas, and examines what delivery cuts would be required to maintain that level.

"People have talked for at least 30 years about the Colorado being oversubscribed but no one ever put a date on it or an amount. That's what we've done," said Barnett. "Without numbers like this, it's pretty hard for resource managers to know what to do."

Barnett and Pierce also point out that lakes Mead and Powell were built during and calibrated to the 20th century, which was one of the wettest in the last 1,200 years. Tree ring records show that typical Colorado River flows are substantially lower, yet 20th Century values are used in most long-term planning of the River. If the Colorado River flow reverts to its long-term average indicated by the tree rings, then currently scheduled water deliveries are even less sustainable.

Barnett and Pierce show that the biggest effects of human-induced climate change will probably be seen during dry, low-delivery years. In most years, delivery shortfalls will be small enough to be manageable through conservation and water transfers, they estimate. But during dry years there is an increasing chance of substantial shortages.

"Fortunately, we can avoid such big shortfalls if the river's users agree on a way to reduce their average water use," said Pierce. "If we could do that, the system could stay sustainable further into the future than we estimate currently, even if the climate changes."
# # #

Scripps Institution of Oceanography: scripps.ucsd.edu

Scripps News: scrippsnews.ucsd.edu


Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at UC San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide. Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration.

UCSD News on the Web: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu
Scripps Contacts: Robert Monroe or Mario Aguilera 858-534-3624; scrippsnews@ucsd.edu

The San Vicente Dam Raise project starts soon along with new wetlands in the TJ River Valley approved

Info from the latest SDCWA Emergency Storage Project email...

Getting Ready for Construction on San Vicente Dam Raise

Good news for San Diego County: construction starts soon on the San Vicente Dam Raise, the last major component of the Emergency Storage Project.

The San Vicente Dam Raise project will increase the height of the existing dam by 117 feet. This will more than double the reservoir's water storage capacity. Construction is expected to begin before summer.

Lake Hodges Cofferdam Gets the Job Done How do you build an inlet-outlet structure and its connecting tunnel on the bottom of a reservoir? You use a cofferdam! The Lake Hodges Projects contractor installed a temporary cofferdam to keep the reservoir water out of the construction area. This spring, the cofferdam will be dismantled and removed - it accomplished its job.

A Closer Look at Pipe Installation Pipe installation for the San Vicente Pipeline is well under way in the western portion of the tunnel. To date, crews have placed about 180 pipe segments in the tunnel, almost two miles long. The contractor anticipates completing pipe installation for the five miles between the West and Central shafts this spring.

Testing Equipment in the New San Vicente Pumping Facilities With construction largely complete, over the next several months each piece of equipment in the pump station and surge control tank will undergo extensive testing to help ensure it works properly when needed. The pumping facilities will deliver water from San Vicente Reservoir to the San Vicente Pipeline and ultimately to San Diego County residents during an emergency.

Wetlands Creation in Tijuana River Valley Approved
As part of the Water Authority's commitment to protecting the environment while providing a safe, reliable water supply to the San Diego region, the board of directors certified and approved the final environmental document for the Tijuana River Valley Wetlands Mitigation Project in December 2008.

Sales of Bottled New York Tap Water Embarrass Non-Mad Citizens

The Los Angeles Times points out that a lot of idiots in New York are paying $1.50 a bottle for city tap water. To our surprise, there is no law against Craig Zucker -- who started his flim-flam career selling $1 golf shots with a million-dollar prize for a hole in one -- bottling local water as "Tap'd NY" and re-selling it.

Zucker claims that he filters the water before bottling, so it will be less poisonous than the free water with which generations of citizens were hydrated before the world went mad, but other than that there's no advantage to his product except convenience. The company does encourage buyers to refill their Tap'd bottles from public sources, which is like liquor companies telling us to drink responsibly. People like author Elizabeth Royte have been trying to get New York to reduce bottled water use by installing more public drinking fountains, but the whole air-and-water-should-be-free thing is kind of out of date, and we doubt the cash-strapped city will spend money to discourage consumerism.

There are only two things that can arrest this mortifying fad: common sense -- which left us some time ago -- and the New Depression, which will probably revive the use of public fountains, and re-accustom citizens to tap water when it is served at soup kitchens.

Article from The Village Voice in NYC, check them out.

Reducing Polluted Runoff Is a Much Better Strategy Than Accepting and Trying to Treat Ever Increasing Amounts of Runoff

"Instead of engineering the stormwater system to deal with increasingly large amounts of stormwater, these low impact development approaches utilize technologies that aim to reduce the amount of stormwater that even enters the system. This is achieved through processes that encourage enhanced infiltration and evaporation processes. Simple approaches such as green roofs, increased tree cover, disconnecting downspouts, and adding more green space can go a long way to reducing the amount of stormwater that enters sewers. [don't forget storm drain systems] And in some circumstances, these technologies can realize significant cost savings for municipalities and building owners." - quote by Subcommittee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas.

Click Here for the full story from www.ens-newswire.com

Breaking News - Obama Pimp Slaps Toilet to Tap Delegates

15 March 2009, Washington DC.

In February, President Obama issued an official pimp slap to Toilet to Tap Agitators. This slap came in the form of Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act via a $1 billion allocation to Water Resources, with at least $126 million going to reclamation and reuse projects. The following photo was taken immediately preceding the now-famous Presidential Pimp Slap.



See below for the page of the bill that describes the allocation, and CLICK HERE if you 1) Like to Read Bills, 2) Suffer from Insomnia.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
WATER AND RELATED RESOURCES
For an additional amount for ‘‘Water and Related Resources’’, $1,000,000,000: Provided, That of the amount appropriated under this heading, not less than $126,000,000 shall be used for water reclamation and reuse projects authorized under title XVI of Public Law 102–575: Provided further, That funds provided in this Act shall be used for elements of projects, programs or activities that can be completed within these funding amounts and not create budgetary obligations in future fiscal years: Provided further, That $50,000,000 of the funds provided under this heading may be transferred to the Department of the Interior for programs, projects and activities authorized by the Central Utah Project Completion Act (titles II–V of Public Law 102–575): Provided further, That $50,000,000 of the funds provided under this heading may be used for programs, projects, and activities authorized by the California Bay-Delta Restoration Act (Public Law 108–361): Provided further, That not less than $60,000,000 of the funds provided under this heading shall be used for rural water projects and shall be expended primarily on water intake and treatment facilities of such projects: Provided further, That not less than $10,000,000 of the funds provided under this heading shall be used for a bureau-wide inspection of canals program in urbanized areas: Provided further, That the costs of extraordinary maintenance and replacement activities carried out with funds provided in this Act shall be repaid pursuant to existing authority, except the length of repayment period shall be as determined by the Commissioner, but in no case shall the repayment period exceed 50 years and the repayment shall include interest, at a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury as of the beginning of the fiscal year in which the work is commenced, on the basis of average market yields on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with the remaining periods of maturity comparable to the applicable reimbursement period of the project adjusted to the nearest one-eighth of 1 percent on the unamortized balance of any portion of the loan: Provided further, That for projects that are being completed with funds appropriated in this Act that would otherwise be expired for obligation, expired funds appropriated in this Act may be used to pay the cost of associated supervision, inspection, overhead, engineering and design on those projects and on subsequent claims, if any: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior shall submit a quarterly report to the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate detailing the allocation, obligation and expenditures of these funds, beginning not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act: Provided further, That the Secretary shall have unlimited reprogramming authority for these funds provided under this heading.

Extra! Extra! Read all About it! Parched Disney Visitors Slurp Sewer Water!

Visitors to Disneyland likely don't know that when they sip from Disney water fountains that the great tasting aqua treat was once streaming through a public sewer. Not to worry though. That sewer water is actually substantially cleaner and more carefully filtered than the water consumed in the average American household. Moreover, the new system providing Disney's water could be the most viable means of drought proofing a state that faces some potentially serious water issues in the coming years.

Read the Article!

Energy and Water Connection? VERY NICE!!

Our leaders are making the connection in legislation - it takes energy to move water, and it might be a good idea to consider that in how our federal policy directs water conveyance. See press release below and links.



Energy-water use connection sought

Friday, March 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on March 10 held a hearing on a recently introduced bill that aims to integrate the relationship between energy and water use into national policy decisions.

The bill, known as the Energy and Water Integration Act of 2009, or S 531, was introduced March 5 by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, and Lisa Murkowski, R-AK. S 531 would direct the US Department of Energy to develop a framework for the energy-water use study. The Energy Department would be required to consult with the US Department of the Interior and the US Environmental Protection Agency, and then to enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences under which the Academy analyzes the impact of energy development and production on US water resources.

Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Oakland, CA-based think tank Pacific Institute, on March 10 testified before the committee in support of the bill. According to a March 10 Pacific Institute press release, Gleick explained how water and energy are linked, how limits to the availability of both resources are beginning to affect one another, and how recognizing this link when developing national energy and water policies can lead to many substantial economic and environmental benefits.

To access the Pacific Institute press release, click here.

To access information about the bill, click here or here.

For related information, click here.

Student Perspective

I am a junior in high school who cares about my future. I try to do my part when it comes to conserving resources and protecting our environment. I do this because I feel that as human beings we are responsible for keeping the planet clean and healthy. We don’t have another planet to live on after we trash this one, so we all collectively need to help keep our planet clean.

Water is a resource that is taken advantage of by students my age every day. I see kids throwing bottles of water on each other for their birthdays and kids who drink half a bottle of water and then throw it away. I am always aware and conscious of how much water I use and I try to conserve as much as possible everyday. I drink filtered tap water from my reusable water bottle and I never buy single use plastic bottles. My showers are usually five minutes or less, and while I lather, I turn off the water. I never keep the water on while I brush my teeth or while I wash the dishes.

Although I do these small things, I can’t say that I see my fellow classmates and friends do the same. An example is my best friend who takes twenty minute showers and keeps the water running while he brushes his teeth. I try to help give him tips on how to work on conserving water, but he finds it to difficult or pointless. That is the kind of attitude most kids at my age have. Unfortunately they feel that recycling and picking up trash isn’t a true solution to anything.

If every kid at my age grew up with the ideas of conservation and ways to help the planet then we would have a much cleaner and different world. Educating kids about where their water comes from and why it is so important to conserve water would benefit them so much. The key is for kids to understand why they are doing something, because if an authority figure wants them to change then odds are they won’t. The reason why water is such a valuable resource in San Diego in particular is because of our climate and location. We only get 10-20 % of our water from rainfall and we rely on the Colorado River and Northern California for the rest. Our weather in San Diego is sunny and dry about 264 days a year. Our climate and location makes us as residents very reliant on the 480 million gallons of water we import each day.

The simplest things a high school student can do are taking short showers, turning off the faucet when they don’t need it on, and to never waste water. I cringe when I see people over watering their lawns or washing down their driveways. It is the equivalent to pouring money down the drain in my eyes. My neighbor is a person who totally overuses water every single day. She washes down her driveway three to four times a week and fills her trash can to the brim and then flushes it into the storm drain every week. I have never understood why she does this but I have asked her before why she does and she responded with, “Because this is a free country!” I couldn’t believe it! I am very wary about my future and my children’s future because our valuable resources are being washed down people’s driveways like my neighbor everyday. So make sure to get the word out to your friends and family about little things they can do to help conserve and reuse water in their everyday lives.

Written by Evan S., a student at High Tech High in San Diego

Know Your H2O in the Driveway

Guess what the yellow is....

So, it's not exactly dinner table conversation, but having a conversation about it is important because it's affecting the health of our oceans. What are we talking about? We're talking about keeping sewage, even treated sewage, out of our oceans.

The NY Times has a great op-ed piece by Rose George, entitled "Yellow Is The New Green" and you can guess what the yellow is.... It's a great article because it brings up so many things about what to do with sewage, including re-thinking the way we think about. It turns out, it's not so disgusting after all - in fact, it has a lot of great uses!

If San Diego wants to be a leader amongst California cities, we need go down a greener (or yellower) path, and keep our oceans clean so that the tourist dollars we depend on, keep flowing in.

Free Car Wash!

I got a free car wash last week. No, not with a coupon from the local wash-n-dry but, a gift from mother nature in the form of rain. I used to avoid washing my truck because I was lazy. Now I can mask that laziness and say that I am being a good environmentalist by conserving water.

Right now Southern California is facing a critical point in dealing with our freshwater supply as drought conditions continue in spite of the recent rains. Where does our water come from, how will we use it and what will we do with it after? These issues have direct impacts on the ocean as the ill-planned desalination plant in Carlsbad moves forward and municipalities continue to dump treated wastewater in the ocean. According to the City of San Diego:

“During a normal year about 10-20 percent of the City's water supply is made up of local rainfall and is captured in one of our reservoirs. The remaining 80-90 percent is imported … from two separate sources. A 242 mile-long aqueduct brings Colorado River water from Lake Havasu to the southland. This water may have originated as snow melt on the mountain slopes of Utah, Wyoming, or Colorado and traveled more than 1,000 miles before being diverted to Southern California.

San Diego also receives water which originates in Northern California from the State Water Project. This water is captured in reservoirs north of Sacramento and released through natural rivers and streams into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The 444 mile-long California Aqueduct then carries the water from south of the Delta to (Southern California).”

Wrap your head around that for a moment. Most of the water in San Diego comes from hundreds of miles away and some of it can travel over 1000 miles from the source before it reaches our taps. That alone should speak volumes on how precious our freshwater really is. Unfortunately, developers and planners have not historically treated water as a limited renewable resource in our semi-arid climate. Excessive sprawl and water intensive non-native landscaping have over-burdened the water supply.

The Surfrider Foundation has worked with policy makers to mandate low-impact development and strengthen over-watering ordinances but the solution goes much further than that. The Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter has launched a campaign titled Know Your H2O to educate the public about the three most common options proposed to increase our water supply: conservation, Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR), and ocean desalination.

Water conservation takes many forms; from turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth to the local mobile home park that reduced their water usage by one million gallons last year through a community effort. Most people have done a good job conserving water indoors with low-flow showerheads, more efficient toilets, etc. but lots of work still needs to be done conserving outdoors.

Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) is an ongoing campaign that covers the outdoor water conservation aspect. OFG is all about CPR, which stands for Conservation, Permeability, and Retention. Whenever water leaves a property it has the ability to take pollutants with it. Fertilizers, pesticides, and oil are easily picked up by the power of water and transferred directly to our storm drains and into our rivers and oceans. While this runoff is greatest during rainstorms, urban runoff occurs all year round as a result of improper irrigation, washing cars on pavement, and hosing down driveways. In addition to conserving water by using native plants, requiring little to no fertilizers, and reducing or eliminating pesticide use, Ocean Friendly Garden’s have the added benefit or reducing urban runoff.

Imagine if we could stop sending treated wastewater out to the ocean and reuse this water to increase our local water supply. Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR), which is a funky name for water recycling, would help achieve that goal. Instead of spending time, built-in energy and money to send secondary or tertiary treated water to the ocean, we could take a couple of extra steps to treat the water further than health standards and mix it back in with our water supply. Sounds far-fetched to some, but the reverse osmosis and UV light treatments remove all bacteria and endocrine disruptors from pharmaceuticals and the resulting water is much purer than what is currently being delivered to Southern California. Reclamation for potable uses is the future; it has lower costs and is less energy intensive compared to desalination. Reclamation should be considered as the first choice in Southern California’s sustainable fresh water plan. Our current paradigm for reclaimed water – using it for irrigation – does nothing to promote conservation or the use of drought tolerant plants. Instead, it subsidizes golf courses and inappropriately planted public spaces such as highway medians.

Ocean desalination has received the most press and publicity lately as the largest ocean desal plant in the western hemisphere is planned for Carlsbad. Surfrider does not oppose desalination. We oppose desalination done poorly, and when it is prioritized over reclamation and conservation. Responsible desalination requires alternative intakes, unlike what is being proposed in Carlsbad. The Carlsbad proposal uses antiquated once-through-cooling infrastructure as the primary intake source for ocean water. This 30+ year-old dinosaur technology that has direct and unmitigatable impacts on marine life has been found to be illegal by federal courts. Mitigation of marine life impacts from impingement and entrainment through the use of the intake system by offering offsite wetland restoration misses the point – the law requires the use of new technologies to avoid the impacts in the first place. To continue to threaten marine life continually and indefinitely is short-sited and inexcusable while better technologies are available. Finally, the Carlsbad desalination plant sets a bad example for the issue statewide. The fact that we are in a drought condition does not justify ignoring our environmental laws.

We spend so much energy and effort to get water here that we must use it wisely. Visit www.surfriderSD.org to check out some great Know Your H2O videos, find more info on the issues along with links to great blogs and various ways to get involved. Share the videos with your friends and stay tuned for our action alert to let the decision makers know that you demand responsible ocean desalination.

The Need.

We wash our hands, wash our dishes, take long hot showers, wash our whites and colors separately, boil water for pasta, water our lawns, make slip n' slides.......

When the world is running short on water.

"Today, one-third of the world's population has to contend with water scarcity, and there are ominous signs that this proportion could quickly increase.

Up to twice as much water will be required to provide enough food to eliminate hunger and feed the additional 2.5 billion people that will soon join our ranks."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7881382.stm

The United States has every ability to be a leader in the push for conservation. If sub-Saharan Africa can prioritize environmentalism and create environmentally sustainable infrastructure, why can't the US? Why can't California?

We can. Whether we will is yet to be seen.

Poseidon's interpretation

Poseidon received a unanimous vote to postpone the final permit of their project in Carlsbad until they can produce an acceptable mitigation project for the damages their plant will cause. Here is an example of how they view it:

Dear ,

The Regional Water Quality Control Board met last week to consider approving the final condition of the discharge permit that they issued for the Carlsbad Desalination Project last April. The Board voted unanimously to consider final approval of the outstanding permit requirements at their hearing April 8, 2009 in Dana Point. This will draw the permitting process that began in 2003 to a close, clearing a path to begin construction later this year.

We will keep you updated on the Project developments,

Poseidon Resources

New Desalination Company Claims Better Methods

Oasys Water, a Massachusetts based desalination start-up company, has recently received $10 million in funding. By using what they called "Engineered Osmosis", rather than reverse osmosis, their method of desalination claims to reduce electricity and fuel costs by more than 90%. In effect, while reverse osmosis produces water at a cost of about $0.68 to $0.90 per cubic meter, Oasys estimates that engineered osmosis will cost about $0.37 to $0.44 per cubic meter.

For the Oasys Press Release Click Here.

Know Your H2O Stats - The Numbers Behind Your Use

Some Numbers
The average household in San Diego uses 10,500 gallons of water each month, or 350 gallons per day. By installing more efficient water fixtures, households can reduce daily water use by about 30%.

If every household in the U.S. installed these water-saving features, we would save an estimated 5.4 billion gallons of water per day, which results in a savings of $11.3 million per day or more than $4 billion per year.

How Small Changes Can Make Big Differences
Replacing your showerhead with a low-flow model can save up to 230 gallons a week.

Catching the water that comes through your pipes while waiting for hot water can save up to 50 gallons a week per person. Save the water in a bucket and water your plants or run your garbage disposal.

Hand-washing dishes just once a day using the least amount of detergent possible and a sprayer to rinse can save up to 100 gallons a week.

Water your lawn before dawn or after sunsets when there’s less evaporation. Adjusting your sprinklers so they don’t spray on sidewalks, driveway or street can save up to 250 gallons a week.

For more tips Click Here.

Coming Soon to a Beach Near You! Why Desalination is BAD.

While these images are not from Tampa Bay, they are engineering photos used to demonstrate what open ocean intake really looks like.

The following text was added to Wikipedia's Desalination page to lend some balance to the discussion. It is a summary of the Tampa Bay Desal project as adapted from the Tampa Bay Water website.

"The Tampa Bay Water Desalination project was originally a private venture led by Poseidon Resources. This project was delayed by the bankruptcy of Poseidon Resources successive partners in the venture, Stone & Webster, then Covanta (formerly Ogden) and its principle subcontractor Hydranautics. Poseidon's relationship with Stone & Webster through S & W Water LLC ended in June 2000 when Stone & Webster declared bankruptcy and Poseidon Resources purchased Stone & Webster's stake in S & W Water LLC. Poseidon Resources partnered with Covanta and Hydranautics in 2001, changing the consortium name to Tampa Bay Desal. Through the inability of Covanta to complete construction bonding of the project, the Tampa Bay Water agency was forced to purchase the project from Poseidon on May 15, 2002 and underwrite the project financing under its own credit rating. Tampa Bay Water then contracted with Covanta Tampa Construction, who produced a project that did not meet required performance tests, and Covanta Tampa Construction filed bankruptcy in October 2003 to prevent losing the contract with Tampa Bay Water, which resulted in nearly 6 months of litigation between Covanta Tampa Construction and Tampa Bay Water. The plant was not fully operational until 2007."

Click Here for the whole history.

Calculating your "Water Footprint" - Does conserving mean more beer and less clothing?

A journalist at the Wall Street Journal, Alexandra Alter, recently wrote an article titled "Yet Another 'Footprint' to Worry About: Water". Companies concerned about water rationing (and who have been burned by it in the past) are now tracking water use patterns to find more efficient ways of using this resource vital to life, manufacturing and production, and so can you! (see below)

In the article, Alex writes "It takes roughly 20 gallons of water to make a pint of beer, as much as 132 gallons of water to make a 2-liter bottle of soda, and about 500 gallons, including water used to grow, dye and process the cotton, to make a pair of Levi's stonewashed jeans. Though much of that water is replenished through natural cycles, a handful of companies have started tracking such "water footprints" as a growing threat of fresh-water shortages looms. Some are measuring not just the water used to make beverages and cool factories, but also the gallons used to grow ingredients such as cotton, sugar, wheat, tea and tomatoes. The drive, modeled partly on carbon footprinting, a widely used measurement of carbon-dioxide emissions, comes as groundwater reserves are being depleted and polluted at unsustainable rates in many regions."

I guess it reasons to follow that if we are serious about conservation, we ought to drink more beer and wear fewer clothes.

Click Here to read the whole article and view interactive graphics.
Water Footprint Calculator for your own customized water footprint!

And finally, a novel way to conserve water.

Is it time to stick a straw into the Pacific Ocean?

About 20 water agencies up and down the California coast seem to think so.

From Marin County to San Diego, small and large projects that turn seawater into tap water are gaining favor, propelled by events unprecedented in California's history: worsening drought, dwindling species of freshwater fish, crumbling plumbing systems and unyielding demand.

"People are worried about water supply," said Michael Carlin, assistant general manager of water at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "Desalination is for drought supply, for an emergency, and it augments existing supply - it's another tool in our toolbox."

But critics argue that desalination is an expensive, environmentally questionable last resort in a sprawling state that misuses one of its greatest assets.

"People are looking for an easy solution, and they look to the ocean," said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, a watchdog group. "They're ignoring the opportunities we have for conservation, storm water reuse and water recycling."

This is not the first time the desalination debate has surfaced in California. Dry spells and government funds for infrastructure often prompt new studies and investment in the process, which strips salt, debris, bacteria and other substances from saltwater and funnels it to local taps.

But climate change, rising water costs and threats to wildlife have increased the stakes.

CLICK HERE for the full story from the San Fran Chronicle/www.SFgate.com

Desalination Timetable Delayed (hopefully permanently)

Poseidon Resources was dealt a blow in their quest to build a desalination plant in Carlsbad today.

Under their scheme, to produce 1 acre foot of drinking water, 5 acre feet of sea water must be pulled directly from the ocean. That same 1 acre foot of sea water requires approximately 4700 kilowatt hours of electricity to remove the brine and other pollutants.

In contrast, by recycling wastewater to drinking water quality the same 1 acre foot of drinking water can be rendered using only 1.17 acre feet of wastewater, and would only require 2200 kilowatt hours of electricity. I believe the old adage "more bang for your buck" applies here.

Doing the math, it is far more economical to render wastewater into drinking water than render sea water into drinking water. Yet the battle for common sense rages on. See the article below for an update.

Carlsbad Desalination Plant Timetable Delayed
Poseidon's project output is 10% of region's daily water needs
By GENE CUBBISON

While drought-stricken San Diegans brace for water rationing, a desalination project that could meet 10 percent of the region's water needs has been delayed for two more months. While drought-stricken San Diegans brace for water rationing, a desalination project that could meet 10 percent of the region's water needs has been delayed...
The $300 million proposal by Poseidon Resources Corp. needs approval from one more state regulatory agency, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, to break ground on the project later this year, working toward a completion date in 2011.
"Every regulatory agency that has reviewed this project has determined that it's environmentally benign," said Scott Maloni, a Poseidon vice president. "Let's build this project. We need the water."

But the board voted unanimously Wednesday to withhold final permits at least until April, to allow the agency's staff and Poseidon to work out what Poseidon officials called "minor issues" relating to environmental concerns that already have prompted lawsuits against Poseidon and the state's Lands and Coastal Commissions, which have granted approvals.

Click Here for the full article from MSNBC.com

Shrinking Water Supplies Imperil Farmers

From today's Wall Street Journal:

"If the water situation doesn't ease soon, industry experts expect numerous farmers to go out of business in a year or so. Particularly vulnerable are farmers who have loans tied to being able to secure water supplies, said Richard Howitt, a professor of agriculture economics at the University of California at Davis. In essence, these farmers use their water rights as collateral for loans that go toward crops and equipment."

Water and water rights are big business in a desert. Lots of good pics and comments by readers too. This whole issue is so complex, but as a simple solution, why are our leaders not screaming for more conservation efforts?

Read the entire article.

Toilet to Mouth

Ever wonder just how much Mexican feces we ingest up in San Diego? Recycling wastewater will prevent this kind of life killing filth from entering the water.

The following link is a graphic representation of raw untreated sewage flowing from the Tijuana River north to Coronado Island and Point Loma in the Pacific. The issue is not ought we consider recycling our wastewater, but it is one of need. We need to lead the world on this.

Enough quibbling.

Jared

http://www.sdcoos.org/data/tracking/IB/tjrpts_ani_latest.gif

Make Your Voice be HEARD!

Mayor Sanders will be blessing us with access to his staff to discuss immediate cutbacks and water rationing in San Diego. Come out one of the three nights and ask why the city is structuring cutbacks the way they are, why this wont be fair to people who tore up their grass and planted drought tolerant gardens, who benefits and who loses, why new developments continue to pop up and why the city continues to be anticompetitive by subsidizing rates and won't charge a fair price for water!

Meetings are February 9th in Otay, February 10th in Rancho Penesquitos, and February 12th in Balboa Park. Click the link for locations, and BE THERE!

http://www.sandiego.gov/mayor/pdf/090127allocation.pdf

Special Report: Our Water Supply

The Voice of San Diego has compiled a special report on our water supply that includes recent articles highlighting the issue as it increases in importance.

"The arid San Diego region is struggling to come to terms with a diminished water supply. Ideas abound about how to do so: implement mandatory water conservation, build a desalination plant, recycle sewage into drinking water -- but finding agreeance about which ideas to implement is slightly more difficult."

CLICK HERE to check out the special report for some great articles such as "Who uses the most water?", "What is killing the Delta", "How sewage gets recycled" and much more.

Desalination: A Gift or a Myth?

In a version of one founding Greek Myth, Athena competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens, which was yet unnamed. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they preferred.

Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; this gave them a means of trade and water —Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis— but the water was salty and not very good for drinking. (In an alternate version, Poseidon offered the first horse to the citizens, but horses also are associated with Athena in some myths.)

Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians (or their king, Cecrops) accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food. (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena)

That said, we await for our Athena to come bringing a gift that will allow sustainable growth in San Diego.

Check out the following KPBS report:
http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=13770

So fresh and so clean...

Right on N County Times! Go Go Escondido!

EDITORIAL: Most natural thing to do: Recycle water
OUR VIEW: Colorado River water far from pristine

By North County Times Opinion staff | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Recycling water may well serve Escondido residents for decades to come.

Thus, we support city officials in their efforts to explore the feasibility of transforming sewage water into a reliable secondary source for Escondido's drinking water needs. Indeed, we encourage all regional water agencies to do the same.

(However, we also believe the region has yet to fully exploit cheaper ways to meet the growing need for water, including strong, serious attempts to improve conservation of our existing supply.)

Californians have led the nation in various recycling areas. It just clearly makes sense for us to lead in being more aggressive about recycling one of the key essentials for life.

Those squeamish about the prospects of recycling water (often referred to derisively as "toilet to tap") ought to reconsider the reality of what now flows from their taps.

Approximately 90 percent of all San Diego County's water is imported, most of it from the Colorado River. Think that river water is fresh from the proverbial mountain spring? Think again.

Space does not permit us to list all that is routinely dumped directly into the Colorado or indirectly into its watershed. However, that list does include water from sewage wastewater plants and toxic, heavy-metal and chemical waste that has leached into the Colorado's watershed. And yet for decades, we have been cleaning that water up for "recycling."

An extensive review of the expenses involved with recycling sewage water may show that the process, using current technology, is cost-prohibitive at this time.

But the facts remain that for generation upon untold generation, life on this planet has been thriving on water that has been "recycled" in one form or another, over and over again: It is the natural thing to do.

Additional information:

ESCONDIDO: City ponders converting sewage to drinking water

More 301(h) Details:

Last week Surfrider, Coastkeeper and Sierra Club entered into a cooperative agreement with City of San Diego for non-opposition to Clean Water Act 301(h) Waiver. All groups have received numerous inquiries regarding the San Diego environmental community’s decision not to oppose EPA’s tentative order to grant a CWA section 301(h) waiver for discharges from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego.

Local Surfrider activists know that this is an integral part of the Know Your H2O campaign. To explain the history and process of this groundbreaking agreement Marco Gonzalez compiled a great document, CLICK HERE to read it.

Here are some of the recent news stories regarding the agreement:

Voice of San Diego / San Diego Tribune / San Diego 6

When will people take water conservation seriously?

The Sierra snow pack is at 61% of its normal level and there are talks of water rationing in San Diego by summer yet I still see fresh, clean drinking water going down the street. No, people are not dumping water bottles down the street but there is still lots of over watering of lawns and landscaping, water lines busting because of old age along with some random incidents like me neighbors laundry room which randomly overflows.

Below are some recent articles highlighting the issue:

With Water Cuts Near, Freeways Still Get Showered

California Water Supply Drying Up

Water Could be Rationed Here as Soon as Summer

And Escondido Steps up to the Plate!!!

Escondido City Council members have the right idea, consider implementing IPR as a SOLUTION! This helps them with their water supply concerns, as this article indicates, the could provide up to 13 million gallons per day of potable drinking water by recycling their wastewater. How about this? Their outfall pipe is currently through the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority, which dumps their current sewage into the Pacific Ocean (like it or not, standard practice). Escondido (unlike San Elijo) has a tumultuous track record of overflows and other sewage related problems. IPR would be an excellent solution, as it would decrease the amount of pipe space needed to move Escondido's sewage to the Pacific, it would decrease the amount of sewage dumped into the Pacific (ergo cleaner oceans), it would provide a source of drinking water that is cleaner that what is currently in the public water supply (in Fairfax VA where IPR via surface water augmentation has been the norm since 1978, the quality of the sewage water that undergoes IPR treatment is actually reduced by being added to the public drinking water supply), and it would decrease infrastructure upgrade demands on the public.

IPR (indirect potable reuse), or simply, recycling wastewater for drinking purposes merely mimics the natural cycle, without the concern of contamination from fouled groundwaters. GO ESCONDIDO!!!

CLICK HERE for the story in the North County Times.

Water reuse moves forward in the City of San Diego!

San Diego City Council Approves Agreement with Environmental Groups Over Point Loma Sewage Treatment Exemption

City to Undertake Assessment of Sewage System to Identify Reclamation Opportunities

January 27, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT: Bruce Reznik, 619-851-9997 (cell); 619-758-7743 ext. 102
Marco Gonzalez, 760-942-8505 ext. 102

On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted 6-1 to approve a Cooperative Agreement with San Diego Coastkeeper and Surfrider Foundation that obligates the City to undertake a comprehensive assessment of its entire sewage collection and treatment infrastructure to identify opportunities to maximize recycling and reclamation of wastewater for potable and non-potable uses. The agreement, which resulted from negotiations between the environmental groups and the offices of Mayor Sanders and City Attorney Goldsmith, had been presented in draft form to the City’s Natural Resources & Culture Committee on December 3. While Coastkeeper and Surfrider are the only environmental groups initially signing onto the agreement, other groups including Sierra Club and San Diego Audubon Society have been part of negotiations with the City and may join the agreement.

With the City’s commitment to undertake this study, the environmental groups have agreed to not oppose a final five-year waiver from secondary treatment standards at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment facility, currently the nation’s largest sewage agency exempt from secondary standards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board held a joint hearing on the City’s waiver application on Wednesday, January 21, with a final decision by these agencies expected in March. The U.S. EPA issued a tentative ruling in support of the waiver application on December 4, indicating at that time that the City should not expect future exemptions. The two environmental groups had sued over approval of the last exemption in 2002.

“A comprehensive assessment of reclamation opportunities that will reduce or even potentially eliminate sewage discharges to the ocean provides the best long-term solution for San Diego’s water and sewage issues,” noted Coastkeeper’s Executive Director Bruce Reznik. “Since the last waiver was granted there is a growing body of evidence that even secondary sewage treatment may not be sufficient to protect of ocean environment; meanwhile San Diego now faces worsening water shortages.”
The San Diego region imports nearly 90% of its water, primarily from the Colorado River and the San Joaquin Delta. The region is experiencing a growing water crisis as imports these sources are declining due to overconsumption, climate change and legal decisions, while the San Diego region is in an eight-year drought that has reduced even the little local water the region usually relies on.

The new study will examine opportunities to build new reclamation facilities to expand the City’s overall reuse capacity. If successful, the City could identify a long-term strategy to reclaim some or even all of the 180+ million gallons of wastewater that is currently discharged to the Pacific via the Point Loma facility, providing San Diego with much needed local supplies of water while reducing sewage discharges that threaten our ocean environment.

According to Marco Gonzalez of Coast Law Group, which represents Coastkeeper and Surfrider on this issue, “In the past, the environmental community could have been accused of a charge we sometimes make against the City – being reactive rather than visionary in terms of our environmental policy. We are proud to be looking forward towards a solution that could alter the region’s water policy for decades to come.”

This study, which will be undertaken by the City with oversight of an expert appointed by the environmental community and peer reviewed by national wastewater experts, is intended to build upon the work of the City’s 2005 Water Reuse Study. That study, which was undertaken as part of the legal settlement resulting from the 2002 waiver, explored six alternatives to maximize the reuse of wastewater treated at the City’s two existing reclamation facilities and provided the impetus for the pilot Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) project the City is currently undertaking that could result in the beneficial reuse of up to 16 million gallons of highly treated wastewater every day. “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the City that allows us to be able to move forward cooperatively on this critically important issue.” added Reznik.

# # #

Stimulus Package - SANDAG water and sewage spending

Check out this list for lots of proposals in the hopper for sewage and water spending.

EPA Information on Potable Reuse

Check out this link has valuable official information from the US Environmental Protection Agency on water recycling and reuse:

http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/recycling/

POTABLE REUSE!! PURPLE PIPE IS WASTEFUL!!

CLICK HERE for a great story on the Orange County Water District's GroundWater Replenishment System, from the Public Broadcast Service (PBS).

Northern California Increases Water Recycling a Bit

And with about 500 turns of a big T-wrench, a valve opened into a new pipe and Petaluma’s sewage headed east to flow through a new $110 million treatment plant. As of today, the city is operating the Ellis Creek Wastewater Recycling Facility, pumping 5 million gallons of sewage.

Click Here for the full story.

Once Through Cooling - Killing For Water??

Coastal power plants could face tougher rules by Jane Kay, San Francisco Chronicle Environment Writer on Wednesday, January 14, 2009:

San Francisco's Mirant Corp. power plant, under fire from the city attorney and environmental groups, is one of 19 power plants in California that could face tougher regulation under the Obama administration for killing billions of fish.

For now, state water regulators are allowing the Mirant plant in the city's Dogpatch neighborhood and the other power plants in California, including the huge Diablo Canyon Power Plant, to continue using a cooling system that sucks and grinds fish, flattens them on screens or boils them in hot water.

The coastal power plants withdraw cold water and discharge hot water at a rate of about 16.7 billion gallons per day, according to reports. The Mirant Potrero plant is blamed for killing hundreds of millions of fish larvae, including goby, northern anchovy, Pacific herring, California halibut and rockfishes....

California regulators could require the electric power plants to upgrade to fish-safe systems now under existing laws, environmental lawyers say, but instead are using legal questions over a 2004 U.S. EPA regulation to delay replacing the World War II-era technology, known as once-through cooling systems.

Two state agencies have objected to extending permits to operate the old systems, citing studies showing that 88 billion organisms are killed a year. Several of the state's power plants are moving ahead with projects to replace old systems - one on Humboldt Bay and others in Southern California. The technology at new power plants uses towers to cool boiling water and does not require cold seawater.

CLICK HERE for the full story from www.sfgate.com

Ignorance is Bliss

Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009 | Rob Davis' article on recycled sewage is interesting but a bit short on fact. First, when San Diego tried out their proposed system in the mid-1990s, there was much hype about the Virginia project, which had just started, and the Orange County program.

Click Here for the entire letter in the Voice of San Diego and reader comments.

Water water everywhere, where is it from?

The fight for clean water continues!  Keeping our oceans, rivers and beaches clean and freshwater coming out of our taps is a top priority.  To do so, it is important to keep track of who is doing what, so here is a little breakdown of where our water comes from.

Over 80% of our water in San Diego is imported.  It comes from the Colorado River and the State Water Project (far Northern California).  There is a little bit in the ground that can be used, and reservoirs that are available.  Here is how it gets here:

Its transient nature aside, water is owned by many people before and after it gets to our homes and businesses.  The Metropolitan Water District in LA is the first owner of the water imported from the Colorado River and State Water Project (SWP).  They then sell the water to agencies, such as the San Diego County Water Authority.  The San Diego County Water Authority has 24 member agencies broken into water districts.  The Water Authority sells water to the Water Agencies that are located in our communities.  The Water Agencies then sell the water to government agencies, businesses and homeowners.  We drink and use this water, and whatever gets flushed or goes down the drain then goes to the Wastewater Agencies.  The Wastewater Agencies then treat the water to various levels and either dump the treated wastewater into the ocean, or the more progressive wastewater agencies such as the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority and Leucadia Wastewater District, will highly treat the water and sell the highly treated water for irrigation use (purple pipe).

This is where you come into play.  We need YOU, friends and neighbors, to insist that the Water Agencies and Water Districts work together to treat our wastewater in the same manner that the Water Districts in Fountain Valley, CA, Fairfax, VA and El Paso, TX do: for DRINKING.  Below is a link to the returning board members of the San Diego County Water Authority.  Write, email or call them and demand that we STOP dumping our wastewater into the oceans, and that we join the handful of agencies that are international leaders in making the best use of water resources!  

Tastes like water because it is water

On Saturday January 10th SurfriderSD organized a tour of the Orange County Water District's (OCWD) Groundwater Replenishment System (GWR) in Fountain Valley. The GWR System takes highly treated sewer water from the OC Sanitation Dept. (next door) that would be sent to the ocean and purifies it to near-distilled quality water.

I was really impressed with the facility in general, the whole operation had a modern, clean and efficient feel to it. Shivaji Deshmukh is the GWR System Program Manager and lead us on the tour. Thanks for taking the time to host a Saturday tour, we had over a dozen people there and everyone seemed to walk away impressed. Thanks also to Jared for organizing everything.

The purification process is pretty simple in theory and the resulting water is so pure that minerals need to be added back so it does not corrode pipes. One concern has always been with endocrine disruptors/gender benders. The reverse osmosis process filters out just about every organic and inorganic compound. Anything small enough to slip through the RO membrane gets zapped away in the ultraviolet (UV) light process with hydrogen peroxide.

For more details on the purification process, info on the OCWD and the GWR System visit www.gwrsystem.com and Click Here for more photos from the tour.

Know Your H2O in the Shower

Where Water Reuse Isn't a Dirty Word

By Rob Davis on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 in the Voice of San Diego

Centreville, Va. -- Tucked behind evergreens, down a long lane in an otherwise anonymous stretch of this Washington, D.C. suburb south of Dulles International Airport, sits a facility that provides San Diego with the best evidence that it's safe to fill drinking water reservoirs with purified sewage.

Here, a treatment plant has been purifying sewage and dumping the clean water into the Occoquan Reservoir, a source of drinking water for 1 million residents of Northern Virginia's densely populated suburbs in Fairfax and Prince William counties.

And they've been doing it 30 years.

The sewage arrives here at the Millard H. Robbins Jr. Water Reclamation Plant from the toilets of 275,000 nearby residents. A day-and-a-half later, after being disinfected and stripped of its contaminants, it washes down a wide concrete spillway into Bull Run, the Occoquan Reservoir tributary made famous by its Civil War battles.

In dry weather, that purified sewage spends three months meandering and mixing in the sprawling tree-lined reservoir, making its way 17 miles downstream to a dam, where a local water provider draws it out, treats it to be safe for human consumption -- it picks up contaminants along the way from urban runoff -- and pipes it to homes.

The facility's existence directly counters one of the talking points Mayor Jerry Sanders has frequently recited as a reason for objecting to the City Council's plan to recycle sewage as a drinking water source. Sanders has claimed that San Diego would be the first municipality anywhere to pipe purified sewage into a drinking water reservoir. He made that claim in October and again in December when articulating his opposition to the council's $11.8 million pilot study of recycled sewage.

"I want to make it very clear," Sanders said at a Dec. 4 press conference. "No one else has done what we're being asked to do. People confuse us with Orange County, people confuse it with a lot of other places. No one else has ever talked about putting recycled water into a reservoir and then using it for drinking water. That's what we'll be doing testing on to see if that can even work."

In Northern Virginia, that conversation happened in the 1970s. And the region found that recycling sewage is effective and safe, said Charles Boepple, executive director of the Upper Occoquan Service Authority, which operates the sewage recycling facility.

"We have been doing exactly what San Diego is exploring for 30 years," Boepple said.

CLICK HERE for the complete article.

Know Your H2O at the Laundromat

Recent rains have done little to improve California's water situation -- take it from an Aussie.

By Patrick Whyte. January 4, 2009 in the LA Times

That rain you've been having? It doesn't really help much. California is still in the midst of a serious drought. We Australians can empathize -- and we can also offer some advice.

Last year, the southeast corner of the northern Australian state of Queensland, where I live, entered its 10th year of drought -- officially the worst period on record. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth, but until recently that was never a huge problem for the 90% of us who live in coastal cities and towns. We'd always thought of dry spells as the farmers' problem.

But as the recent drought dragged on, fruit and vegetable prices began to rise. Then public parks went from green to brown. Finally, even city folk began to talk about drought......

Officials developed a relatively cheap social marketing campaign, with the aim of getting people to think about individual water use. Ads promoted simple things, such as taking four-minute showers and turning off the tap while brushing your teeth.

Crucially, the program set targets, and for the first time put gallon figures on the amount of water used in car washing, toilet flushing and other activities.

Before the drought and Target 140, as the program was called, my wife, two sons (ages 8 and 11) and I routinely wasted water. Our faucets dripped, our sprinklers ran, we washed our cars and hosed our driveway without a second thought.

Now the radio was awash with talk of water and how to conserve it. Reservoir levels became the subject of everyday conversation.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.

Patrick Whyte is a freelance journalist in Brisbane, Australia.

Know Your H2O at the Car Wash

The world has a water shortage, not a food shortage

At the core of Know Your H2O is water. Simple, plain freshwater that flows freely from faucets in our home and all over town that so many people take for granted. In San Diego there is only enough local rainfall to satisfy the needs of 10-15% of our population on average. Most of the fresh water is imported from hundreds of miles away in Northern California or the Colorado River which is quite energy intensive and at the middle of many political battles.

The goal of this blog is to raise awareness of where our water comes from, where it goes and why it is such a precious resource that must be managed well. In addition to personal insights we will include links to articles and such that highlight fresh water issues on a local and global scale.

Here's an excerpt from an article on www.economist.com

MOST people may drink only two litres of water a day, but they consume about 3,000 if the water that goes into their food is taken into account. The rich gulp down far more, since they tend to eat more meat, which takes far more water to produce than grains. So as the world’s population grows and incomes rise, farmers will—if they use today’s methods—need a great deal more water to keep everyone fed: 2,000 more cubic kilometres a year by 2030, according to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a research centre, or over a quarter more than they use today. Yet in many farming regions, water is scarce and likely to get scarcer as global warming worsens. The world is facing not so much a food crisis as a water crisis, argues Colin Chartres, IWMI’s director-general.

The solution, Mr Chartres and others contend, is more efficient use of water or, as the sloganeers put it, “more crop per drop”.... CLICK HERE for the full story.