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News Round-Up
INTEGRATED RIVER MANAGEMENT
Sacramento almost flooded in 1986. Ever since agencies and homeowners have been struggling to better secure their city. To accomplish this, a new task force launched by the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency is suggesting improved levee, bank and vegetation management on 26 miles of the lower American River. The multi-interest, public-private task force, facilitated by John Gammon and Scott McCreary of CONCUR, has met every two weeks since February and already reached some consensus on how to enhance both flood control and wildlife habitat on the river, according to McCreary. With the help of hydrologist Mitchell Swanson, the group has already come up with schematics of potential improvements. "We'd essentially rebuild riverbank and levees and recreate habitat," says McCreary. The task force plans to complete its recommendations (to be submitted to the Army Corps) by July. Contact: CONCUR (510)649-8008
CVPIA CHALLENGED
A successful lawsuit filed by four water districts may have brought environmental protections in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to a standstill, but it may also come back to haunt them. The April court ruling prohibits the federal government from proceeding with the transfer of 800,000 acre-feet of water for fish and wildlife - a transfer prescribed by the act as mitigation for existing water contracts - without first completing an environmental impact analysis. Environmentalists were dismayed by the ruling, which uses environmental laws to block environmental restoration. But Save the Bay's Barry Nelson says the ruling could also backfire on water interests by stalling renewal of expiring water contracts. "If you have to do an environmental impact review to give water to fish and refuges, you have to do one to renew contracts that take it away," he says. Save the Bay and other groups are planning an appeal. Contact: Barry Nelson (510)452-9261
EBMUD WINS SUIT
"Use more, pay more" was the message sent to water users in the East Bay's "hot climate." In an April 18 decision, the state Court of Appeal rejected a challenge from some East Bay Municipal Utility District customers east of the Oakland-Berkeley hills, who claimed that the tiered rate structure initiated by the district during the drought was arbitrary, discriminatory and constituted a special tax. The customers had argued that their warmer climate, larger lots and bigger families naturally led to more water consumption. But the court ruled in favor of EBMUD, saying the district can charge progressively higher rates for higher usage in order to encourage conservation. And on the legislative front, Assembly Bill 1712, which specifically authorizes water agencies to adopt water conservation pricing strategies, was signed into law during 1993. Contact: EBMUD (510)287-0150
POLLUTION AWARENESS JUMPS
A 1994 telephone survey of 251 Alameda County residents shows that since 1992, they've become much more aware that stormwater is a major source of pollution to local creeks and the Bay (see pie chart). Many respondents attributed their increased awareness to the county's investment in educational billboards, busboards, newspaper ads and painting drains with the words "No Dumping; Drains to Bay." According to the survey, 45% said the campaign had changed the way they handled pollutants, and 24% identified water pollution as an important environmental issue (up from 17% in 1992). As for types of pollutants entering the watershed, respondents placed more emphasis on auto products, pesticides and household chemicals and less on industrial waste over the two-year span. Contact: Sharon Gosselin (510)670-6547
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