PUB00111 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Solutions Whether encouraged by statewide plans or required by permits, California for the most part has relied on BMPs to curb polluted runoff. BMPs are measures intended to yield water quality improvements. But compliance is a matter of taking those steps, rather than actually reducing pollution to meet numerical discharge levels, as is required of point-source polluters. Trends and long-term changes in water quality are then monitored to confirm whether the BMPs are effectively controlling pollution. Most of the BMPs are preventative in nature. They attempt to keep pollutants out of the water, rather than trying to treat runoff after it becomes contami- nated. The sheer volume of runoff, even in the dry West, dictates this priority. BMPs can include struc- tural improvements, operation and maintenance procedures and educational efforts. In some areas, ponds and wetlands are being created to restore the ability of the landscape to capture runoff, slow erosion and filter pollutants. Other BMPs amount to good housekeeping: in- creased street sweeping, household hazardous waste collections and litter patrols. Construction projects are being required to control the erosion of exposed soils, storm drains are being cleaned out in the dry season and the use of pesticides to clear weeds along roadways is being reconsidered, SANTA ANA RIVER In the sunny climes of the Santa Ana River watershed, one of the biggest hurdles to an adequate water supply is a clean water supply. Water providers have long depended on a combination of the river's flows, groundwater and imported water to meet agricultural and urban water needs. The river and the aquifer in many regards are inseparable, with the water used, cleaned and stored in the ground so it can be used again. But the use and reuse also has resulted in the water quality being degraded by salts and other minerals that can make the water taste bad. Another contaminant of concern is nitrate, a form of nitrogen that has been linked with miscarriages, can lead to fhe sometimes fatal "blue baby syndrome" and is a suspected carcinogen. The nitrogen comes from treated sewage and overapplied fertilizers, but mostly from the For agriculture BMPs include integrated pest manage- ment strategies that reduce the amount of chemi. cals used. In the Central Valley, for instance, the Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems Project - a partnership of private, state and federal interests - has reduced the chemicals used in 26 orchards by using cover crops, beneficial insects and careful monitoring to target chemical use. In the Salinas River Valley 01 Monterey County, the nation's lettuce-growing capital, nearly half the agriculfural wells tested by Monterey County Water Resources Agency officials exceed drinking water standards for nitrogen. Researchers from University of Califor- nia believe growers could reduce the pollutant loading by 75 percent if they more carefully managed irrigation water and fertilizer application. The 1995 study predicted that growers could cut water and fertilizer applications by half without reducing yields of the high-valued crop. The issue is whether these BMPs will reduce pollu- tion enough to improve and protect water quality, If not, state regulators will be pressured by some to impose stricter and more costly requirements, and pressured by others to do nothing more, 300,000 cows in the upper watershed of Riverside and San Bernardino counties that provide the region with fresh dairy products. Ammonia in the animal waste, when it reacts with oxygen and bacteria, is converted to nitrate. Regional water quality officials have tightened the requirements on upstream treatment plants and are working with the dairies. But it is no small problem getting rid of thousands of tons of manure each year. The traditional solution of using the manure as farm fertilizer has been undermined by suburbanization. And plans to build manure processing plants have been met with public opposition. The dairies are regulated to keep pollufed run off from reaching the river and percolating into the ground, but dairy operators are still searching for economical ways to comply with the law. Slate and fetleral officials are conducting lests in Yolo CO/lllty 10 de((>rmine hml' 10 desi!?n effecti\'(> lail H'arer pOlldv. These POIld.\' reduce lhe sediments. peslicides and IWlrielIlS in IIsed irrigation \Wller prior 10 ils disposal in a ri\'(,1" or stream. 17