Xref: kermit rec.ponds:113167

I saw this in the Mercury News, thought you all might get a kick out of it,
while we deal with an algae bloom.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5982458.htm
Coe park dam plan dropped
By Frank Sweeney
Mercury News

Defusing a growing environmental controversy, the Santa Clara Valley Water
District's top officer has ruled out building a new dam on Pacheco Creek
that would flood mountain wilderness in Henry W. Coe State Park, east of
Gilroy.

``There will be no inundation of any Coe park lands,'' Stanley M. Williams,
the chief executive officer of the district, said in an e-mail to employees
and in a report to the district's board of directors.

For nearly a year, the district staff has been analyzing ways to resolve an
algae problem in water imported from San Luis Reservoir in the San Joaquin
Valley. Low reservoir levels in the fall spur algae blooms, making the water
difficult or impossible to treat for household use.

One way to avoid the problem would be to take more water from San Luis in
spring and store it in a new reservoir in Santa Clara County. However,
environmental groups, mindful of how Hetch Hetchy Reservoir drowned a
beautiful valley in Yosemite National Park 80 years ago, rallied against a
reservoir in Coe state park.

Williams decided building a new dam that would back water up into the park
is a bad idea and incompatible with the district's interests and could
violate state law.

The California Resources Code prohibits major ``modifications of lands,
forests or waters'' in state parks. And if Coe park were redesignated a
state recreation area, which would allow a reservoir within its boundaries,
it would be open to boating, fishing and other water sports, something the
district would oppose.

But district officials are still considering whether to build a smaller dam
on Pacheco Creek that would not push water into the park, along with several
other alternatives, to solve the water quality headache that occurs every
summer and fall.

``We're happy so far, but we're not going to drop our attention,'' said
Dennis Pinion, a researcher for Advocates of Coe Park, a group formed to
oppose dams in the park. Williams' decision, endorsed by the district board,
``resolves our concerns to a degree,'' Pinion said. ``If the reservoir never
extends into the park, we're happy.''

But Pinion said his group's ``concern is in a couple of years, they might
decide the economical thing is to extend the reservoir into the park.''

The topography of the area would allow a dam outside the park to hold a
400,000-acre-foot reservoir that would spread a mile into the park, Pinion
said. ``They could probably go to 100,000 acre-feet and stay out of Coe
park. If they would do that, that would be fine with us. We would like them
to draw the line at the park boundaries.''

Henry Coe State Park, the second-largest state park in California, spreads
across 86,000 acres of rugged mountains and deep canyons east of Gilroy
where Ohlone Indians once lived. Much of the landscape is oak woodland and
savanna, along with grasslands, chaparral and some riparian woodland along
streams. Some high ridges are forested with ponderosa pines.

The park is home to mountain lions, black-tailed deer, ground squirrels,
coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and wild pigs. Golden eagles, California quail,
jays, woodpeckers, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, western bluebirds and
wild turkeys fly through its skies.

The algae problem that triggered a study of dams in Coe park affects about
40 percent of the county's water supply for drinking, irrigation and
industry. The water comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,
through federal Central Valley Project aqueducts, canals and pipelines. It
is stored temporarily near Los Banos in San Luis Reservoir, an off-stream
reservoir that would not fill naturally.

The powerful Pacheco Pumping Plant at San Luis sucks water from the
reservoir into 36 miles of the San Felipe Project's tunnels and pipelines,
flowing by gravity to the base of Anderson Dam and into the Santa Clara
County's system.

Winter storms often have filled the water district's reservoirs by spring
when there's good quality water in San Luis, so there's little room to store
the imported water.

In the fall, after farmers and cities have drawn water from San Luis, the
surface level drops to a low point -- about 15 percent full.

High temperatures and winds stir the reservoir, creating algae blooms that
cause such severe taste and odor problems that the water can no longer be
treated. Just when Santa Clara Valley reservoirs are low enough to store
water from San Luis Reservoir, the water is lost because it's not usable.

One possible solution is to build another off-stream reservoir in Santa
Clara County to store San Luis water in spring when its quality is good,
then pump it out for use later in the year. The San Felipe pipeline from San
Luis into the Santa Clara Valley runs near existing Pacheco Dam, which holds
back 6,135-acre-foot Pacheco Reservoir -- too small to help solve the algae
problem, so officials looked at building bigger dams farther upstream.

Another alternative is to build a pipeline to take water directly from the
federal Delta-Mendota Canal or San Luis' O'Neill Forebay into the San Felipe
pipeline, bypassing the main reservoir.

District officials also are considering building a special treatment plant
to remove algae, something existing treatment plants cannot do.

Because the project is funded by CalFed -- the joint state and federal
consortium established to resolve environmental and water supplies in the
delta -- it must undergo state and federal environmental reviews. ``At that
point, we start tearing apart the different alternatives to see what they
really mean,'' said Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesman Mike Di
Marco.

Maybe they need a really big vegie filter. When they get that big
they're called wetlands.

Matt

Snooze wrote:

I saw this in the Mercury News, thought you all might get a kick out of it,
while we deal with an algae bloom.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5982458.htm
Coe park dam plan dropped
By Frank Sweeney
Mercury News

Defusing a growing environmental controversy, the Santa Clara Valley Water
District's top officer has ruled out building a new dam on Pacheco Creek
that would flood mountain wilderness in Henry W. Coe State Park, east of
Gilroy.

``There will be no inundation of any Coe park lands,'' Stanley M. Williams,
the chief executive officer of the district, said in an e-mail to employees
and in a report to the district's board of directors.

For nearly a year, the district staff has been analyzing ways to resolve an
algae problem in water imported from San Luis Reservoir in the San Joaquin
Valley. Low reservoir levels in the fall spur algae blooms, making the water
difficult or impossible to treat for household use.

One way to avoid the problem would be to take more water from San Luis in
spring and store it in a new reservoir in Santa Clara County. However,
environmental groups, mindful of how Hetch Hetchy Reservoir drowned a
beautiful valley in Yosemite National Park 80 years ago, rallied against a
reservoir in Coe state park.

Williams decided building a new dam that would back water up into the park
is a bad idea and incompatible with the district's interests and could
violate state law.

The California Resources Code prohibits major ``modifications of lands,
forests or waters'' in state parks. And if Coe park were redesignated a
state recreation area, which would allow a reservoir within its boundaries,
it would be open to boating, fishing and other water sports, something the
district would oppose.

But district officials are still considering whether to build a smaller dam
on Pacheco Creek that would not push water into the park, along with several
other alternatives, to solve the water quality headache that occurs every
summer and fall.

``We're happy so far, but we're not going to drop our attention,'' said
Dennis Pinion, a researcher for Advocates of Coe Park, a group formed to
oppose dams in the park. Williams' decision, endorsed by the district board,
``resolves our concerns to a degree,'' Pinion said. ``If the reservoir never
extends into the park, we're happy.''

But Pinion said his group's ``concern is in a couple of years, they might
decide the economical thing is to extend the reservoir into the park.''

The topography of the area would allow a dam outside the park to hold a
400,000-acre-foot reservoir that would spread a mile into the park, Pinion
said. ``They could probably go to 100,000 acre-feet and stay out of Coe
park. If they would do that, that would be fine with us. We would like them
to draw the line at the park boundaries.''

Henry Coe State Park, the second-largest state park in California, spreads
across 86,000 acres of rugged mountains and deep canyons east of Gilroy
where Ohlone Indians once lived. Much of the landscape is oak woodland and
savanna, along with grasslands, chaparral and some riparian woodland along
streams. Some high ridges are forested with ponderosa pines.

The park is home to mountain lions, black-tailed deer, ground squirrels,
coyotes, raccoons, bobcats and wild pigs. Golden eagles, California quail,
jays, woodpeckers, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, western bluebirds and
wild turkeys fly through its skies.

The algae problem that triggered a study of dams in Coe park affects about
40 percent of the county's water supply for drinking, irrigation and
industry. The water comes from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,
through federal Central Valley Project aqueducts, canals and pipelines. It
is stored temporarily near Los Banos in San Luis Reservoir, an off-stream
reservoir that would not fill naturally.

The powerful Pacheco Pumping Plant at San Luis sucks water from the
reservoir into 36 miles of the San Felipe Project's tunnels and pipelines,
flowing by gravity to the base of Anderson Dam and into the Santa Clara
County's system.

Winter storms often have filled the water district's reservoirs by spring
when there's good quality water in San Luis, so there's little room to store
the imported water.

In the fall, after farmers and cities have drawn water from San Luis, the
surface level drops to a low point -- about 15 percent full.

High temperatures and winds stir the reservoir, creating algae blooms that
cause such severe taste and odor problems that the water can no longer be
treated. Just when Santa Clara Valley reservoirs are low enough to store
water from San Luis Reservoir, the water is lost because it's not usable.

One possible solution is to build another off-stream reservoir in Santa
Clara County to store San Luis water in spring when its quality is good,
then pump it out for use later in the year. The San Felipe pipeline from San
Luis into the Santa Clara Valley runs near existing Pacheco Dam, which holds
back 6,135-acre-foot Pacheco Reservoir -- too small to help solve the algae
problem, so officials looked at building bigger dams farther upstream.

Another alternative is to build a pipeline to take water directly from the
federal Delta-Mendota Canal or San Luis' O'Neill Forebay into the San Felipe
pipeline, bypassing the main reservoir.

District officials also are considering building a special treatment plant
to remove algae, something existing treatment plants cannot do.

Because the project is funded by CalFed -- the joint state and federal
consortium established to resolve environmental and water supplies in the
delta -- it must undergo state and federal environmental reviews. ``At that
point, we start tearing apart the different alternatives to see what they
really mean,'' said Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesman Mike Di
Marco.