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News from the Alameda Creek Alliance

 

SFPUC Approves $4.5 Billion Hetch Hetchy Upgrade and Programmatic EIR for Water System Projects in Alameda Creek

 

December 3, 2008 -- The SFPUC approved the Program Environmental Impact Report for the Water System Improvement Program on October 30th, despite objections from the Alameda Creek Alliance that the proposed Calaveras Dam Replacement Project and Alameda Creek “Fishery Enhancement” Project will have unacceptable impacts on the native fish and wildlife of Alameda Creek, will impede restoration of steelhead trout, and will commit the SFPUC to illegally operating Calaveras Dam and the Alameda Diversion Dam, in violation of state and federal wildlife protection laws.

 

New SFPUC Commissioner Francesca Vietor acknowledged our concerns about Alameda Creek in the record and added language to the approval resolution: "The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission shall set aggressive water conservation and recycling goals, shall bring short and long-term conservation, recycling, and groundwater programs on line at the earliest possible time, and shall undertake every effort to reduce demand and any further diversion from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission watersheds…”

 

The SFPUC is expected to release the project specific EIR for the Calaveras Dam replacement in the spring. Commissioner Vietor directed SFPUC staff to further address mitigations, restoration and flows below Calaveras Dam and elsewhere in the Alameda Creek watershed in the Calaveras EIR. The Alameda Creek Alliance will be monitoring this project closely, as well as the required federal permit process for the project.

 

S.F. Chronicle – October 30, 2008

S.F. Panels OK $4.4 Billion Hetch Hetchy Upgrade

 

The East Bay Express - November 12, 2008

Saving the Tuolumne River

Covers the SFPUC Water System Improvement Project Approval – the article mentions the Alameda Creek concerns

 

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December 13 Salmon Walk in Lagunitas Creek – Joint SPAWN/ACA Tour

 

Join the Salmon Protection And Watershed Network and the Alameda Creek Alliance for a salmon tour along Lagunitas Creek in Marin on Saturday, December 13th. If we get any rain, we may see coho salmon at several dependable spawning sites.

 

The tour starts at 10 am and is a special event with guest naturalist, Alameda Creek Alliance Director, Jeff Miller. Register for the walk at http://www.spawnusa.org/ - there are currently 19 spots available.

 

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Algae and Urban Runoff Implicated in October Alameda Creek Fish Kill

 

A panel of experts has reached a tentative conclusion on what caused the major fish kill in Alameda Creek in Fremont on October 6th – oxygen depletion from algal growth compounded by urban runoff containing nutrients and decaying materials. The panel, which included a fisheries biologist, a University of California , Berkeley professor emeritus and a specialist who works extensively with runoff in the county, concluded several factors contributed to depleting oxygen in the pond. Algae takes oxygen out of the water through the night and photosynthesizes during the day to produce oxygen. Runoff from a small storm darkened the water, leading to less photosynthetic activity and new oxygen, and producing more oxygen demand.

 

A sewage spill that day in Pleasanton eight miles upstream was discounted as a factor and water quality tests did not reveal toxicity or anything harmful such as pesticides. About 5,000 dead fish, mainly warm water fish such as carp, sucker and sculpin, were found in a 150-acre-foot section of the creek spanning from just east of Mission Boulevard to a rubber dam about 1,200 feet to the west.