FRESNO OFFICE REGION PROJECTS
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Project Title: Farmworker Sustainable Water Access Project
Watershed: San Luis Reservoir and the O’Neill Forebay
Grant Request: $100,000 – 24 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring/Pollution Awareness
The Farmworker Sustainable Water Access Project (Project) will primarily provide essential funding to help educate and develop community members to serve as leaders who will help ensure clean drinking water is available to the disadvantaged communities of Cantua Creek and El Porvenir in Fresno County. Presently, CRLAF has a contract with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) for the delivery of emergency bottled drinking water to residents of Cantua Creek and El Porvenir. Funding for the Project will enhance CRLAF’s ability to work with the residents to address water access, as part of the delivery of emergency bottled drinking water to the residents of El Porvenir and Cantua Creek for up to twenty-four (24) months or until a permanent clean drinking water solution is implemented. The water quality situation in El Porvenir and Cantua Creek, where there are nearly 700 farmworker families residing requires constant monitoring and work to ensure residents have continuous access to quality drinking water. The purpose for the Project will be to address the concerns raised by residents because of the bad water quality. Currently, Cantua Creek and El Porvenir receive treated water from Fresno County Service Area No. 30, which contains levels of Haloacetic Acids (HAA5) and Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) that exceed the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for drinking water. SEP funding will supplement the SWRCB funding to help ensure that up to twenty-five (25) gallons per household per week, or half gallon per person per day, whichever is greater, of bottled water to approximately one hundred and seventy five (175) homes in the communities of El Porvenir and Cantua Creek. In addition, the funding will support a series of community meetings and community involvement in the more permanent longer-term water solutions, which are tentatively scheduled for completion in 2019.
Center on Race, Poverty & The Environment
Project Title: California Central Valley Continuous Nutrient Monitoring System
Watershed: Tulare Lake Basin
Grant Request: $169,722 – 24 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring/Pollution Awareness
This project will provide continuous water quality information to the public on nutrient concentrations along the lower Tule River that receives runoff from agricultural fields and confined animal feed lots (Elk Bayou, and North and South Branch Tulare River). Disadvantaged communities that have surface waters and shallow groundwater impacted by nutrients in this area will be informed about how land uses along the lower Tule River are contributing to these impacts. This system will be used to continuously monitor nutrient concentrations in the river, compare detections with water quality objectives in real-time, and generate public awareness around local water quality issues. This will be achieved by installing up to three continuous water quality nutrient sensors upstream and downstream of agricultural (or feed lot) areas. The sensors – which will continuously transmit data through cellular networks and will be displayed on a website open to the public – will measure concentrations of Nitrate and Ammonium in addition to temperature and water level (which in a flowing stream can be used to estimate discharge and nutrient loading rates). This website will show current and past water quality data measured by the sensors and estimate discharge and loading (if applicable). The QA/QC process will include an initial calibration on the sensors with standard calibration solutions. Monthly sampling will be conducted at each stream site and samples sent to the University of California’s Keller Lab for analysis to compare sensor results with UCSB laboratory results. Sensors will be calibrated monthly with standard calibration solutions. Data will be provided real-time on a publicly available website that can be accessed by the CVRWQB, and can be provided upon request directly to the Water Board. Community members will be engaged through public meetings, which will present the monitoring system, how it works and can be used, summarize any data that has been generated from the sensors, and allow for the public to ask questions and provide feedback.
Central California Environmental Justice Network
Project Title: Improving Water Quality in Fresno and Kern Counties
Watershed: Tulare Lake Basin
Grant Request: $50,000 – 12 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring/Pollution Awareness
The Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN) proposes to expand their education campaign which was started in 2015, in order to reach 120 additional residents that will include people receiving their water from public water systems but also those with private wells. Depending on their place of residence, residents will learn the following: a) Understand the Consumer Confidence Reports and use them to assess the quality of their drinking water; b) Importance of testing private wells, what chemicals to test for, measures to prevent well contamination; c) Identify water contamination hazards in their communities and how to report these hazards to IVAN Fresno and IVAN Kern. CCEJN will also establish two new “Water Watchers” groups that will actively participate in data-gathering. Participants in these groups will learn how to document water quality issues in their communities by using pollution logs and by collecting water samples when needed; and will present the results of their data gathering efforts in community events. Issues identified through the pollution logs and water tests, as well as the reports made in IVAN Fresno and IVAN Kern will be addressed or investigated by the local IVAN taskforces, which include representatives from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
City of Arvin
Project Title: Arvin’s H2O Project: Fountains of Hope
Watershed: San Joaquin/ Kern River Walker Basin
Grant Request: $100,000 – 18 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring /Well Rehabilitation or Replacement /Pollution Awareness /Pollution Prevention
The City of Arvin has identified the need for eight new water fountains with Arsenic/ TCP filters to be installed in Kovacevich Park (3), Smotherman Park (2), and DiGiorgio Park (3). The City has recently completed the construction of the DiGiorgio Skatepark, based on an active public outreach program in this disadvantaged community. Community groups are now coming before City Council meetings requesting water filling stations at DiGiorgio Park due to the increased activity in that park. The City has also identified the need for water stations at Kovacevich Park and Smotherman Park. The City in collaboration with Aqua for All, the Arvin CSD, the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), and the Lowes Foundation seeks to fund this project to benefit all members of the disadvantaged community of Arvin. The estimated cost to complete this project for water fountains and filtration systems necessary to filter arsenic and TCPs out of the water is $182,105. The City of Arvin is working with multiple collaborators to provide additional funds and will provide the matching funded needed to complete the project.
Community Water Center
Project Title: Clean Water for Disadvantaged Communities
Watershed: Tulare Lake Basin
Grant Request: $100,000 – 12 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring/Pollution Awareness
The Community Water Center will further efforts to ensure clean sources of drinking water for disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the San Joaquin Valley. CWC will accomplish this through three main strategies: 1) Community Outreach and Education in Disadvantaged Communities; 2) Water Quality Testing in Disadvantaged Communities; and 3) Connecting DAC residents with contaminated water to resources on immediate access to safe water and long-term solution options. Water quality testing will help develop a better understanding of local groundwater quality and identify impacts on beneficial uses, particularly for disadvantaged community drinking water supplies. Outreach and education of disadvantaged communities will enable proactive action to prevent and mitigate contamination of groundwater used as a source of drinking water. Linking DAC residents with contaminated water with immediate resources and long-term solution projects will ensure that water quality needs of disadvantaged communities will be addressed and sources of community drinking water supplies will be protected and improved. This proposal builds on a the past SEP grant received in January 2015 for community-based water quality work in Tulare County.
Friends of the River
Project Title: Friends of the San Joaquin River
Watershed: San Joaquin River
Grant Request: $75,000 – 12 months
Theme: Pollution Prevention / Water Quality Monitoring /Pollution Awareness / Watershed Assessment and Protection / Watershed Assessment and Protection
Friends of the San Joaquin River is a community-based water quality monitoring project proposed by Friends of the River (FOR) to improve water quality and public health for people living in three disadvantaged communities along the San Joaquin River: the Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians of California, the historical center of Fresno (defined by the California Endowment as the Fresno Building Healthy Communities site), and Firebaugh. The health of people living in these DACs is affected by the health of the River through swimming, boating, recreational and subsistence fishing, and drinking water from surface and hydrologically connected groundwater sources. Most rivers flowing out of the Sierra Nevada and through the San Joaquin Valley are listed as impaired bodies of water by the State Water Resources Control Board due to pollution stemming from reduced flow, historic mining, and agricultural and urban runoff. While the Stanislaus, Merced and Tuolumne Rivers are listed for five or more contaminants, based on monitoring over the last fifteen years, the San Joaquin is only listed as impaired for invasive fish species based on a study from 1971. This project will gather better baseline water quality information for two stretches of the River (Redinger Reservoir to Millerton Reservoir and Millerton Reservoir to Mendota). To ensure the project engages and benefits the people living in these DACs, FOR will work with Fresno Building Healthy Communities, the Big Sandy Rancheria, the community of Firebaugh, and several other partners to: a) Collect water quality data on the broader set of contaminants found in similar rivers in the San Joaquin Valley by organizing water monitoring teams following QA/QC protocols: b) Share the data with the CVRWQCB, the City of Firebaugh, the Water Division of Fresno, and the Fresno Irrigation District; c) Increase community participation in planning and management of pollution prevention and abatement programs; and, d) Implement a watershed-oriented education program to encourage pollution reduction and increase awareness of water quality issues.
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Project Title: Securing Safe Sanitation in the San Joaquin Valley
Watershed: San Joaquin River and Tulare Lake Basin
Grant Request: $180,000 – 18 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring /Pollution Awareness
The amount requested ranges from $60,000 – $180,000 – this range reflects the scalable nature of the project to accommodate available funding. LCJA will work in partnership with lower income communities reliant on deteriorating and failing wastewater treatment systems to identify solutions to secure reliable wastewater treatment service and infrastructure, and implement strategies to realize those solutions. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of homes in the San Joaquin Valley rely on septic systems or rudimentary wastewater disposal infrastructure that are either unregulated or under-regulated and are often inadequate to treat and dispose of wastewater – both black water (from toilets) and gray water (from sinks, washing machines, dishwater, and other household uses). Raw sewage leaches into soils and groundwater and may even pool above ground, threatening families and communities with harmful and dangerous pathogens. At the same time, residents dispose of gray water directly onto the ground since onsite wastewater systems cannot manage sufficient volumes of water. The project will conduct outreach in communities with septic systems or rudimentary wastewater disposal systems to assess the adequacy of wastewater treatment and disposal and assess any existing or potential impacts to soil and/or groundwater from existing wastewater treatment infrastructure. If existing wastewater treatment infrastructure is inadequate, the project will work with community leaders to pursue funding to assess alternative approaches to address the problem and participate in development of that assessment to ensure that it reflects community identified priorities and input. A baseline condition at the start of the project is that wastewater infrastructure in some of the initial target communities is inadequate. In those communities, the project will begin with securing resources to support an analysis of alternative approaches to resolve the problem as noted above. LCJA will pursue additional needed funding and, if necessary, government approvals required to complete the identified preferred alternative to address the wastewater deficiency.
Self Help Enterprises
Project Title: Planning and Projects for Water-Challenged DACs and Schools
Watershed: San Joaquin Valley
Grant Request: $150,000 – 24 months
Theme: Pollution Awareness
Funding will allow SHE to continue work conducted under past SEPs to assist DACs and begin working with rural schools to participate in local and regional water management planning efforts, (i.e. SGMA and IRWM). Anticipated program activities for this include: 1) outreach to local board and community members, 2) education, and 3) facilitating community and local board participation in the development and implementation of local planning efforts, i.e. Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) and IRWM plan updates. An additional, new, and greatly needed component of this program will be to establish an outreach and education program to assist schools in obtaining information about available resources, including newly available state funding and technical assistance to specifically address school drinking water challenges. Anticipated activities include: 1) outreach to schools located in rural DACs with known or suspected water quality and/or access challenges; 2) identification of funding sources and assistance to schools in accessing funding sources available to address their water challenges.
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Project Title: State of the Sierra Waters – An Updated Watershed Index
Watershed: Sierra Nevada Western Slope (Tulare County)
Grant Request: $200,000 – 24 months
Theme: Watershed Assessment
The Sierra Nevada Alliance’s report State of Sierra Waters 2006 used publicly available data from various state and federal agencies, including US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, California State Water Quality Control Board and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to document that Sierra rivers, lakes and streams are impaired chemically, biologically, and physically. Of the sampled areas three-quarters of Sierra watersheds had stretches that were not swimmable, fishable, drinkable or open for recreation. It is time for a reassessment and evaluation of what progress or continued degradation have occurred. The updated Watershed Index will examine if the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership Watershed Program, which has been working in the region for the past 13 years, has a tangible and measurable water quality impact. The project will employ three major approaches. The first is to spend particular attention focused on watersheds within disadvantaged communities, such as those within Tulare County on the Western Slope, as these are often affected most adversely. Secondly, the project will be guided by an advisory committee made up of diverse conservation partners, including tribal representatives. Third, SNA will implement the identified watershed improvements via on the ground restoration, monitoring, environmental and volunteer community education and engagement. 80% of Sierra residents are below California’s median household income, and according to 2010 Census Data, more than 40% of the Sierra’s communities are DACs and nearly 70% of our individual residents live in such communities. Thus, this comprehensive study to identify watershed conditions and restoration opportunities, combined with targeting on-the-ground activities towards DACs, will benefit both water quality and DACs throughout the Range of Light.
The Wildlands Conservancy
Project Title: Wind Wolves Preservation Water Quality Improvement Project
Watershed: San Emigdio Mountains / Southern Joaquin Valley
Grant Request: $100,000 – 12 months
Theme: Public Awareness / Riparian and Wetland Restoration / Water Quality Monitoring / Well Rehabilitation or Replacement
The Wildlands Conservancy’s Wind Wolves Preserve (WWP) seeks to fund a public access and water improvement project that will benefit the public, preserve users, education programs, and watershed ecosystem restoration. The Wildlands Conservancy’s mission is “To preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature.” Wind Wolves Preserve is the largest nature preserve owned and operated by TWC and, at 93,000 acres, is also the largest nonprofit nature preserve on the West Coast. The preserve is located in the San Emigdio Mountains at the cradle of the San Joaquin Valley and provides free hiking, biking, camping, education programs, family events, and volunteer opportunities for visitors. Last year, WWP served 60,000 visitors. In 20162017 Fiscal Year, over 18,300 students participated in our education programs. The previous year, WWP hosted over 1,700 volunteers, which contributed a combined total of 5,800 hours towards restoration efforts. The current water delivery system providing soft water at preserve facilities is piped three miles away and has limited supply due to drought impacts. With full funding, WWP will drill a new well and install irrigation infrastructure very near our facilities, campgrounds, bathrooms, and nursery. Additionally, funds will support interpretive signage relative to project goals, educational materials, and nursery supplies used to produce plants for riparian and alluvial restoration. TWC will match (in-kind and cash funding) at a 1:1 ratio with staff labor, tools/equipment, nursery supplies, and a minimum of $50,000 in funding contributed to the project related items. WWP proudly serves Kern County, including several disadvantaged communities and communities at risk for environmental pollution. Educating youth and citizens via meaningful programs and hands on service related to water quality, land and water stewardship, and ecological restoration will encourage participation in local rural and urban water improvement projects.
WildPlaces
Project Title: Kern/Tule Watersheds Community Watershed and Rivers Project
Watershed: Tulare Lake Basin
Grant Request: $50,000 – 12 months
Theme: Watershed Assessment / Pollution Awareness / Wetland, Waterbody or Riparian Habitat Conservation or Restoration
WildPlaces is a well-established community-based organization and in 2018 proposes to build upon previous work conducted under a SEP as well as other Rose Foundation funding to continue their long-term strategy to improve water and natural habitat quality in Kern County. This project embraces an ecosystem-wide approach to engage disadvantaged communities in improving watershed health through education, outreach, and direct participation in ecological restoration. Protecting and restoring upland habitat and watersheds will improve conditions in disadvantaged communities by bringing diverse neighborhood members together to take action toward the common goal of watershed restoration. This empowerment lifts individuals as solution-makers, gaining a greater understanding of the water system, and knowing their actions will directly preserve water quality and quantity where they live. WildPlaces has17 years of restoration experience, holistic approach, compassionate and professional staff and volunteers, focus on measurable outcomes, strong partnerships, emphasis on working with under-represented youth and community members, perfect safety record, and commitment to advancing a conservation ethic in this region. With grant support, WildPlaces will: a) Conduct at least four public lands workshops combined with National Forest tours that engage community members in the southern San Joaquin in connecting directly with the wild and scenic lands and waterways that sustain their lives; b) Conduct 8 river stewardship and restoration events along 20 miles of the Tule and Kern Rivers with engagement of 150-200 community members; c) Implement re-vegetation and fencing aspects of 2-4 of the ten meadows being restored by the U.S.F.S.-led Sequoia Prioritized Ten Meadows Restoration Project (Ten Meadows Project). This watershed improvement project in the headwaters of the North and South Forks of the Kern River proposes to improve the resiliency of montane meadows and channel ecosystems and watershed hydrologic processes; d) Create needed jobs by expanding its newly formed Sequoia Roots Corp which engages young people in developing their restoration and leadership skills; e) Implement community events in collaboration with other conservation and social justice-driven organizations in Tulare and Kern counties addressing water scarcity, poor water quality, and limited access to public lands; f) Support planning, program, and financial resources for WildPlaces’ first annual symposium “Crossing Barriers to the Environment”, which will examine and overcome the obstacles that prevent disadvantaged communities from accessing and engaging with their public lands; and, g) Help implement a communications strategy and video promotion piece that reaches across both traditional news and social media outlets to raise visibility of watershed issues and the critical and achievable role of communities in protecting their water supplies.
SACRAMENTO OFFICE REGION PROJECTS
River Partners
Project Title: Riparian Floodplain Restoration at Dos Rios Ranch
Watershed: San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers
Grant Request: $130,943 – 36 months
Theme: Wetland, Waterbody or Riparian Habitat Conservation or Protection
River Partners will use the funding to purchase and install 20,200 native plants at Dos Rios Ranch in Stanislaus County. In 2012, River Partners purchased Dos Rios Ranch with funding from multiple state and federal funders. Dos Rios Ranch is a 1,600-acre property formerly farmed in row crops at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Rivers. Since acquisition, River Partners has worked with project partners at the local, regional, state and federal levels to design and implement a restoration project that will impart multiple benefits to both the local community as well as target wildlife species. A levee bisects the property, leaving 600 acres protected from flood flows and an additional 1,000 acres in the primary floodway on the waterside of the levee. To date, the 600 acres on the dry side of the levee have been restored to native habitat benefitting multiple endangered wildlife species. In spring 2018, River Partners will break ground on restoration of an additional 422 acres on the water side of the levee. Multiple funders have contributed to this floodplain restoration project to provide for site preparation, irrigation installation, planting, maintenance and monitoring. Fundraising for this phase of restoration was completed in 2015 and 2016 but the project has not yet begun due to permitting timelines. Now, with permits in hand, River Partners is prepared to begin restoration, however plant and plant establishment costs have changed, significantly increasing the cost of the project overall. In this proposal, River Partners seeks supplemental funding for plant costs and plant establishment to implement this shovel-ready project. Supplemental funding will make possible this model multi-benefit project and support regional water quality objectives. Dos Rios is located in an economically underserved area of the Central Valley and has the potential to benefit the Modesto and Grayson communities in many ways including improved public health, improved recreational access, improved flood safety, increased resilience to climate change, and improved economic stimulus for the region. Both Modesto and Grayson have median household incomes well below the state average, and suffer from poor air quality. Grayson is 89% Hispanic and 15% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Self Help Enterprises
Project Title: Planning and Projects for Water-Challenged DACs and Schools
Watershed: San Joaquin Valley
Grant Request: $150,000 – 24 months
Theme: Pollution Awareness
Funding will allow SHE to continue work conducted under past SEPs to assist DACs and begin working with rural schools to participate in local and regional water management planning efforts, (i.e. SGMA and IRWM). Anticipated program activities for this include: 1) outreach to local board and community members, 2) education, and 3) facilitating community and local board participation in the development and implementation of local planning efforts, i.e. Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) and IRWM plan updates. An additional, new, and greatly needed component of this program will be to establish an outreach and education program to assist schools in obtaining information about available resources, including newly available state funding and technical assistance to specifically address school drinking water challenges. Anticipated activities include: 1) outreach to schools located in rural DACs with known or suspected water quality and/or access challenges; 2) identification of funding sources and assistance to schools in accessing funding sources available to address their water challenges.
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Project Title: State of Sierra Waters-An Updated Watershed Index
Watershed: Sierra Nevada Western Slope
Grant Request: $200,000 – 24 months
Theme: Watershed Assessment
The Sierra Nevada Alliance’s report State of Sierra Waters 2006 used publicly available data from various state and federal agencies, including US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, California State Water Quality Control Board and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to document that Sierra rivers, lakes and streams are impaired chemically, biologically, and physically. Of the sampled areas three-quarters of Sierra watersheds had stretches that were not swimmable, fishable, drinkable or open for recreation. It is time for a reassessment and evaluation of what progress or continued degradation have occurred. The updated Watershed Index will examine if the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership Watershed Program, which has been working in the region for the past 13 years, has a tangible and measurable water quality impact. The project will employ three major approaches. The first is to spend particular attention focused on watersheds within disadvantaged communities, such as those within Tulare County on the Western Slope, as these are often affected most adversely. Secondly, the project will be guided by an advisory committee made up of diverse conservation partners, including tribal representatives. Third, SNA will implement the identified watershed improvements via on the ground restoration, monitoring, environmental and volunteer community education and engagement. 80% of Sierra residents are below California’s median household income, and according to 2010 Census Data, more than 40% of the Sierra’s communities are DACs and nearly 70% of our individual residents live in such communities. Thus, this comprehensive study to identify watershed conditions and restoration opportunities, combined with targeting on-the-ground activities towards DACs, will benefit both water quality and DACs throughout the Range of Light.
Tri-Valley CAREs
Project Title: Stakeholder Involvement for Water Restoration & Sustainability in Western San Joaquin County
Watershed: San Joaquin Delta Watershed
Grant Request: $60,000 – 36 months
Theme: Public Awareness / Pollution Prevention / Watershed Assessment and Protection
The project will promote community capacity building in Tracy and the surrounding western San Joaquin County to improve access to safe and clean water for present and future generations. At its core, the project will initiate an IVAN (Identifying Violations Affecting Neighborhoods)-like process to bring together Tracy-area stakeholders and multiple agencies involved in water remediation and pollution prevention decisions, principally the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB), Cal/EPA Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), and the Region IX Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project’s goal is to beneficially impact water quality decision-making by educating residents and empowering their engagement as stakeholders with a focus on underserved Spanish-speakers and youth. Its methods involve bi-lingual community outreach, listening sessions, development of materials, a youth video contest and community-wide meetings. The project will result in direct community involvement in public hearings, public comment periods, and other water quality processes. The project will principally include, but not be exclusively limited to, cleanup decision-making, and preventing further pollution for contaminated surface waters and groundwater aquifers in the San Joaquin River watershed in western San Joaquin County being remediated under the Superfund law (CERCLA). One such site is the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory “Site 300” Superfund site, which encompasses approximately 11-square miles of active cleanup of surface water streams and springs, multiple groundwater aquifers and an offsite groundwater contaminant plume underlying Corral Hollow Creek. Here, the project will build on Tri-Valley CAREs’ longstanding relationships with the U.S. Dept. of Energy, which owns Site 300, as well as the afore-noted three agencies that share decision-making to address the site’s toxic and radioactive water contaminants. Overall, the project will build on Tri-Valley CAREs’ Tracy-area membership and the group’s Tracy-based Environmental Advisory Committee. Project activities will include creating and disseminating water quality informational materials in English and Spanish; conducting listening sessions, watershed tours and community meetings; initiating an IVAN-like process to bring together residents and agencies to facilitate decision-making; provide training for residents (e.g., in public speaking, making videos, writing letters to the editor); sponsoring an annual water-themed Youth Video Contest; expanding and extend an existinging contract with our Tracy-based outreach specialist & Spanish language translator, Valeria Salamanca; and, help defray opening a community office in Tracy.
REDDING OFFICE REGION PROJECTS
California Urban Streams Alliance – The Stream Team
Project Title: The Stream Team Water Quality/Stormwater Outreach and Education and Watershed Monitoring Project
Watershed: Northern Sacramento Valley
Grant Request: $48,000 – 12 months
Theme: Riparian Restoration / Water Quality Monitoring
California Urban Streams Alliance – The Stream Team, a community-based watershed stewardship group, proposes a project to expand its existing citizen monitoring program to maximize the benefits to disadvantaged communities (DACs) working on water quality issues in the Sacramento River Watershed. The monitoring programs use established QA/QC protocols approved by the State Water Resources Control Board. The Stream Team efforts benefit Big Chico Creek, as well as other sub watersheds of the Sacramento River and their headwaters. All of the Stream Team’s work targets DACs to improve impaired waterways as water quality challenges arise. These efforts include education and outreach that empowers DACs to implement watershed habitat improvements, monitor water quality, implement storm water best management practices (LIDs) to reduce runoff pollution, and school-based Clean Water Science Ambassador programs in schools. SEP project details and budget can be scaled and modified as needed to address a specific water quality issue impacting DACs. The project’s goal is to leverage collaborative resources and local knowledge that will provide efficiency in implementing watershed assessment and enhancement projects. The direct objective is to demonstrate the benefits of utilizing citizen involvement and knowledge that will accomplish low-cost watershed assessments and ecosystem restoration, while also demonstrating the role collaborative watershed stewardship actions can play in helping achieve federal, state, and local resource management objectives. Project outcomes will be water quality protection and enhancements that specifically address issues within DACs.
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Project Title: State of the Sierra Waters-An Updated Watershed Index
Watershed: Sierra Nevada Western Slope
Grant Request: $200,000 – 24 months
Theme: Watershed Assessment
The Sierra Nevada Alliance’s report State of Sierra Waters 2006 used publicly available data from various state and federal agencies, including US Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, California State Water Quality Control Board and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to document that Sierra rivers, lakes and streams are impaired chemically, biologically, and physically. Of the sampled areas three-quarters of Sierra watersheds had stretches that were not swimmable, fishable, drinkable or open for recreation. It is time for a reassessment and evaluation of what progress or continued degradation have occurred. The updated Watershed Index will examine if the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership Watershed Program, which has been working in the region for the past 13 years, has a tangible and measurable water quality impact. The project will employ three major approaches. The first is to spend particular attention focused on watersheds within disadvantaged communities, such as those within Tulare County on the Western Slope, as these are often affected most adversely. Secondly, the project will be guided by an advisory committee made up of diverse conservation partners, including tribal representatives. Third, SNA will implement the identified watershed improvements via on the ground restoration, monitoring, environmental and volunteer community education and engagement. Activities and plans for numerous watersheds on the Western Slope can be targeted to specific SEP funds. 80% of Sierra residents are below California’s median household income, and according to 2010 Census Data, more than 40% of the Sierra’s communities are DACs and nearly 70% of our individual residents live in such communities. Thus, this comprehensive study to identify watershed conditions and restoration opportunities, combined with targeting on-the-ground activities towards DACs, will benefit both water quality and DACs throughout the Range of Light.
The Butte Environmental Council
Project Title: Water Warriors
Watershed: Big Chico Creek and Small Chico Creek
Grant Request: $31,946 – 24 months
Theme: Water Quality Monitoring / Pollution Awareness / Wetland, Waterbody or Riparian Habitat Conservation or Protection
Water Warriors is a restoration focused and volunteer driven program located in Butte County, where one in five residents (20.4%) live below the poverty level (compared to the state average of 15.9%), and 28.5% of children live in a household receiving some form of public benefits (U.S. Census Bureau). Less than 2% of the State’s voting population lives in this region where 86% of the State’s developed water supply originates. Through the City of Chico’s adopt-a-spot program, Butte Environmental Council (BEC) adopted two sites, Teichert Ponds and an area of Big Chico Creek located in Bidwell Park. Both sites are overgrown with invasive species, accumulate trash in the thick underbrush, and suffer from erosion. The goals for Water Warriors is to remove invasive species, replace with natives, decrease erosion, and encourage others to adopt-a-spot. The two sites were selected based on collaborations with the City of Chico’s Parks Department. Teichert Ponds is a 30-acre wetland located in Chico, adjacent to Little Chico Creek. The accidental wetland was created in 1966 during the construction of Highway 99 when Teichert Construction Company inadvertently ruptured the shallow aquifer while mining from the ancient alluvial fan. This site not only has a direct link to the aquifer but also receives stormwater runoff from nearby shopping and housing developments. Bidwell Park is approximately 2,500 acre, and suffers from a thick understory of invasive species, bank erosion, and illegal dumping. During the first year of Water Warriors, volunteers will remove invasive species. In subsequent years, volunteers will plant native species, which will be cultivated by local high school students in the Individual Education Plan program. Students will also participate in the planting and maintenance of the sites. The sites will be also be monitored as a part of The Stream Team’s regular water quality assessments, which measure temperature (air and water), dissolved oxygen, conductivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, PH, and bacteria flow (please refer to The Stream Team’s SEP proposal). Water Warriors provides educational opportunities to the public and local high school students, while also bringing direct volunteer action to our watersheds.
The South Yuba River Citizens League
Project Title: Growing Green: Reducing Water Quality Impacts from Marijuana Grows in the Yuba Watershed
Watershed: Yuba Watershed
Grant Request: $43,579 – 12 months
Theme: Pollution Prevention / Public Awareness
Marijuana is now California’s largest cash crop, valued between 10 and 14 billion dollars annually. Marijuana grow operations, which have become critical sources of income in many rural and disadvantaged communities, are causing serious water quality problems that negatively impact the state’s water supply. The cumulative negative impacts of these small grow operations on water quality and wildlife habitat are sure to increase if we do not act now. Despite the importance of the Central Valley watersheds and the watershed-wide threats of marijuana growing, there has been little organized collaborative effort throughout the region to share information and resources between stakeholders, to collaborate on remediation efforts, or to educate individual growers about best practices and environmental regulation and permitting. In part, this is because so many different agencies are being impacted by these problems and because the problem has been under the radar for so many years. Moreover, marijuana growers are often suspicious of approaching agencies for advice and information and are not eligible for programs that promote environmentally friendly farming techniques. Since 2014, SYRCL has been working with multiple partners to develop best management practices (BMPs), educational outreach materials, and a series of easily accessible and freely available online “how-to” webinars. The focus of the “Growing Green” program is twofold: (1) to explain the negative ecological and water quality issues surrounding cannabis grows; and (2) to provide instructions on farming practices that promote ecologically sustainable grows that do not negatively impact water quality. While the first phase of SYRCL’s work will concentrate on disadvantaged communities (DACs) throughout the Yuba and Bear River watersheds, the project is designed to be valuable to communities and watersheds throughout the Central Valley, bringing added strategic value to the proposed work.
