I, too, get discouraged by the tragic state of the environment.
Amphibians dying off, many species of birds in dire straits, etc., etc.
Here's my contribution to positive environmental news.  California is
starting to address the problem of excessive algae growth in waterways
and Oakland has plan to use solar generated electricity for all its
needs by 2030.    Found these articles on the ContraCostaTimes.com
Headline site for Tues, Oct 19, 2004.

Wren Osborn

Algae is choking state's waterways

By Marla Cone
LOS ANGELES TIMES


The clear, cooling waters of Solstice Creek, in Southern California's
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area near exclusive Malibu,
evoke images of a different time, a different place.

Children chase tree-frog tadpoles and blue damselflies. Their parents
slip off their shoes and wade into the water just to feel it between
their toes. Fish dart through the water as long-legged water striders
leave dimples on the surface. Orange newts climb on cobblestones, and
mayfly nymphs, a plump meal for fish and frogs, burrow into the mud.

A few miles away, Malibu Creek presents a picture that is now far more
common. Children who reach into the water pull out smelly masses of
stringy neon-green algae. And if they step into the murky depths, they
risk slipping on rocks coated with foamy brown scum.

These two contrasting streams illustrate one of the nation's and
California's most pervasive water pollution problems: Nutrients, which
cause algae to grow more rapidly than nature ever intended, are
spoiling what should - and still could - be some of California's most
picturesque and popular waterways. Nitrogen and other nutrients from
fertilizers, cow manure and human sewage are overloading virtually
every waterway downstream from cities and farms.

Humans today produce double the amount of nitrogen they did in the
1940s, exceeding all natural sources combined. Worldwide, about 200
million tons are produced per year, more than half of it as fertilizer.
Phosphorous, another nutrient, comes mainly from soaps and detergents.

In a report issued in March, the director of the U.N. Environment
Programme called the nutrient glut "a gigantic global experiment." The
World Resources Institute has ranked it as "one of the most serious
threats to the aquatic environment today."

Many of the world's most famous bodies of water are highly contaminated
with nutrients, including the mouth of the Mississippi River, a
7,700-square-mile "dead zone"; Chesapeake Bay, where crabs, fish and
native sea grasses are smothered; and North Carolina's Pamlico Sound,
where dead fish routinely wash up by the millions.

Nationally, 94 percent of the nitrogen comes from livestock and farms,
although in urban watersheds, wastewater plants are major contributors.

In the most extreme cases, nitrogen compounds, including ammonia, are
so concentrated they can poison fish and other aquatic life. In most
cases, however, they kill by stealing oxygen, a process called
eutrophication.

During daytime, algae and other fast-growing plants suck up nutrients
and produce oxygen, so the water is so saturated that oxygen bubbles
drift to the surface. But at night, plants drain oxygen from the water
without replenishing it. Oxygen levels in nutrient-loaded waters
frequently plummet to half the normal amount, and in some cases, drop
to near zero.

For three decades, some areas of the United States, especially around
the Great Lakes, have been trying to rein in nitrogen, phosphorous and
ammonia from farms and wastewater plants. But though some waterways
have improved, most, especially in California, are worse.

"Nutrient release is not regulated in this country right now," said
Walter Dodds, a Kansas State University biologist who co-wrote an EPA
document that is helping states set criteria for controlling nutrients.
"There are exceptions, but mostly people are doing nothing."

Nutrients now impair more waterways in California than any other
pollutant except bacteria. Nearly 300 waterways - from Lake Tahoe in
the north to the Tijuana River in the south - have been declared unfit
for aquatic life or recreation because of excessive nutrients.

Excessive algae growth robs the waters of oxygen, suffocating fish and
other aquatic life. And although the algal blooms found in streams and
lakes do not pose a human health threat, many people perceive the slimy
waters as unsafe and unattractive.

"People enjoy being near streams and waterways that are clear and have
no smell. You don't want to swim in pea soup - and smelly pea soup at
that," said Rik Rasmussen of the California Water Resources Control
Board.

In a deep channel of the San Joaquin River near Stockton, chinook
salmon, one of the state's rarest fish, can't reach their spawning
grounds because algae suck up so much oxygen the fish can't breathe.

At Riverside County's Canyon Lake, masses of algae clog the filters of
a plant that delivers drinking water, sometimes forcing it to shut.
Nearby, at Lake Elsinore, dead fish wash ashore as oxygen levels
plummet.

At Las Virgenes Creek in Malibu Creek State Park, priests baptizing
babies purify souls with handfuls of greenish-brown water.

In Stemple Creek, which flows from Sonoma County into Bodega Bay, so
much ammonia flows from cow and chicken manure that the water is
poisonous to aquatic life.

California is just beginning to tackle its overfertilized waters by
developing standards for nutrients and setting individual limits for
each body of water.

In the next few years, the battle could force changes in how farmers
fertilize fields, how houses are built to control urban runoff and how
many millions of dollars the public spends to treat its sewage.

Some Southern California sewage plants are already building expensive
new nutrient-removing facilities. Los Angeles is spending $77 million
at two plants to eliminate 90 percent of ammonia and 60 percent of
nitrogen from effluent discharged into the Los Angeles River.

"The one general statement you can make about nutrients," said Ken
Harris, chief of a department at the state water board that is
coordinating plans for about 175 nutrient-loaded waterways, "is that
where you find people, you will find streams that are impaired by them."

It's a case of too much of a good thing. Nitrogen, the most abundant
element in the atmosphere, is a natural and essential ingredient in
oceans, lakes, rivers and streams.

"These systems need a certain amount of nitrogen and phosphorus to
sustain life. If you took it all out, all the plants would die," said
John Warwick, director of hydrologic sciences at the Desert Research
Institute in Reno.

Yet too much in a body of water - just like too much fertilizer on a
rosebush - can ruin an aquatic ecosystem.

Some species such as carp can tolerate low oxygen, but many of them are
considered undesirable. Trout and salmon are particularly sensitive to
low oxygen levels, which can suffocate their eggs and block their
migration.

Near Stockton, in a channel of the San Joaquin River that was deepened
to allow ships to navigate to and from San Francisco Bay, the oxygen
level is extremely low when fall-run chinook salmon pass through en
route to their spawning grounds. The salmon typically have to wait days
or weeks for it to improve, and because their eggs are viable only a
short amount of time, it reduces their chances of survival.

Insect larvae, important food for fish and amphibians, also cannot
survive in areas matted with algae. Mayflies and stoneflies are one of
the best indicators of a healthy California stream.

Statewide, water boards are creating plans, called Total Maximum Daily
Loads, for each waterway and each pollutant, including nutrients. They
must calculate precisely how much each can tolerate and set specific
allocations for each source.

In addition, the EPA has ordered all states to adopt numeric standards
for nutrients in waterways. California is in the process of doing so.
Yet many uncertainties remain: What level of nutrients is too high?
Where exactly are they coming from?

Under the Clean Water Act, all waterways must reach the point where
beneficial uses are no longer impaired. But each is categorized by how
valuable it is to society, which dictates how far states must go to
restore them. Lake Tahoe, for example, is "appreciated like a work of
art," Rasmussen said.

Tackling nutrients means changing the behavior of homeowners as they
tend to their lawns and altering how farmers use fertilizer and dispose
of manure. The state's regional water boards have the authority to
require cities and farmers to reduce runoff, and that could mean
regulations about how property is drained and how fertilizer is used.

"Getting people upstream to realize what they are doing downstream is
not easy," Dodds said. "People don't need to fertilize their lawns as
much as they do. Suburbanites think if one bag's good, two is better."

Water-quality engineers say they have the technical know-how to improve
the condition of most nutrient-loaded water bodies but they have
questions for society: How much do you want to improve them and how
much are you willing to pay?

"The public will bear this cost and it will be very large," said
Warwick of the Desert Research Institute.

"Ultimately," Harris added, "society has to determine what it's worth."