Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Deputy Operating Officer James Fiedler, of the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Watershed Management Division, gives a virtual tour of the Watershed Management Initiative during the Santa Clara Basin WMI Forum on February 13.
Watershed seeks to educate
Campaign targeted at raising environmental awareness with Sunnyvale and Silicon Valley residents
By Jana Seshadri
The recently launched Watershed Watch Campaign emphasizes to Santa Clara County residents that protection and preservation of watersheds is vitally important to the health and well-being of the environment as well as that of the general public.
Funded by the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program and in partnership with the Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative and several other agencies, the campaign aims to educate the public about the importance of watershed pollution prevention.
The program comprises 13 cities, including Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County and Santa Clara Valley Water District, all of which are co-permittees under a Regional Water Quality Control Board permit for managing storm water runoff.
A watershed is a land area that drains into a creek, river, lake, bay or groundwater aquifer. The urban runoff--which is all the water from rain and irrigation--in the northern part of Santa Clara County goes into storm drains, creeks and rivers that flow directly into San Francisco Bay. This water is untreated and can carry pollutants directly into creeks and rivers which that eventually end up in the Bay. Wastewater from sinks, toilets and other indoor drains pass through wastewater treatment plants, like the water pollution control plant in Sunnyvale, where most waste is removed by chemical processes before the treated water is discharged into the Bay. However, these processes cannot remove all solvents, metals or chemicals from the wastewater.
Several cities, in partnership with agencies across the county, are making a joint effort to tackle the problem by combining their expertise and resources, to understand the WMI and work together.
"Sunnyvale is one of the 13 agencies participating in the campaign," said Gail Glen, environmental outreach coordinator for the city of Sunnyvale.
"It has been one of the difficulties--the cities dealing among themselves and with many, many different agencies," said Lorrie Gervin, environmental divisional manager for Sunnyvale's public works department. However, she said, it has now become a cooperative process among them.
At the Santa Clara Basin WMI Forum on Feb. 13, some agency representatives spoke with candor about supporting the watershed initiative just with money in the past but becoming more involved since the WMI was launched.
"It's the dedication, commitment and structure that are in place that has made us become so involved in the WMI," said John Ong of the Environmental Protection Agency at the forum.
Sunnyvale Mayor Fred Fowler is chair of the North/North Central Flood Control Zone Advisory Committee, which has the Calabazas and Guadalupe creeks under its jurisdiction. According to Fowler, besides providing drinking water to Silicon Valley, the district also deals with flood control.
"The decisions of all the cities along the creeks affect everybody else," Fowler said.
For instance, Sunnyvale, being flood-free, depends to a certain extent on whether Los Gatos and Saratoga pave their streets, he said. All the water from the rain and irrigation in the hilly areas have no way of being absorbed into the soil if the surfaces are paved, he said, and would run down into the valley.
According to the federal Clean Water Act and the California Water Code, all cities, counties, businesses and industries have been mandated to take steps to prevent watershed pollution. Gervin said cities do their part by identifying crucial issues in their areas, providing in-kind services, participating in commissions and educating their residents.
"Sunnyvale is involved in the Integrated Pest Management program and we make sure it's implemented in a broad, citywide basis," she said.
The countywide adoption of this pest management method--using smaller amounts of fertilizer and chemicals--helps reduce pollution in the urban runoff, which is a subset of the WMI, she said.
The WMI calls for ongoing assessment of pilot watersheds, collecting data on different components of watersheds like water quality and pollutant levels. The Watershed Action Plan, currently in progress, identifies actions by partners that are being or can be implemented to achieve the goals of the WMI to preserve and enhance the watershed.
"Watershed management makes sense," said Mary Nichols, California State resources agency secretary at the WMI Forum.
Nichols lauded the effort put in by all the partners and agencies and commended them on a job well done. The partnerships among key agencies and cities facilitate in better communication and understanding, developing specific solutions to problems, prioritizing watershed needs and learning to manage environmental resources, she said.
"Prior to the WMI there was no coordination--just a piecemeal approach," said Jim Tucker of the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. "We welcome this process, even though it was a long one."
According to Gervin, in the past, developments in Sunnyvale that were larger than five acres were required to follow certain guidelines for water treatment. In order to prevent negative impact by additional runoff on streams and creeks, these requirements for developers and builders have since changed.
"Developments that are an acre in size need to provide some sort of water treatment if they have new impervious surfaces," Gervin said.
The pretreatment requirement has reduced the copper and nickel deposits in the water, she added.
Innovative steps and measures are being implemented to make the public aware of the campaign, teach people the value of the watershed and give them helpful suggestions to prevent pollution.
"Sunnyvale has been instrumental in this campaign," said Lois Humphreys, owner of TRG & Associates, who runs the Watershed Education and Outreach campaign.
Ongoing outreach measures in Sunnyvale deal with several aspects of watershed education and preservation, including preventing urban runoff pollution and advocating pesticide-free gardening. The campaign includes programs, displays and presentations all year long, Glen said.
More information and a free Watershed Watch kit can be obtained by calling the hotline at (866) WATERSHED or by visiting the Website at www.WatershedWatch.net, which includes pollution prevention tips, a calendar of upcoming events, opportunities for discounts and contests.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
