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A changing framework for urban water systems

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A changing framework for urban water systems
American Chemical Society (ACS) | May 8, 2013...
Summary
Urban water infrastructure and the institutions responsible for its management have gradually evolved over the past two centuries. Today, they are under increasing...

Urban water infrastructure and the institutions responsible for its management have gradually evolved over the past two centuries. Today, they are under increasing stress as water scarcity and a growing recognition of the importance of factors other than the cost of service provision are forcing a reexamination of long-held ideas. Research and development that supports new technological approaches and more effective management strategies are needed to ensure that the emerging framework for urban water systems will meet future societal needs

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Aluminum- and iron-based coagulation for in-situ removal of dissolved organic carbon, disinfection byproducts, mercury and other constituents from agricultural drain water

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Aluminum- and iron-based coagulation for in-situ removal of dissolved organic carbon, disinfection byproducts, mercury and other constituents from agricultural drain water
Elsevier | May 9, 2019...
Summary
Agricultural production on wetland soils can be significant sources of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), disinfection byproduct precursors, mercury and nutrients to downstream water bodies...
Agricultural production on wetland soils can be significant sources of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), disinfection byproduct precursors, mercury and nutrients to downstream water bodies and accelerate land subsidence. Presented as a potential solution for in-situ water quality improvement and land subsidence mitigation, chemically enhanced treatment wetlands (CETWs) were used to leverage both coagulation and wetland processes. In this study, we evaluated the performance of coagulants ferric sulfate (Fe dosing) and polyaluminum chloride (Al dosing) to remove pollutants from agricultural drain water using the coagulation system designed for CETWs. Both coagulation treatments removed over 70% DOC from source waters, resulting in removal efficiencies (mg-DOC removed per mg-metal dosed) of 1 under Al dosing and 0.5 under Fe dosing. Coagulation by both treatments preferentially removed UV254 active compounds compared to the bulk DOC concentration, suggesting coagulation targeted aromatics more effectively. Phosphates and haloacetic acids were also removed more readily, whereas trihalomethanes, dissolved organic nitrogen and filtered mercury species were removed at similar or lower rates than DOC. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen was not amenable to coagulation and removal was not observed. Freundlich, Langmuir and Monod models explained 33% of the variance in DOC removal for Al dosing and 78–89% of the variance for Fe dosing. All three models indicated Al dosing had higher removal efficiency and affinity for DOC than Fe dosing under study conditions, but when used to predict maximum removal efficiency there was no cohesiveness between the three models due to different model assumptions. Consideration of fluorescence dissolved organic matter and UV254 as surrogates for DOC concentration showed both were equally suitable before coagulant application, but as surrogates after coagulant application, neither could be deemed more fit as a surrogate since both were shown suitable for different treatment scenarios.

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Anticipating Environmental and Environmental-Health Implications of Extreme Storms: ARkStorm Scenario

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Anticipating Environmental and Environmental-Health Implications of Extreme Storms: ARkStorm Scenario
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) | July 22, 2015...
Summary
The ARkStorm Scenario predicts that a prolonged winter storm event across California would cause extreme precipitation, flooding, winds, physical damages, and economic impacts....

The ARkStorm Scenario predicts that a prolonged winter storm event across California would cause extreme precipitation, flooding, winds, physical damages, and economic impacts. This study uses a literature review and geographic information system-based analysis of national and state databases to infer how and where ARkStorm could cause environmental damages, release contamination from diverse natural and anthropogenic sources, affect ecosystem and human health, and cause economic impacts from environmental-remediation, liability, and health care costs. Examples of plausible ARkStorm environmental and health concerns include complex mixtures of contaminants such as petroleum, mercury, asbestos, persistent organic pollutants, molds, and pathogens; adverse physical and contamination impacts on riverine and coastal marine ecosystems; and increased incidences of mold-related health concerns, some vector-borne diseases, and valley fever. Coastal cities, the San Francisco Bay area, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, parts of the Central Valley, and some mountainous areas would likely be most affected. This type of screening analysis, coupled with follow-up local assessments, can help stakeholders in California and disaster-prone areas elsewhere better plan for, mitigate, and respond to future environmental disasters.

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Bioaccumulation of Pollutants in California Waters: A Review of Historic Data and Assessment of Impacts on Fishing and Aquatic Life

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Bioaccumulation of Pollutants in California Waters: A Review of Historic Data and Assessment of Impacts on Fishing and Aquatic Life
California State Water Resources Control Board, San Francisco Estuary Institute | October 24, 2007...
Summary
This report was written for the State Water Resources Control Board’s Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) as a step toward the development...

This report was written for the State Water Resources Control Board’s Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) as a step toward the development of an improved bioaccumulation monitoring program for California. The report provides a review of bioaccumulation monitoring data generated under three historic State Board programs (the Toxic Substances Monitoring Program, the State Mussel Watch Program, and the Coastal Fish Contamination Program) and other major bioaccumulation studies since 1970. Future monitoring will be guided by assessment questions developed for the SWAMP. The objective of this report was to evaluate how well the historic data from the State Board programs and from other major monitoring efforts since 1970 address these questions. This exercise has provided a substantial amount of information about present and historical impacts of pollutant bioaccumulation on shing and aquatic life in California, and has also highlighted areas where improved sampling approaches can better address the assessment questions.

Present concentrations of pollutants in many California water bodies are high enough to cause concern for possible effects on human health and to have a significant impact on the fishing beneficial use. Consumption advisories, 303(d) listings, and the bioaccumulation database as a whole provide three indices of the status of this impact. Consumption advisories exist for an increasing number of water bodies, but these represent only a fraction of the areas likely to need them. Lack of suitable data is a major impediment to developing advice for additional water bodies. A US E.P.A. evaluation of the 2002 303(d) List indicated that large portions of the state had not been assessed, especially rivers and coastline. Most of the lake area in the state (61%) had been assessed, and a relatively small percentage of the total area (6%) was classified as impaired. Assessment of lakes, however, has focused primarily on the largest lakes, leaving the vast majority of smaller lakes unsampled. Many of these small lakes are near population centers and are popular for shing. Bays and estuaries had been thoroughly assessed (98% of the area) and 93% of the total area was impaired.

Evaluation of the most recent monitoring data (collected from 1998-2003) indicates that, for the locations sampled, 32% had low concentrations of pollutants, 42% had moderate concentrations, 18% had high concentrations, and 8% had very high concentrations (Figure 1). Concentrations in the low category are in a range where consumption is generally encouraged by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) (Klasing and Brodberg 2006). OEHHA is the agency responsible for managing health risks due to contaminated sport fish in California. Concentrations in the very high category are in a range where OEHHA discourages consumption (Klasing and Brodberg 2006). Lakes assigned to the moderate, high, or very high concentration categories were primarily affected by mercury, with PCBs also playing a lesser role.

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California Non-Point Source Encyclopedia
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California Non-Point Source Encyclopedia
California State Water Resources Control Board | July 20, 2004...
Summary
The goal of this guidance document is to provide the best, most relevant information to State agencies, regional boards, local agencies, and nonpoint...
The goal of this guidance document is to provide the best, most relevant information to State agencies, regional boards, local agencies, and nonpoint source (NPS) practitioners to assist them in identifying and implementing practices to protect high-quality waters and restore impaired waters. This guidance document is not applicable to any facilities that are considered point sources under the Clean Water Act, including confined animal facilities that are Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as defined by USEPA.

The guidance is organized around the six NPS categories identified in the Plan for California's Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program of 2000: agriculture, forestry, urban areas, marinas and recreational boating, hydromodification, and wetlands/riparian areas/vegetated treatment systems.

It supports the plan's goal of implementing the 61 NPS management measures by 2013. It also supports the implementation of NPS total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), as well as the development of TMDL implementation plans and watershed plans. A companion set of tools will also be available through the Internet to assist users in identifying potential management practices and estimating the effectiveness of those practices in managing pollution.

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California Non-point Source Program Implementation Plan 2014 – 2020
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California Non-point Source Program Implementation Plan 2014 – 2020
California State Water Resources Control Board | August 5, 2015...
Summary
The 2014 - 2020 California Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program Implementation Plan (NPS Program Implementation Plan) describes how the State will be using its...
The 2014 - 2020 California Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program Implementation Plan (NPS Program Implementation Plan) describes how the State will be using its resources to effectively prevent NPS pollution from impacting surface water and groundwater in California. The vision for the CA NPS Program is to restore and protect the beneficial uses of the State’s waters through the reduction of NPS pollution and attaining water quality objectives.

This document serves as an update to the CA NPS Program Plan as approved by U.S. EPA and NOAA in 2000. As such, California will continue to implement a comprehensive statewide program working to implement management measures to address NPS pollution consistent with U.S. EPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approval.

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California regulation of agricultural runoff

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California regulation of agricultural runoff
American Bar Association (ABA) | November 1, 2017...
Summary
Agriculture in California is a multibillion dollar industry that produces more than half of the nation’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. But this comes...
Agriculture in California is a multibillion dollar industry that produces more than half of the nation’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. But this comes at a cost. Agriculture is the primary source of water pollution, with irrigation and rainfall sweeping excess fertilizers and pesticides off the fields into adjoining waters and, over time, leaching into groundwater. As a result, waterbodies—spanning roughly 8,000 miles of rivers and streams and 300,000 acres of lakes, bays, and wetlands—are impaired.

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Coagulant and Sorbent Efficacy in Removing Mercury from Surface Waters in the Cache Creek Watershed, California

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Coagulant and Sorbent Efficacy in Removing Mercury from Surface Waters in the Cache Creek Watershed, California
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | February 25, 2019...
Summary
Cache Creek drains part of northern California’s Coast Ranges and is an important source of mercury (Hg) to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Cache...

Cache Creek drains part of northern California’s Coast Ranges and is an important source of mercury (Hg) to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Cache Creek is contaminated with Hg from several sources, including historical Hg and gold mines, native Hg in the soils, and active mineral springs. In laboratory experiments in a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the use of coagulants and sorbents to immobilize Hg in water samples from high- concentration sources in the Cache Creek watershed was investigated. Three sites were selected for the collection of surface-water samples containing high and low concentrations of particulate-associated Hg. The high-particulate Hg samples were collected from Cache Creek Settling Basin duringstormflow conditions. The low-particulate Hg samples werecollected from two geochemically contrasting sites duringbase-flow conditions (downstream from a geothermal springand at the emergence point of a connate-water spring).

Three coagulants were chosen for laboratory testing with the high-particulate sample— (1) ChitoVanTM HV 1.5 percent (shell based), (2) FerralyteTM 8131 (ferric sulfate based), and (3) UltrionTM 8186 (aluminum based). Each coagulant was tested at various dose amounts to determine the optimum dose rate for the high-particulate sample. The low-particulate source samples were passed through three sorbents—

(1) chitosan flakes, (2) coconut shell-based activated carbon,and (3) coal-based activated carbon. In-line columns were packed with each material, and the untreated sample waspassed through each column at three different flow rates (0.1,0.5, and 1.0 liter per minute, L/min).

For dose rates used in this study, ChitoVanTM reduced turbidity of the particulate sample by 85–91 percent, FerralyteTM reduced turbidity by 54–93 percent, and UltrionTMreduced turbidity by greater than 90 percent. At the lowest dose rate, ChitoVanTM achieved a 59- to 61-percent reduction in whole-water methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations and a 71- to 75-percent decrease in whole-water total mercury (THg) concentrations. FerralyteTM achieved a 37- to 48-percent decrease in whole-water MeHg concentrations and a 37- to 48-percent reduction in whole-water THg concentrations. UltrionTM achieved a greater than 90-percent decrease in whole-water MeHg and THg concentrations.

Mercury removal from the low-particulate samples was less efficient for the sorbent materials compared to the coagulants; less than 30 percent of THg was removed from any 500-milliliter aliquot using sorbent materials. The coal-based sorbent was the most versatile of the sorbents, removing THg to a similar extent from both low-particulatesource waters. The chitosan sorbent was the most effective atremoving THg from the low-particulate stream sample, but less effective for the low-particulate connate-spring sample. The Hg removal efficiency of the coconut sorbent decreasedquickly compared to the other two sorbents, indicating that sorption may be limited by the short contact times evaluated in this study.

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Contaminant Effects on California Bay-Delta Species & Human Health
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Contaminant Effects on California Bay-Delta Species & Human Health
San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science | December 1, 2016...
Summary
Many contaminants in the California Bay-Delta exceed regulatory standards, impact aquatic species, and potentially affect human health. Recent studies provide evidence that contaminants...
Many contaminants in the California Bay-Delta exceed regulatory standards, impact aquatic species, and potentially affect human health. Recent studies provide evidence that contaminants impact species of concern in the Bay-Delta (e.g., the decline of several important fish species referred to as the “Pelagic Organism Decline”). Multiple chemicals impair processes at cellular and physiological levels (measured as growth, development, and behavior abnormalities), ultimately affecting populations.

As an important example, the population decline of the endangered delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) is significantly associated with multiple stressors, including insecticide use. New analyses presented in this paper show significant correlations between pyrethroid (an insecticide) use and declining abundance of POD fish species.

Water sampled from the Bay-Delta causes multiple harmful effects in fish and delta smelt. Fish prey items are also impacted by contaminants; this may have an indirect effect on their populations. Co-occurrence with thermal changes or disease can worsen contaminant effects.

Contaminants also pose threats to human health via consumption of fish, drinking water, and contact recreation, in particular, mercury, toxins, disinfection byproducts, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. The role of contaminants in the decline of Bay-Delta species is difficult to accurately assess in a complex, dynamic system. However, tools and approaches are available to evaluate contaminant impacts on Bay-Delta species, and separate the effects of multiple stressors. Integrated monitoring and focused mechanistic studies are instrumental for addressing management needs. Impact and risk assessments should be conducted for different species across multiple life stages, with emphasis on early life stages of high-priority Bay-Delta species.

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Dioxin Issue Paper: Expert Panel Response and Recommendations
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Dioxin Issue Paper: Expert Panel Response and Recommendations
Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA) | February 11, 2010...
Summary
Congeners of dioxins and furans have been found in the San Francisco Bay in several species of fish sometimes used for human consumption,...
Congeners of dioxins and furans have been found in the San Francisco Bay in several species of fish sometimes used for human consumption, causing the State of California to issue an interim fish consumption advisory. This fish consumption advisory has been used by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the State of California as a basis for placing the Bay on the State’s list of impaired waterways required by the Clean Water Act. As a consequence, water quality-based discharge limits for dioxins are now being placed into NPDES permits for dischargers to the Bay where dioxins or furans have been detected in effluents.

At the request of the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA), an association of municipal wastewater treatment utilities, the San Francisco Estuary Institute convened a panel of three qualified experts to review the factual case and to make recommendations. As a starting point, BACWA prepared a draft “Dioxin Issue Paper” on February 15, 2008, detailing the environmental problem, the regulatory context, and the specific difficulties presented by dioxin-related effluent limits in permits. The draft Dioxin Issue Paper also outlined an array of possible regulatory strategies which might help resolve the difficulties faced by dischargers, ranging from strategies related to impairment listing to strategies related to NPDES permit issuance. Panel members were asked to review the draft Dioxin Issue Paper, make recommendations for improvement, and respond to a number of questions posed by the San Francisco Estuary
Institute.

The Panel met in Oakland, California, on February 22, 2008, at the San Francisco Estuary Institute. We were joined by representatives of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the US Environmental Protection Agency, BACWA, and others with expertise in the field. Subsequently, we held numerous conference calls and agreed that we would address the questions posed by the Institute in both short- and long-term contexts. For the short term, we agreed upon recommendations that could help alleviate some of the dioxin-related regulatory difficulties faced by municipal wastewater treatment plants.

For the long-term, however, we agreed that the problems faced by the dischargers are best addressed by solutions for the dioxin contamination problems in the Bay as a whole. We therefore also agreed to recommend a series of steps towards developing an integrated multi-media strategy for reducing dioxin levels in the San Francisco Bay.

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