[env-trinity] Indian Creek Project Contract Awarded

[Dan Bacher]

EPA Issues Warning About Contact with Toxic Algae In Warren Buffett’s  
Klamath River Reservoirs

By Dan Bacher

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office in San Francisco on  
July 5 issued a warning about body contact with the blue-green algae  
in Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs on the Klamath River in Siskiyou  
County, California

“Due to its potential health risks, federal, state, local, and tribal  
agencies are urging swimmers, boaters and recreational users to avoid  
contact with the blue-green algae now blooming in Iron Gate and Copco  
Reservoirs,” said Lisa Fasano, spokesperson for the EPA’s San  
Francisco office.

California agencies including  the North Coast Regional Water Quality  
Control Board, State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of  
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and Department of Public  
Health and the Yurok and Karuk Tribes are urging  residents and  
recreational users of the Klamath river to use caution or avoid  
getting in the water near these blooms, especially during the  
upcoming summer months.

“As blue-green algae can pose health risks, especially to children  
and pets, we urge people to be careful where they swim when visiting  
the reservoirs,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPAs Water Division  
Director for the Pacific Southwest region. “Try to avoid swallowing  
or inhaling drops of water in an algal bloom area as well as skin  
contact with water by people or their pets.”

The blooms of “Microcystis aeruginosa” look like green, blue-green,  
white or brown foam, scum or mats floating on the water, according to  
Strauss.

“Recreational exposure to toxic blue-green algae can cause eye  
irritation, allergic skin rash, mouth ulcers, vomiting, diarrhea, and  
cold and flu-like symptoms. Liver failure and death have occurred in  
rare situations where large amounts of contaminated water were  
directly ingested,” Strauss stated.

“This is a situation that anyone who comes into contact with water at  
Copco or Iron Gate should be aware of,” said Catherine Kuhlman,  
Executive Officer of the North Coast Regional Water Board.  
“Vacationers and the public should adjust their activities  
accordingly. The precautions that we are recommending are reasonably  
simple and common sense.”

Regina Chichizola, the Klamath Riverkeeper, said she was “very glad”  
that the federal EPA and state agencies had issued warnings about  
bodily contact with the toxic algae, but was disappointed that  
nothing was being done about the toxic algae problem.

“The toxic algae violates four of the state’s water quality criteria,  
but the state refuses to do anything about stopping the pollution,”  
said Chichizola. “We’re asking that the state required the operator  
of the dams, PacifiCorp, be required to apply for a waste discharge  
permit so the North Coast Regional Board could regulate the toxic  
discharge.”

The microcystis algae is found in the Klamath all of the way down to  
the river mouth, but not in anywhere near the concentrations found in  
PacifiCorp’s Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs. The toxic algae requires  
still water to bloom - reservoirs are the perfect incubator for the  
algae to proliferate.

“From all of the available science, it is clear that that the dams  
are what is causing the toxic algae,” said Chichizola. “There isn’t  
the problem with the algae above the dams. We believe that dam  
removal will deal with this issue.”

This is the third consecutive year that Copco and Iron Gate  
Reservoirs have been found to have extremely high levels of the toxic  
blue-green algae since monitoring by the Karuk Tribe began in 2005.  
Tribal leaders, conservationists and recreational and commercial  
fishermen support dam removal as the solution to the toxic algae  
problem – and to restoring salmon and steelhead to the Klamath above  
the dams.

The reservoirs are located on the Klamath River near the Oregon  
border between Ashland, Oregon and Yreka, California. The dams are  
owned by PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Mid  
American Energy Holdings Company.

“Although Siskiyou County officials have the responsibility to inform  
and protect the public from exposure, it’s not their fault these  
blooms are occurring. Warren Buffett’s dams are to blame,” said Leaf  
Hillman, Vice Chair of the Karuk Tribe.

Officials from the California Water Quality Control Board and the  
Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment recently formed  
a Blue Green Algae (BGA) Work Group. The group published a document  
to provide guidance to local health officials dealing with toxic  
algae blooms. Samples taken recently from Klamath reservoirs  
contained cell counts approximately 100 times greater than the  
threshold at which the BGA Work Group’s document recommends posting  
alerts to the public.

“The blooms occur in the summer as the shallow, nutrient rich water  
trapped behind the dams heats up and thus provides an optimal  
environment for the algae to bloom,” explained Craig Tucker, Klamath  
Campaign Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe. “For years, down river  
Tribes, fishermen, and conservation groups have called for the  
removal of the dams to restore runs of salmon that are in dramatic  
decline and alleviate the toxic blooms.”

In May, the Klamath Riverkeeper and other affected community members  
filed a “public nuisance” claim against PacifiCorp over the role the  
dams play in creating algae blooms and creating conditions lethal to  
salmon.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs include nationally renowned environmental  
attorneys Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of the National Water Keeper  
Alliance and Joseph Cotchett. Tribal and state governments are not  
plaintiffs in the suit.

Hillman and leaders from the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes joined  
with conservation groups and commercial fishermen in May to take  
their grievances straight to Buffett at “Warrenpalooza,” the annual  
shareholders’ meeting of Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway  
in Omaha, Nebraska. Unfortunately, Buffett declined to address the  
groups’ appeal to remove the Klamath dams.

“PacifiCorp is destroying the most vital natural resource river and  
coastline communities have while poisoning us at the same time,” said  
Hilllman."In the end, PacifiCorp’s investors and ratepayers will hold  
its management accountable. Not only is removing these toxic waste  
factories the moral thing to do, it’s the economically sound decision  
as well."

An economic analysis performed by the California Energy Commission  
concludes that PacifiCorp would save over $100 million by removing  
the dams instead of meeting the terms of a new operational license.  
Currently over two dozen Klamath Basin stakeholders are seeking to  
negotiate an agreement that would remove the dams as well as address  
issues of in stream flows and power needs of farmers.

“Everyone in the Klamath Basin is working on solutions to these  
problems,” said Hilllman. “Its time for PacifiCorp to get real about  
removing these dams and stop exploiting Klamath communities and their  
own ratepayers.”

The Statewide Guidance on Harmful Algal Blooms recommends the following:

• Avoid wading and swimming in water containing visible blooms or  
water containing algal scums or mats;
If no algal scums or mats are visible, you should still carefully  
watch young children and warn them not to swallow the water.
• Do not drink, cook or wash dishes with untreated surface water  
under any circumstances.
• Consume fish only after removing guts and liver, and rinsing  
fillets in clean drinking water.
• Take care that pets and livestock do not drink the water or swim  
through heavy scums or mats, nor lick their fur after going in the  
water.
• Get medical treatment right away if you think that you, your pet,  
or your livestock might have been poisoned by blue green algae toxins.
• Be sure to alert the medical professional to the possible contact  
with blue green algae.

"With proper precautions to avoid water contact, people can still  
visit Iron Gate and Copco Reservoirs and enjoy activities such as  
camping, hiking, biking, canoeing, picnicking or other recreational  
activities excluding direct contact with the algae bloom scum,”  
according to the federal EPA.

For more information, please visit:
World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, 3rd  
Edition: www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en/index.html
California Department of Public Health:
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/ddwem/bluegreenalgae/index.htm
State Water Resources Control Board:
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/bluegreenalgae/index.html
National Center for Disease Control:
http://www.cdc.gov/hab/cyanobacteria/facts.htm
Siskiyou County Public Health Department:
http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/phs/
(530) 841-2100
Yurok Tribe Real Time Water Quality and BGA Data
http://exchange.yuroktribe.nsn.us/lrgsclient/stations/stations.html
North American Lake Management Society:
http://www.nalms.org/Resources/BlueGreenInitiative/Overview.htm