Letters 9/10/2024

• Investigate Navarro River Pollution
• Capulets, Montagues & Kelseys
• The New Wave
• An Opportunity
• A Quick Fix

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INVESTIGATE NAVARRO RIVER POLLUTION

Editor,

I am writing to express my deep concern for the Navarro River in Anderson Valley and to request that an INVESTIGATION be done to determine the source of possible excessive nutrients being deposited into the river and its tributaries. I live between two river resorts directly on the Navarro River in Philo. This is a recent and acute problem for the last two years. I want to convey to you that this is not normal algae growth, it is massive and invasive. 

In 2022, a drought year, the water ran clear through September. It was low, but beautiful. 

In 2023, after a very wet winter, the Algae bloom began at the beginning of August. Small amounts of Bacteria were discovered in the water and signs were posted. The river was unusable, ugly and unhealthy. I surmised that after drought years the massive rains must have washed a lot of topsoil into the water.  

2024: This year the massive bloom of Filamentous Algae began on July 8th; it was the first heat wave of the season. The pictures included were taken by me on August 8th. The pictures are not enhanced. It was noon time, and the sun was high in the sky. The Algae stretches for at least two miles that I have walked and starts directly above me where Indian Creek joins the Navarro as one of its tributaries. The North Coast Water Board conducted testing and determined small amounts of bacteria were present. Again, signs were posted and a HAB was marked on a map. Done.  

A simple search of Algae Blooms produces the same result over and over. 

Per Wikipedia; Algal blooms are the result of a nutrient, like nitrogen or phosphorus from various sources (for example fertilizer runoff or other forms of nutrient pollution), entering the aquatic system and causing excessive growth of algae. An algal bloom affects the whole ecosystem. 

Per www.epa.gov: non-point source pollution which may include diffuse runoff from agricultural fields, residential lands, roads and stormwater) may be high in nitrogen and phosphorus and can promote or cause excessive fertilization (eutrophication) of both flowing and non-flowing waters. 

Per National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Algal Blooms (nih.gov): Scientists know that certain environmental conditions, such as warmer water temperatures in the summer and excessive nutrients from fertilizers or sewage waste brought by runoff, trigger HABs, but they are still learning more. 

And many more…. 

I live very near to several large vineyards and at least one cannabis cultivator. The cannabis cultivator has greenhouses right up to Indian Creek and the massive number of vines on the valley floor are also next to the creek. I do not know the water discharge regulations and compliance requirements for cannabis or other agricultural industries. Has or CAN an inspection be conducted? The excessive nutrients must be present in the water to create such large noxious blooms, even with climate change and low water flow.  

Action must be taken to determine the cause of our beautiful river being off balance and overwhelmed with algae. It is toxic, unsightly, and unhealthy for fish and wildlife. Our very livelihoods are affected in so many ways: loss of business for resorts, loss to the salmon population, our State Park suffers, the general happiness of the community suffers, and no more swimming in the summer. This year the river in Philo was swimmable for only 7 weeks. The owner of the resort next to me states that she has never seen anything like this in 16 years of living on the river.  

The mass dying of the bloom consumes the oxygen out of the water and further damages the water quality. 

The North Coast Water Board is developing a Supply and Demand Assessment for the Navarro River as this is obviously a concern. A work plan model is being developed. How can we assist in this study? I am willing to collect water samples or help with restoration projects. 

Supply and Demand Assessment (SDA) – Navarro River | California State Water Resources Control Board 

A study from 2012 Titled “Evidence of Ecologically Relevant Degradation of Summer Base-flows in the Navarro River California” by David Hines and Emma Kohlsmith (UCR) shows the summer flow rate does not meet irrigation needs of Anderson Valley. In 2012… 

In 2013 the UC Cooperative Extension conducted a study titled “Meeting Irrigated Agricultural Water Needs in the Navarro River Watershed”. The study was conducted to assess the water needed to change the agricultural landscape of Anderson Valley to grapes. It looks at increasing vineyard production from 2,652 acres to 7,301 acres. See chart below. The study's authors are Glenn McGourty, D. Lewis, J. Harper, R. Elkins, J. Metz, J. Nosera, P. Papper, and R. Sanford Mr. McGourty went on to be elected Mendocino County Supervisor and as such is on the Mendocino County Water Agency’s Board of Directors, who approve well applications. Supervisor McGourty was an author of a study that had influence on the sustainability of adding thousands of vineyard acres to the valley and subsequently  had a say in the approval of new wells.  

“It is likely that additional agricultural acreage will be added to the Navarro watershed to accommodate favorable economic demand for wine grapes and wine. The most likely places where growth will be seen are in the Hendy Woods and Robinson Creek sub watersheds. These areas are already the most densely planted areas. However, water development would remain an issue as it is unlikely that very much new water could be appropriated from surface waterways.” 

I would ask Supervisor McGourty if the recommendations for water sustainability in his study have been implemented?  

The North Coast Water Board is developing new rules that address the impact vineyards may have on water quality. These rules, called the Draft Vineyard Order, were released for public comment in June 2023. I am sorry I missed the public comment. “Over 95% of North Coast vineyards are located within the Navarro River and Russian River watersheds which provide important fish habitat and are impacted by excess sediment and high temperature. During storms, bare soil in vineyards can erode and contribute excess sediment to local rivers, which harms fish. In the absence of on-farm practices, pesticides and fertilizer applied on vineyards can also end up in local waterways and groundwater. The Draft Vineyard Order requires farmers to address stormwater runoff from their vineyards to control sediment and pollutants that can reach streams.”  Hopefully these new regulations will help to restore some of the damage done by sediment and run off from winter storms. 

The degradation of water conditions in the Navarro River and its tributaries led to the inclusion of the Navarro River in the Clean Water Act 303(d) list for impairments associated with sediment and temperature. 

In conclusion, it appears help may be on the way in new sediment and discharge regulations and a new hydrology model being created by the North Coast Water Board to evaluate what changes need to take place to restore water quality to the Navarro River. 

But we don’t have years to wait. This leaching of nutrients into our surface water must be INVESTIGATED right now, before another winter of runoffs damages the river again. I am pleading for your agency to take steps to remedy this situation today. 

Below is a google earth photo of the area I am referencing. The yellow highlight area is where the Algae Bloom is. You can see the massive agriculture that is concentrated here. The red ex’s mark the cannabis operation and vineyard in close proximity. 

Lisa Nunes

Philo

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CAPULETS, MONTAGUES & KELSEYS

Editor:

Juliet Capulet, in Shakespeare’s immortal play “Romeo and Juliet,” contemplates “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet …” These words reveal the agony Juliet feels after she discovers she has fallen in love with Romeo Montague, whose family is a mortal enemy of the Capulets. If Romeo had any other name besides Montague, he would still be the same attractive young man he is.

The truth in this line can help us understand the implications of changing the name of Kelseyville to Konocti. The Konocti Pear Festival would still be the wonderful family event it has always been. Konocti Presbyterian Church would continue as a beacon of light and service to its congregation and the community. Konocti Lumber would carry on as the outstanding multigenerational business it is. And perhaps most significantly, the town of Konocti would continue to be the friendly country town it became generations ago but without the horrid history attached to its name.

Shakespeare’s wisdom gives us insight. Kelseyville to Konocti — the time has come.

Lorene McGuire

Lakeport

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THE NEW WAVE

AVA,

Nice piece by Alexander Cockburn on The Hollywood Juggernaut and even though the French film industry nearly collapsed by the end of the 1940's, the French New Wave with: Francois Truffaut (Shoot the Piano Player, 1960), Jean-Luc Godard (Le Mepris, 1963 with Technicolor and CinemaScope visuals and featuring Brigitte Bardot), Jacques Demy (Lola, 1961 — affiliated with the Left Bank group) began. With the collapse of the American film quotas, Alexander and others were “scuttling from one end of London to the other” tracking down B-movies from Hollywood while a landmark of cinematic history, the French New Wave, was emerging. Scuttling around London for anything at that time must have been edifying.

Jeff Goll

Willits

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AN OPPORTUNITY

Esteemed Editor,

Congratulations on your new columnist, Paul Modic! An insight into the world of growers has ever captivated the interest of stoners who in their wildest dreams could scarcely imagine the Devine delights of a sage pot pharmer in the heyday of the enterprise!

The fellow is also curiously alert to the possibilities that await a situation and setting that a change in law has rendered obsolete and this piece today suggests an opportunity… to my weak sensibilities.. for it occurred to my eddy brain that a recovery program for trolls is due and if Paul will remember, as do I, those days when the trimmers had to sit and listen to KMUD calll-in shows where the same OCD callers dominated the air until the pay well just wasn’t worth the trouble— like the Wyoming rancher I worked for driving a tractor all day with the dial set to clear channel Rush Limbaugh, the volume all the way up and the knobs broke off with his rifle butt— !

Think of all the addicts created by Suckerberg Muskrat — like white mice in a laboratory they compulsively hit that like button and/or it’s varieties! The when they work their tolerance for rushes of sanctimony and self- righteousness tempt them to venture into the comment pages, the addiction is pretty much a foregone diagnosis.

Paul could make a handsome living running a coffee house kind of therapy office at his conveniently located residence. Plus, he’s loquacious enough to rip out a kind of big book like the AA people rely on so religiously… well, just a thought.

One sad old troll who realized too late how tedious and irrelevant he had become no longer needs such an ameliorating program bug he remains

Your sincere well-wisher,

Bruce McEwen

Walnut Creek

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A QUICK FIX

Editor:

It doesn’t have to be “hard and expensive” to “shed this odious name” as suggested by a recent Letter to the Editor. Simply employ a city government sanctioned bit of tagging and draw a red line through the second “g” in “Bragg.” Then the city would have bragging rights to resolving a prickly historic problem without the soaring costs of covering it up.

Brent Eric Anderson

Windsor