Pool/Spa/Fountain Maintenance Tip Sheet

Fall's in the air, and it's time to prepare pools and spas for the end of the season. Check out Alameda County Clean Water Program's new Pool Maintenance Tip Sheet for best practices on pool cleaning, waste water disposal and more! Click here for the tip sheet.

Stoneridge Drive Extension/Bridge Construction Update

As many of you know, construction is underway on the Stoneridge Drive Extension in Pleasanton which includes building a bridge over the Arroyo Mocho.  There is an expected opening date of sometime this fall. I was able to take a tour last week of the bridge construction.

Zone 7 Water Agency owns and maintains 37 miles of local flood-protection channels, about a third of all the Valley's channels and creeks, including the Arroyo Mocho. Zone 7's flood control facilities are integrated into many programs. During storm events, the channels carry flood waters out of the Valley, protecting life and property. During dry periods, the arroyos are used for groundwater recharge, placing high-quality water in the underground reservoir for storage until the community needs it during droughts. The arroyos are also used as riparian habitat. Many of these channels also have maintenance roads that, through Agency agreements with the cities, have been opened up for recreational trail use. To ensure that its flood-protection channels are ready for the next big storm event, Zone 7 conducts routine maintenance such as inspections, embankment and drain structure repairs, vegetation management, silt removal and pest control.  

As part of their construction plan, the City of Pleasanton requested an easement over the Arroyo Mocho from Zone 7 to construct and maintain the bridge structure.  The Zone 7 Board voted on 3/21/12 in favor of granting the easement.  Zone 7 wanted to ensure that they had continued access to the channel to continue flood control activities.

Zone 7’s primary interest is the bank, the access road, and the underlying channel. Zone 7 has a construction inspector who monitors construction activities along the channel and access roads. The developer submits compaction test results to Zone 7 to confirm compliance with specifications. Bridge and channel work were delayed this week as slopes failed compaction tests. 

The area currently not passing the compaction tests is the south bank slope underneath the bridge. In addition to re-compacting this slope, the contractor also needs to complete erosion control measures before October 15th.

Zone 7 staff will continue to monitor construction and quality assurance testing. I will keep you posted. 

 

Some of my photos from the tour:

 

Standing on north bank looking at construction under the bridge



Standing on north bank looking south

Standing on north bank looking at construction under the bridge

Standing on the bridge looking west

Spotted an egret, standing on south bank, west of the bridge, looking towards north bank

Standing on sidewalk just before bridge looking north/east

standing on south bank, east of the bridge looking north

Standing on the bridge looking east

 

Tri-Valley Creeks to Bay Clean-Up

Tri-Valley Creeks to Bay Clean-Up is Saturday, September 14! This event is part of Coastal Cleanup Day, a statewide and international effort to clean trash and debris from beaches, bays, creeks, rivers, and lakes.

One-hundred and ninety-two volunteers collected 1,037 pounds of trash and 288 pounds of recyclables from six Livermore sites on Tri-Valley Creeks to Bay last year. 

Due to limited space, please pre-register. It's easy - just choose one of the cleanup sites, and contact the Site Coordinator to sign up and obtain the required waiver form(s). Bring the signed and completed waiver form(s) with you to the event.

Cleanup Sites:
1. Arroyo Mocho at Robertson Park - Site Coordinator, Patti Cole at (925) 960-2400
2. Arroyo Las Positas at Northfront Road (near Northfront Trailhead Park) - Site Coordinator, Lynna Allen at (925) 960-8143
3. Altamont Creek and Arroyo Las Positas at Bluebell Drive (near Springtown Golf Course) - Site Coordinator, Lynna Allen at (925) 960-8143
4. Arroyo Las Positas at Heather Lane (near Springtown Golf Course) - Site Coordinator, Lynna Allen at (925) 960-8143

Note: Volunteers under 18 years of age must have the waiver forms signed by a parent or guardian. Volunteers under 13 years of age must be accompanied and supervised by an adult, and may not volunteer at the Robertson Park site.

For more details, visit www.trivalleycreeks.org/events/creeks-to-bay-cleanup or contact Lynna Allen at (925) 960-8143.

Alamo Creek Trail- Temporary Closure Notice

Zone 7 Water Agency will close a stretch of the Alamo Creek Trail in Dublin from September 3-10, excluding the weekend, so that crews can conduct maintenance work along the flood control channel.

The trail closure will take place between Dublin Boulevard north to the Iron Horse Trail at the confluence of Alamo Creek and San Ramon Creek. The closure is meant as a safety precaution both for trail users and for work crews using heavy equipment on the channel's maintenance road.

To minimize disruption to regular trail users, the trail will be made available to the public on Saturday and Sunday, September 7 and 8.

Zone 7 owns and maintains 37 miles of flood control channels in its service area, including the cities of Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton. Zone 7's flood control facilities are integrated into many programs. During storm events, the channels carry flood waters out of the Valley, protecting life and property. During dry periods, the arroyos are used for groundwater recharge, placing high-quality water in the underground reservoir for storage until the community needs it during droughts. The arroyos are also used as riparian habitat. Many of these channels also have maintenance roads that, through Agency agreements with the cities, have been opened up for recreational trail use.

Zone 7 Awarded Local Groundwater Assistance Grant

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has awarded more than $4.7 million in grants to 26 public agencies from the Local Groundwater Assistance Program. Grant funding is provided by Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006.

The program helps local agencies perform groundwater studies, monitoring, and management activities. Funded projects include installation of monitoring wells, groundwater recharge investigations, data gathering and development or update of groundwater models, preparation of groundwater management plans, and other programs to assist local agencies in managing groundwater in California.

The objective of Zone 7's proposed project is to upgrade and improve Zone 7's groundwater model of the Livermore Valley Groundwater Basin for use in evaluating groundwater and salt management strategies and alternatives, as well as for the development of specific project plans that involve groundwater supplies, aquifer storage, and constituent transport. The DWR grant was in the amount of $200,000, 80% of the project's total cost.

Zone 7 is currently updating its Salt and Nutrient Management Plan to meet requirements of the State Water Resources Control Board's Recycled Water Policy, and to include local land and water development plans. The use of a reliable groundwater model would be helpful in predicting the effects of these future plans, and to further develop Zone 7's ongoing and future salt management strategies.

Celebrating the Central Dublin Recycled Water Project

I was pleased to attend the Central Dublin Recycled Water Project Celebration today at Dublin's Kolb Park hosted by the Dublin San Ramon Services District. The Central Dublin Project was DSRSD’s first major retrofit of older facilities, bringing a supply of recycled water to four schools and three parks. Contractors installed 1.5 miles of recycled water distribution pipes under residential streets last fall and converted sprinkler systems at the parks and schools in early 2013. The Central Dublin Project is projected to distribute an additional 44.3 million gallons of recycled water per year, saving enough potable water to serve another 433 households. Zone 7 was proud to partner with DSRSD on this project, providing $39,000 from state water conservation grants to retrofit the sprinkler systems at the schools. A fact sheet from DSRSD with more information about the project and its benefits is available here.

Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti, Zone 7 Director Angela Ramirez Holmes, and DSRSD VP Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold

Recycled water is wastewater that has been cleaned through primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment.  The process follows strict standards set by the California Department of Public Health, including disinfection to remove pathogens. According to these standards, tertiary-treated recycled water is safe for all human contact except drinking. Recycled water distribution systems are completely separate from potable water systems and are colored purple for easy identification. DSRSD requires new developments to be plumbed, from the start, for recycled water irrigation at parks, schools, golf courses, commercial areas, and other large landscapes. Older neighborhoods in the DSRSD service area are being retrofitted as funding becomes available.


Graphic courtesy of DSRSD

 

 

Zone 7's 2012 Annual Report Released

Zone 7 Water Agency's 2012 Annual Report is now available online. It relates the plans, programs and other activities that were initiated, managed and completed over the year to further the goals of providing a reliable supply of high-quality water and an effective flood-protection system to the Livermore-Amador Valley.

Among other things, the report -- entitled "We're All About Water" -- highlights the significance of Zone 7's strong commitment to Integrated Water Resources Management as a tool to manage water resources and facilities in a holistic, cohesive fashion.

The report highlights key activities and accomplishments in 2012 in the areas of:

• Agencywide enhancement: Updated Strategic Planning priorities and adopted Vision and Values statements.
• Water supply, reliability and quality -- Continued to support Bay Delta Conservation Plan efforts aimed at achieving the co-equal goals of restoring the Delta ecosystem and securing water supply reliability for 25 million Californians, including those in Zone 7's service area; partnered with other Bay Area water agencies to study a Regional Desalination Project; expanded water conservation programs; was prominently featured in a national trade publication for the Mocho Groundwater Demineralization Plant.
• Financial accountability -- Continued cost efficiencies to hold the line on water rates; achieved significant energy cost savings through participation in PG&E's peak-day pricing program; continued to pursue separation from Alameda County as a means to streamline operations and reduce administrative costs.
• Flood protection -- Made significant progress on  Stream Management Master Plan (SMMP) projects, including planning the Arroyo Mocho's Stanley Reach Riparian Restoration and Channel Enhancement Project and creating hydrologic and hydraulic models of the agency's watershed area to help update projects identified in the SMMP; continued work on a sediment study to better understand the magnitude of sediment transport within the Upper Alameda Creek Watershed area.
• Environmental stewardship -- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by curtailing energy use during summertime peak demand; worked with other jurisdictions to move from planning toward implementation of the East Alameda County Conservation Strategy.
• Maximizing public benefits through partnerships -- Collaborated with local partners on two projects that helped link our communities with biking and pedestrian trails along Zone 7 flood control channels.

The entire report is available by clicking here. Also available on the Zone 7 website is our recently released Consumer Confidence (Water Quality) Report for 2012.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  It is an honor to serve you.