California Floods: Be Aware, Be Prepared

November 4-9 is California Flood Preparedness Week, and Zone 7 is part of a statewide effort to increase public awareness about flood threats and how to prepare appropriately.

“In the last 20 years, every one of California’s 58 counties has experienced a federally declared flood disaster resulting in loss of lives, homes, precious possessions and costing billions of dollars,” notes a proclamation recently adopted by Zone 7’s Board of Directors.

“Zone 7 residents have endured multiple numbers of flood events including the historic floods of 1955 and 1958,” it adds. “In recent history, Zone 7 applied for and received federal and state financial assistance for repair and damage from flood events during 1995, 1998 and 2005.”

During California Flood Preparedness Week, local, state and federal agencies across California work together to inform the public about the dangers of flooding, how to prepare their homes and families for a flood, and plan for recovery.

• To view the state's flood preparedness website, click here.
• To learn about Zone 7's flood protection program, and about the agency's multi-benefit Stream Management Master plan, click here.

Questions?

For stream/channel-related issues, call Zone 7 at 925-454-5000.
For questions regarding storm drains, or on where to obtain free emergency sandbags, call:

• City of Dublin Public Works, 925-833-6630
• City of Livermore Water Resources, 925-960-8100
• City of Pleasanton Operations Services, 925-931-5500
• Alameda County Public Works, 510-670-5500

Zone 7's flood control program is part of its regional water resources management program and aims to protect life, property and habitat from damage and destruction within a 430-square-mile area. The agency maintains 37 miles of flood control channels and access roads. Key operations and maintenance activities include: emergency repairs, routine maintenance and repairs, clearing debris from channels and access roads to maintain flow capacity, vegetation management along channels, inspections to ensure the system is in good working condition to receive and pass storm waters, and rehabilitation or improvements to existing facilities. Zone7 also manages the Development Impact Fee Program that provides funding from new development for planning, design and construction of new flood control projects to mitigate for the additional flows from development.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day- October 26, 2013

Keeping our water free from chemicals is one way to help ensure the health and safety of our water sources. Research has shown that pharmaceuticals—including prescription drugs—are present in our nation’s water and may cause environmental harm. Although there is no current evidence that these pharmaceuticals in the environment are responsible for any negative health effects in humans, keeping our water clean is an important public health goal. 

Prescription drugs that languish in medicine cabinets create a public health and safety concern because they are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) works with state and local law enforcement agencies to host National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days. The purpose of this day is to provide a venue for people to safely dispose of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs, so they don’t put the drugs in the trash or flush them down the toilet (where they could eventually end up in our water). It also helps prevent pill abuse and theft.

The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. This event is on Saturday, October 26, 2013 from 10:00am-2:00pm.

Local drop-off locations:

• Dublin Police Services, Parking Lot, 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin
• Livermore Police Department, 1110 S. Livermore Avenue, Livermore
• Pleasanton Police Department, 4833 Bernal Avenue, Pleasanton
• San Ramon Police Department, 2401 Crow Canyon Road, San Ramon
• Camp Parks Police, 790 5th Street, Dublin 

Updates

Here are a couple of updates on previous posts:

• Stoneridge Drive Bridge Construction

The slope embankment under the new Stoneridge Bridge passed compaction tests last week. Remaining work ongoing. Opening set for November.

• Creek Cleanup

Thank you Tri-Valley Creeks to Bay Clean-up and Monitoring Volunteers! One-hundred and fifty-four clean-up volunteers removed 1,736.5 gallons of trash and 235.6 gallons of recyclables from eight creek spots. Thirty monitoring volunteers from Altamont Creek Elementary, and Livermore and Granada High Schools assessed creek health at Alameda Creek Park and Robertson Park.Here are some of my photos:

Zone 7 Kicks Off the Living Arroyos Program

Living Arroyos was initiated in July 2013 as a partnership of the City of Livermore, Urban Creeks Council, and Zone 7 Water Agency. The goal of the partnership is to restore and enhance urban stream and riparian (streamside) habitats while continuing to protect drinking water supplies and maintaining current levels of flood protection. And since people, especially children, need contact with nature in order to be happy and healthy, Living Arroyos seeks to re-integrate the region’s streams and its human communities so that residents of the rapidly urbanizing Tri-Valley area can have opportunities to experience real, functioning nature near at hand.

Join us for our program kickoff planting party and BBQ. Volunteers will be planting acorns along Arroyo Mocho in Livermore. Saturday, October 19, 2013 from 9am-12pm. There will be a free BBQ lunch for registered volunteers. To register or find out more about the program, please visit http://livingarroyos.org/.

Urban Creeks Council serves as the managing partner of the program. Community members and Apprentices are the backbone of the labor force that carries out the work of restoration and ongoing habitat management. Program activities will focus on the more than 45 miles of streams controlled by Zone 7 and the City of Livermore as seen in the map below.

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.