Letter to The Regional Water Board
California Regional Water Quality Control Board
Los Angeles Region
320 West 4th Street, Suite 200
Los Angeles, California, 90013
ATTN: Yanjie Chu
Dear Mr. Chu:
I am Chairman of the Board of VCEDA, the Ventura County Economic Development Association. Agriculture, and the many businesses that service and support it, constitute a Seven Billion Dollar economic impact on our county. There is not one of us in Ventura County that would not be adversely affected by the degradation of our water supply if the Los Angeles County Sanitation District continues dumping chlorides into the Santa Clara River in excess of acceptable levels.
The Clean Water Act clearly requires that polluters need to control their wastes to protect downstream users. A valuable water resource is not to be degraded to benefit a single discharger or community at the expense of another;
The Los Angeles County Sanitation District has sought to and continues to seek to alter and raise the standards for the Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) of Chlorides that are released into the Santa Clara River to levels that are clearly detrimental to the citizens, farmers, cities and businesses of Ventura County;
We are concerned over the degradation of Santa Clara River water and groundwater supplies in the region. We believe it is time to act to reverse this declining quality in order to preserve these environmental and economic benefits for the region.
We would like to register our strong support for Alternative 4 of the Upper Santa Clara River (USCR) Chloride TMDL Implementation Plan. This alternative is superior to others; it would accelerate the overall TMDL schedule from 13 to 10 years, and establish implementation milestones to ensure this problem is addressed and enforced in a timely fashion.
Continuing to study this problem is counterproductive and risks furthering damaging the agricultural economy and the environment. James Stahl's commentary of 10/17/05 in the Ventura County Star representing the position of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, strains all credibility when he suggests that "Chloride issue need more study," - up to 17 more years worth - before we can learn the effects of salts upon water quality and crops in Ventura County.
His remarks have to be among the most self-serving bit of scientific gibberish fostered on us by a public agency official,
The impact of chloride salts upon crops has been amply studied - not for decades - but for thousands of years. The classic example came in 146 BC when Rome finally defeated its arch rival in the Mediterranean, Carthage, at the end of the Punic Wars. Not only did the Roman army raze the North African city of Carthage to the ground, they also salted the fields so that no crops could ever grow there again. To this day none do.
The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts attempt to shirk their responsibility to clean discharges into the Santa Clara River by changing the water quality standards, is nothing less than a declaration of war, not only upon the farmers and growers here, but upon the entire populous of Ventura County that deems its open space, quality of life and agricultural lands an inherent part of our identity and a vital element of our economy. The time to act is now.
I appreciate you decisive action in protecting our environment, our quality of life and our economy through regulating chloride in the Santa Clara River. The dischargers should be held accountable. I can be reached at 805-278-3645 if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
Howard Smith, Chairman of the Board
Ventura County Economic Development Association
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Comments (1)
Howard - I appreciate your efforts on our behalf, and I also appreciate you using the Ojai Post as a platform to do so. These are important issues that perhaps aren't glamorous, but worthy of our attention and consideration.
Comment #1 Posted by: Tyler | July 9, 2006 04:40 PM