From: 	David Leland
To:	Armstrong, Marcia;  Bailey, Nadine;  Carlson, Rick;  Costales, Ric;  coz...
CC:	Baker, Andrew;  Fitzgerald, Rebecca;  St. John, Matt
Date: 	2/24/2009 12:21 PM
Subject: 	Follow up to Feb 19 CWA Section 303(d) workshop in Yreka
Attachments:	022309_March_09_scoping_notice.doc

To those in attendance at last Thursday's Clean Water Act Section 303(d)/305(b) workshop:

There were several issues raised that we promised to respond to. Here are our responses.

Results of Dioxin Sampling and Analysis in Lake Shastina.  The status of this work was reported in our Executive Officer's report with the Regional Water Board meeting agenda for September 2008.  This information was also shared with representatives of the Weed Remediation Group.  The text of the article follows:

Update on Dioxin Investigation at Dwinnell Reservoir	Cody Walker

At the April 24, 2008 Board meeting in Weed, an agreement was reached between the Weed Remediation Group (WRG) and the Board’s staff to conduct a cooperative investigation of dioxin in fish from Dwinnell Reservoir.  As part of the agreement, the WRG agreed to pay for costs associated with collecting and analyzing fish samples.  Board staff agreed to carry out the logistical work of obtaining the fish samples.

Shortly after the April Board meeting, staff coordinated with the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to facilitate the collection of fish from Dwinnell Reservoir.  As part of the State’s Surface Water Assessment Monitoring Program (SWAMP), the DFG already had Dwinnell scheduled for fish sampling.  Staff notified the DFG that as part of the WRG sponsored investigation, the collection of three fish species (trout, bass and catfish) was required.  Since the DFG was only targeting bass for the SWAMP sampling, they indicated they would look for trout and catfish specimens.  However, based on their method of fish capture, electro-fishing, they did not expect to encounter the bottom-dwelling catfish.

During early May 2008, the DFG conducted electro-fishing of Dwinnell Reservoir.  As anticipated, they were able to collect bass and trout specimens.  However, no catfish specimens were encountered.  Trout specimens were sent directly to Frontier Analytical Laboratory.  Bass specimens were retained by DFG until their in-house laboratory prepared the samples for analysis, and were then shipped to Frontier.  

On June 17, 2008, the results of the trout samples were provided to staff.  Results indicate that no dioxin congeners were identified above standard laboratory detection limits.  On July 23, 2008, the bass laboratory sample analysis results were reported to this office and again, no dioxin congeners were identified above standard laboratory detection limits.

Based on the finding that the DFG did not encounter catfish using the electro-fishing capture technique, staff proceeded to implement the alternative capture technique using hook-and-line sampling.  On June 24 and 25, 2008, using hook-and-line sampling, staff was not able to catch any catfish. Staff’s communication with a DFG fisheries biologist and individuals experienced in fishing the reservoir indicate that collecting catfish from Dwinnell might be most effective pre-spawn, which occurs in May.

Staff will be coordinating for a follow up attempt at collecting the catfish during March or April of 2009.

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Safety of Fish in Lake Shastina.  An issue was raised regarding statements attributed to the Regional Water Board Executive Officer in the Siskiyou Daily News regarding the safety of eating fish from Lake Shastina.  Specifically, there was a concern that the Executive Officer had stated that fish from Lake Shastina were safe to eat, and yet the results of mercury concentrations in fish from Lake Shastina collected by Department of Water Resources staff and used for the proposed Section 303(d) listing indicate that fish in fact may not be safe to eat for some sensitive groups of the population.  The text of the article in the Siskiyou Daily News follows.  As you will see, the comments attributed to the Executive Officer concerned dioxin only, and did not speak to the issue of whether or not fish were safe to eat.

New report: Lake Shastina is dioxin-free

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 By Dale Andreasen 
Thu Oct 02, 2008, 08:28 AM PDT 

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Lake Shastina, Calif. - 
Following late summer testing and analysis of bass and other fish in Lake Shastina, Catherine Kuhlman of the North Coast Water Quality Control Board announced there are “no detectable levels of dioxin, which is good news.” Dioxin is a highly toxic cancer-causing chemical contaminant. The fish were caught by the California Department of Fish and Game and sent to an independent laboratory for analysis. The photo above was taken near Dwinnell Dam. Lisa Faris of the Montague Irrigation District explained that water in Lake Shastina is used by irrigators in the Shasta Valley. Water levels are extremely low for the second year in a row due to drought conditions, she stated. The Weed Remediation Group, which is composed of Roseburg Forest Products, Morgan Doors and J.H. Baxter & Co., was ordered by the water quality board to test the fish.

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Klamath River TMDLs Implementation Scoping Meetings.  Finally, we had intended to announce to the group that Regional Water Board staff will be hosting a meeting on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 pm  in Montague at the Willow Creek School.  I have attached the announcement to this email.  The announcement is also available on our web site at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast/water_issues/programs/tmdls/klamath_river/.  

Thank you for your input at the meeting.  I hope that this clarifies some of the issues raised at the meeting.

David Leland

David F. Leland, P.E.
Supervising Water Resources Control Engineer
North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
5550 Skylane Blvd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

phone: 707-576-2069
email:   DLeland@waterboards.ca.gov