Despite recent rains, California is still very short of water molecules. While it looks like 2015 will be wetter than 2014, there’s simply no way of knowing how the rest of the decade (or century) will shape up. As I am sure you have heard many times, the last three years were the worst drought the state has experienced since record-keeping began in the mid-nineteenth century. Even more disturbing, tree-ring records show that California has experienced droughts lasting over two hundred years. Try for a minute to wrap your mind around the thought of living with drought until 2215. That’s 10 generations from now. To add to the angst, climate change is likely to increase the frequency of droughts. It’s enough to drive a person to drink.
Dilution
In addition to the obvious supply side headache of ensuring enough potable water for over 38 million people, less water also means the state will be facing lots of new water-quality problems, while many of the existing problems will get worse. There is a trite saying by folks who dabble in water quality: “The solution to pollution is dilution.” While one can (and should) argue with that, the converse is true and is perhaps even more disturbing. Less water means the concentrations of pollutants in our creeks, rivers, and lakes will inevitably increase. For the flora and fauna that depend on clean water, this is obviously not good news.
Mayflies are an excellent example. These insects are an important source of food for trout and are the cornerstone of fly fishing in many rivers and creeks. Several species of mayfly are sensitive to nutrients and simply disappear from streams when the concentrations of phosphates or nitrates increase. In fact, this is such a well-known phenomenon that biologists frequently use mayflies as an indicator of stream health. Without mayflies, dry-fly fishing becomes pretty much pointless on many waters. No more casting to rising trout. Pretty depressing, huh?
Temperature and Toxins
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that less water often means warmer water. The combination of warm water and higher nutrient concentrations is the perfect recipe for blue-green algae. Blue-green algae (also known as cyanobacteria) are 3.8-billion-year-old lifeforms that have recently started to produce heavy blooms in ponds, lakes, and slow-flowing rivers from San Diego to the Oregon border. Over 3 billion years of evolution has given them a truly formidable genome. Consider this: blue-green algae have survived every extinction event our planet has undergone. Humankind is just the latest DNA-bearing organism to step into their path. It has been said that cockroaches are so resilient that they will eventually inherit the Earth. Balderdash! Blue-green algae will be around long after the roaches have disappeared.
Blue-greens have one particular characteristic that has regulators and health officials more than a little worried — they can produce very potent cyanotoxins. Researchers aren’t sure why the blue-greens produce these chemicals. It has been argued that they may use them as a way to communicate with each other. That’s right, it’s possible that blue-greens have a chemical lexicon that antedates human language by millions, if not billions of years. Whatever their role, these toxins have resulted in the sickening and death of livestock, pet dogs, elk, birds, and even humans. They come in two basic flavors — neurotoxins and hepatotoxins. Anatoxin-a is a neurotoxin produced by several species of blue-green algae. It is also called “very fast death factor” (VFDF), a name it earned for its demonstrated ability to kill animals (through respiratory paralysis) within hours of exposure. Interestingly, the molecule is almost identical to the free base of cocaine, which probably explains its ability to interfere rapidly with the nervous system.
I got a mild exposure to this stuff in 2011, and it left me with flu-like symptoms for 36 hours. A few weeks later, a university grad student with whom I was working experienced several hours with a stinging nettlelike sensation in both hands after he had sampled a blue-green bloom. It is very difficult to know if anatoxin is present in a body of water. There is no commercially available test for the stuff. Only labs with sophisticated equipment can identify the molecule.
Microcystin is a hepatoxin produced primarily by the blue-green algae microcystis. “Hepato” refers to the liver, which means this group of toxins damages the liver of any animal that ingests or inhales it. Necropsies of animals unfortunate enough to have been exposed to microcystin also show cellular damage to the spleen and heart. The current state limit for microcystin in water is 0.8 parts per billion. California has a number of lakes that regularly produce microcystin concentrations above this level. A sample from one Central California lake yielded a microcystin concentration of 2,893,051 parts per billion. That’s 3 million times the health limit.
I am no stranger to microcystin. I have been fighting this toxin at a Central Coast lake for most of the last decade. During that time, I have witnessed several sizeable fish and bird kills. One particularly depressing event stands out. In late 2011, a large number of coots, cormorants, and herons inexplicably started flying into buildings and cars. The problem even spread to the downtown area of a nearby city, where coots were seen flopping around in the middle of the road. I alerted Fish and Game and rushed some birds down to their Santa Cruz lab for necropsies. The results came back quickly: massive liver damage consistent with microcystin poisoning. As the birds’ livers disintegrated, damaged cells detached and got sucked into the bloodstream. Eventually, these cells lodged in the fine vessels of the brain. The strange behavior we had witnessed was actually the result of the birds stroking out. I will never shake the image of one particular coot as it succumbed to the toxin. The bird was feeding alongside other coots on a grassy area adjacent to the lake. It started to stumble and was unable to keep its balance. In the space of no more than a couple of minutes, it fell onto its side and began to make spastic movements with its wings, legs, and head. Within five minutes, the bird was in a coma.
I don’t think it is overreacting to say we should be more than a little concerned about the future. While California works on large-scale measures to address the current drought and the longer-term quandary of climate change, there are a number of things concerned fly fishers can do to make a difference.
Eating Responsibly
While much of the Kim Kardashian–worshipping public doesn’t know where or how their food is produced, anyone who loves a river, creek, pond, or lake should make a concerted effort to shop and eat intelligently. Agriculture gets quite a bit of grief for its water-use and land-management practices. In many cases, this criticism is justified. However, there are plenty of farmers in California who have taken a different approach to growing food and who have committed themselves to sustainable farming practices. These folks take great pains and no small amount of effort to farm in ways that conserve soils, water, and the ecosystem. Some of these farmers are even fly fishers. Farming this way isn’t easy and certainly isn’t as cheap as the chemically enhanced methods used by others. As such, their products can’t always compete for shelf space at the major supermarkets. Thankfully, it isn’t that difficult to locate and support these farmers and their products. One simple way to find these forward-thinking farmers and their products is through a group called the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. This nonprofit organization advocates for California’s family farmers and sustainable agriculture. Their Web site, http://caff.org, provides lots of useful information about sustainable agricultural practices. They provide a useful Zip-code-based search tool that helps you locate local farmers, vineyards, farmers’ markets, grocers, and restaurants. With a few simple clicks of your mouse, you can quickly identify farmers and grocers who produce and sell sustainably farmed products. If we want all farmers to practice sustainable agriculture, we should start buying products from those who have already made that commitment.
Toilets and Soy Sausages
So what happens with that sustainably farmed food once you have eaten it? That’s right, your body will eventually need to eliminate it. Believe it or not, toilets are the single largest use of water inside the home. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to fit high-efficiency toilets in your residence. This can save the average house (and therefore the environment) thousands of gallons per year. Anyone who still believes that low-flow toilets don’t flush properly is woefully mistaken. While it was true that some low-flow toilets produced in the early 1990s weren’t well designed, the modern toilet has been totally reengineered to clear the bowl with a single flush. Today’s high-efficiency (0.8 to 1.28 gallon-per-flush) toilets can readily handle 350 grams of feces with just one flush, which is comparable to the daily output of most humans. In fact the average toilet on the market today can evacuate 800 grams of waste, and there are plenty of units that can even move a full kilogram. That kind of performance far surpasses the flushing ability of the multiple-gallon-per-flush toilets of yesteryear. An added bonus is that most of these toilets are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means the bowl height is at least 17 inches. Folks with creaky knees and bad backs don’t have to drop down to the elevation of a squatting sumo wrestler to relieve themselves.
For anyone who wants to know more about the performance of toilets, I suggest checking out the testing of popular toilet models online by Maximum Performance (MaP), http://www.map-testing.com/consumer-household-toilets. They use toilet paper and sausagelike forms made of soybean paste “to duplicate the real world demands put upon toilets,” as they delicately put it. The Web site has a search tool for residential toilets that will help you identify which brands and models are top performers. If nothing else, the site shows just what a versatile product soybeans can be.
Get Rid of the Front Lawn
While many people like having a lawn in their backyard for the kids or grandkids to play on, there’s seldom a good reason for having one in front of the house. Using grass to fill up the space between the front of your house and the street or sidewalk is a great way to tell your neighbors that you waste water. While the actual amount of water these lawns consume varies based on location and type of grass, it is seldom insignificant. There are all kinds of practical and aesthetically pleasing alternatives to grass. In many counties, the local water utility provides rebates for removing grass. Replacing grass with native plants is a great way to reduce water use. Plenty of nurseries stock attractive native plants, and most will happily tell you how to go about planting them and caring for them. Being native, most of these plants need virtually no water and require only limited care after they have been planted. Nature has made them perfectly adapted for your soils and climate.
Advocacy Groups
California is home to a number of organizations dedicated to protecting our waterways. These range from modest-sized riverkeeper-style groups to larger outfits such as Trout Unlimited, California Trout, and John Muir’s Sierra Club. These organizations can provide anglers with an amplified voice when it comes to local and state water policies.
The saying that all politics is local applies to water and fisheries, too. A creek, river, or lake you consider your home water may be too small to register on the radar of the larger advocacy groups. This is where the “keeper” and “friends of the river” organizations fit in. While many are allied with larger organizations, their primary focus is “their” river, lake, or coastline. By joining these outfits, you get to work closely with other people who feel as passionately about your waterway as you do. For anyone who enjoys a hands-on approach, these groups can be an excellent fit. If your waterway doesn’t have a “keeper” or “friends” group, consider forming one. Sure it’s a bit of work, but someone’s got to do it, or your favorite place on the planet may end up devoid of fish or even bone dry. You may be surprised just how many people feel the way you do about “your” creek, river, or lake.
As with any political issue, it pays to be diligent about what a particular group is saying or doing. Before you pledge time or money, check out their Web site and do some independent research. Sadly, some groups have made filing lawsuits a large part or even the central focus of their advocacy. While this “fighting for the environment” approach appeals to many people and can look good on the Internet, it can also have some negative consequences. Some bad actors are indeed taken out with this approach, but there’s also the potential for a significant “bycatch.” Not everyone who uses or discharges water is a villain. Conversely, even the threat of a lawsuit can have a profound and even disproportionate effect on many small businesses and communities. A simple phone call or e-mail is often all that is needed for action. This reasoned approach may not look as good on the Web as “sticking it to the man,” but it is usually more effective and in the long run more sustainable.
Another great way to make a positive impact on local water issues is through your local resource conservation district. These outfits are staffed by dedicated professionals who bring multiple skills and relentless passion to the table. Working with landowners, they help fund, design, and implement projects and programs that have a direct environmental impact. I was so impressed by the work of my local RCD that I joined their board. There’s probably an RCD operating in your area, too. Talk to them.
There are, of course a bunch of other things you can do to help California transition to a more sustainable water future. The Internet provides all kinds of information, and many local municipalities and water providers have lots of free or low-cost options from which you can choose. Time isn’t on our side, so act now.
