L
lestrout
Well-known member
Thanksgiving we were all thankful that the massive milk truck spill apparently turned out to not hurt the trouts. The cold weather and sufficient water flow kept the oxygen depletion from milk decomposition from being too much for our fishies. Now, this month, we had another 8" water main break.
Two of VFTU's Petes hopped right on the potential problem. Their reports: "I just got word of another Aqua water main break in the vicinity of Yellow Springs Road and Salem Way. Ray Clarke was on the creek and it was running green around the beaver dam and up stream at Hayfield Road. He went up to investigate and found Aqua. I’ll try to get there this afternoon and will also call Bob Bonney (our great WCO)."
Then: "A good ending: The system works! I went to Hayfield Rd today for a walk around. Saw the water color and cloudiness. No smell and no fish in distress. Found where it was entering the stream (at the posted area by the pond). No waders so went to Yellow Spgs Rd by car and found AQUA there. Broken 8” cast iron main. The dechlorinization tablets were out. Called Bob and he already knew and was on the way. With Bob we followed the dirty water where it went underground in a pipe at Salem Ct. Went to where it was entering the stream so he could take some pics.. Probably fixed by now? While there I think I saw Carol Armstrong too."
Aqua is now doing a better job dealing with our aged infrastructure. Speed is of the essence. A year ago another section of Valley had a release of chlorine compound that is used to treat our drinking water. But in this case, the release slaughtered not just our trouts but lots of other biomass like macroinvertebrates, sterilizing the upper section for months.
I personally assayed the stream twice since the spill and fortunately the wild browns were acting normally and being feisty.
While we're at it, take a look at the Clean Streams Sweepstakes, which is running for five more days: https://go.tulocalevents.org/clean-streams/Campaign/Details This is the Chapter's major fundraiser for the year and the moneys go towards monitoring equipment and other measures to protect our Valley.
With the Knickerbocker project looming, we have been baselining water quality parameters to be able to improve our response time if/when the development activities result in damage to the watershed. As the milk truck spill and water main breaks show, there are plenty of threats to the sanctity of our Valley. At least we were able to put a halt to the yearly swimming pool cleanouts that also cleaned out the stream.
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Two of VFTU's Petes hopped right on the potential problem. Their reports: "I just got word of another Aqua water main break in the vicinity of Yellow Springs Road and Salem Way. Ray Clarke was on the creek and it was running green around the beaver dam and up stream at Hayfield Road. He went up to investigate and found Aqua. I’ll try to get there this afternoon and will also call Bob Bonney (our great WCO)."
Then: "A good ending: The system works! I went to Hayfield Rd today for a walk around. Saw the water color and cloudiness. No smell and no fish in distress. Found where it was entering the stream (at the posted area by the pond). No waders so went to Yellow Spgs Rd by car and found AQUA there. Broken 8” cast iron main. The dechlorinization tablets were out. Called Bob and he already knew and was on the way. With Bob we followed the dirty water where it went underground in a pipe at Salem Ct. Went to where it was entering the stream so he could take some pics.. Probably fixed by now? While there I think I saw Carol Armstrong too."
Aqua is now doing a better job dealing with our aged infrastructure. Speed is of the essence. A year ago another section of Valley had a release of chlorine compound that is used to treat our drinking water. But in this case, the release slaughtered not just our trouts but lots of other biomass like macroinvertebrates, sterilizing the upper section for months.
I personally assayed the stream twice since the spill and fortunately the wild browns were acting normally and being feisty.
While we're at it, take a look at the Clean Streams Sweepstakes, which is running for five more days: https://go.tulocalevents.org/clean-streams/Campaign/Details This is the Chapter's major fundraiser for the year and the moneys go towards monitoring equipment and other measures to protect our Valley.
With the Knickerbocker project looming, we have been baselining water quality parameters to be able to improve our response time if/when the development activities result in damage to the watershed. As the milk truck spill and water main breaks show, there are plenty of threats to the sanctity of our Valley. At least we were able to put a halt to the yearly swimming pool cleanouts that also cleaned out the stream.
.
