BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Water Quality Provisions: Recreational Watercraft Limits at Calero, Anderson and Coyote Reservoirs.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Approve lifting the daily limit on recreational watercraft launched at Calero, Anderson, and Coyote Reservoirs.
Body
SUMMARY:
Under the Master Reservoir Lease, the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department (Parks) currently restricts vessels allowed to launch on Calero, Coyote and Anderson Reservoirs to prevent water quality impacts associated with certain boat fuel constituents.
To assess current water quality conditions, District staff evaluated water quality data from Anderson, Calero, and Coyote reservoirs for the following gasoline constituents: Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and BTEX compounds (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene). The results indicated that these compounds are no longer detected in these reservoirs, therefore, the conditions that support launch restrictions to protect water quality no longer exist.
Background
The Master Reservoir Lease (1996, amended 2016) between Parks and the District specifies the right to limit or restrict any recreational use as necessary to meet water quality requirements, when the District determines that there is or threatens to be a significant degradation of water quality associated with such activity.
On March 3, 1998, the Board directed District staff to work with Parks staff to develop a strategy for controlling the impact of MTBE, a chemical compound resulting from the incomplete combustion of gasoline in recreational watercraft, on the District's reservoirs. At the April 21, 1998 Board Meeting, the Board approved the proposed strategy, which included managing the number and type of watercraft allowed on the reservoirs, and extensive water quality monitoring. At that time, the goal was to maintain MTBE concentrations in treated water below 10 micrograms per liter (?g/L).
In March 1999, the Board a...
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