By BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: 9/30/08

Federal regulators have ordered Sonoma County to reduce the amount of water flowing down the Russian River and Dry Creek and to rebuild Dry Creek habitat to spur the recovery of steelhead and salmon.

The National Marine Fisheries Service also is ordering the Sonoma County Water Agency to find an alternative to breaching the sandbar at the mouth of the Russian River, a procedure that destroys a fresh-water lagoon that forms naturally there.

Steelhead and chinook salmon are listed as threatened and coho as endangered on the Endangered Species List.

“It’s an important document for the recovery of the coho salmon and steelhead,” said Bill Hearn, a National Marine Fisheries biologist. “It looks like the project doesn’t have a significant impact on chinook, but it has huge ramifications to the recovery of coho and steelhead.”

The program could cost up to $100 million over 15 years and would be paid for with local domestic-use water rates and federal funds, said Grant Davis, the Water Agency assistant general manager.

The reduced Russian River flows, however, are being studied by residents of the lower river, whose concern for the fishery is matched by a concern for the impact on recreation.

“We could be looking at a whole lot less water if they are going to reduce the flows,” said Don McEnhill of Russian Riverkeepers. “They are not the people who have to pay refunds to customers who don’t have a good time.”

It is also reviving a citizens group that opposed a low-flow proposal four years ago.

“We will be looking at it and develop a plan to stop the implementation of it, if that is what we want to do,” said Royce Brooks of Guerneville.

The federal Biological Opinion, released under the federal Endangered Species Act, will be discussed Wednesday at a 4 p.m. meeting of the Public Policy Facilitating Committee, made up of representatives of local, state and federal agencies. The session is at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa.

Water Agency officials said they are required by the federal Endangered Species Act to implement the order, although the actions to implement it are subject to environmental review.

The opinion comes after 11 years of study by biologists and finds that the current way the Water Agency and Army Corps of Engineers run the water system is harmful to the fishery, Hearn said.

The central problem is the velocity of water in the Russian River and Dry Creek. Because of releases from Warm Springs Dam on Dry Creek and Coyote Valley Dam on the Russian River, the flows are too fast for the steelhead and coho juveniles.

The agencies are ordered to reduce the upper Russian River flows by 60 cubic feet per second, to 125 cfs, from July through October. That in turn requires reducing the amount of water released from Coyote Valley Dam and Lake Mendocino.

It would enhance fish habitat, conserve water in Lake Mendocino for the fall salmon run and reduce the amount of water flowing downstream to Jenner, where federal regulators want a natural fresh-water lagoon.

Flows from Warm Springs Dam/Lake Sonoma would be kept at the low end of current releases, about 100 cfs, and restoration work along Dry Creek would be required, primarily with placement of boulders and logs to create pools for fish.

Dry Creek, with the cold water coming from Lake Sonoma, now is a habitat for an estimated 75,000 juvenile steelhead, with a potential for 300,000 with the flows and stream work, Hearn said.

Water Agency biologists, however, conducted a fish survey a week ago and did not find any coho salmon in the creek.

“That is a concern,” said David Manning, the Water Agency’s principal environmental specialist. “Coho are not faring well. That cold water is a tremendous resource. That is a unique condition in this part of California, certainly in the Russian River watershed.”

The reduced flows from both dams would not affect agriculture and would provide enough water for the Water Agency to supply the 600,000 residents it serves from Windsor to San Rafael, said Pam Jeane, the Water Agency’s deputy director of operations.

Still, federal regulators are ordering the Water Agency to study the feasibility of putting a pipeline down Dry Creek Road or West Dry Creek Road to its percolation ponds and pumps at Forestville.

The Water Agency also is ordered to allow creation of a fresh-water lagoon at Jenner by refraining from using heavy equipment to breach the sandbar that forms across the mouth of the Russian River. The agency trenches through the sandbar as many as 10 times a year to keep the water from rising into some riverside homes.

The breach lets salinity into the lagoon, while fresh water would be more beneficial to juvenile steelhead.

Federal regulators want the Water Agency to either let the sandbar breach naturally or build a gradually sloping berm between the river and ocean.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@

pressdemocrat.com

Article at the Press Democrat

In 1949, the State of California made “State Filings” on behalf of both Mendocino County and Sonoma County water interests in the Russian River drainage. The state filings were made in accordance with County of Origin statutes in the State Water Code, which seek to assure that counties where water originates have water needed for development. Crudely, the idea is to prevent a situation where more developed counties get the water first, leaving none behind for rural and upstream watersheds. In general, California water law requires water users to use a water right, and does not allow water users to save the right to use water for an indefinite period. State filings, recognizing that counties of origin were at a disadvantage both in terms of money and rate of development, are an exception to this general principle.

The problem is that there is no “surplus” water left in the Russian River. Water taken by the Mendocino District will have to be taken away from someone else. Since this is likely to be contentious and involve large amounts of money, CSPA believes that there is a strong chance that some of the water that is being requested will come at the expense of the Russian River, where salmon and steelhead are already doing very poorly.

Complicating the situation is the fact that a large portion of the water that finds its way to Lake Mendocino every year is water from the mainstem Eel River that has been exported through PG&E’s Potter Valley hydroelectric project to the Russian River watershed. This exported water has helped to fuel the rampant growth of viticulture in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and urban growth in those same counties and also in Marin. While this has continued, the salmon and steelhead fisheries in the mainstem Eel have declined dramatically, and are in danger of extirpation. If more water from Lake Mendocino is promised to Mendocino District customers, it will become harder than ever to restore water to the Eel River watershed.

While CSPA believes that state filings can serve an important function, we filed this protest to protect fisheries and other instream values in both the Eel and the Russian. We also believe that there will soon be many similar requests statewide to appropriate water under state filings. Many, if not most of these future requests will also take place in watersheds that are fully appropriated or over-appropriated. We want to be sure that the State Water Resources Control Board addresses this and future applications for water under state filings in a thorough and protective way, and that the Board employs and establishes a comprehensive process for doing this.

Thus, CSPA has asked for a number of measures and process requirements in considering Mendocino’s petitions. We want the Board to make an up-to-date accounting of water in both the Russian and Eel watersheds, with modern tools. We also want the Board to take a fresh look at all of the impacts of all the diversions in these watersheds, and not accept up front an already unacceptable situation.

Chris Shutes
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance

PLEASE PASS THIS EMAIL AROUND  ANYONE CONCERNED ABOUT THE RUSSIAN RIVER
DIRECT DISCHARGE (SR DISCHARGE COMPLIANCE PROJECT)….Also, please forgive
duplications of this message.

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 5 PM in City Council Chambers the BPU will hold a
meeting to certify the Final EIR on the Discharge Compliance Project, which
includes two direct discharge locations and continued use of the Laguna.
This is not project selection, which will occur in early December.

The length of the BPU meeting will depend on how many people show up.  We
don’t expect a huge crowd but hope to see many of you there.  The BPU had
anticipated certifying the document tomorrow, but we think there is a major
flaw in it.  It is significant that this change in the EIR came as a total
surprise to us.  No one from the City said a word.  The EIR was released on
Sept. 22nd, we could not get it until Sept. 24th, giving us only eight days
to study it.

RRWPC, Friends of Steelhead Beach,  and may others have serious concerns
about this certification action.  We believe there is a flaw in this
document that should prohibit certification at this time.  SR  decided
(without alerting us) to mitigate the damage to Osprey Trail by changing the
route of the pipeline.  That is good for Osprey Trail (most of it anyway)
and shows we (and the Parks Dept.) are having a strong impact on the
process.

The bad part is they did not discuss impacts of laying 48″ pipe in a very
sensitive 1/2 mile on River Rd. (from the park entrance to approximately Rio
Vista, where the pipe will turn into the park and strongly impact the West
end of the park). Remember, they had said they needed a 50′ work area to
install the pipe.  I think that would take the whole road.  There is a
significant drop on the north side of the road, so there really is no
shoulder most of the way.  I have sent a letter (attached) to them
expressing strong concerns and telling them they cannot certify the EIR
without determining  impacts and allowing the public to weigh in on them
(with response).  This could set the process back considerably which they
don’t want to do.

The construction period would last 18 months, a fact that I don’t think was
revealed in the Draft EIR.  It sounds like they would basically shut down
the west end of the park, closing access to very popular Children’s Beach
for at least one summer.  They would close the access at Rio Vista into the
park.  With the construction time up to 18 months, they could go into two
summers.  They would build a coffer dam in order to put the diffuser in the
river.  They would allow boating around it, but it’s likely to be a very
unpleasant experience for people looking to get away from that sort of
thing.

I write a great deal in my letter as to why I don’t think this project is
necessary.  I hope you can take the time to read it.

I hope many of you can come.  This is very important.  They are rushing this
certification process and need to follow CEQA regarding this significant
change in the pipeline route.

BPU MEETING TOMORROW AT 5 PM AT CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS!!

See you there.

BrendaA

The notice of pubic policy facilitating committee meeting for the Russian River Section 7 consultation will meet to “discuss, disseminate information and take public comment on the implementation of Section 7 of the federal Endangered Species Act as called for in a Memorandum of Understanding with the US ACE, National Marine Fisheries Service and the SCWA”.

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008
4:30 to 6:00 pm
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Carston Cabaret
50 Mark West Springs Road
Santa Rosa, CA.

AGENDA

Call to Order

Section 7 Update and Overview

Review of Biological Opinion

Overview of Process, projects
- in stream flow changes
- NEPA/CEQA process
- Dry Creek Interim Projects
- Estuary Adaptive Management

Public Outreach & Information
- Stakeholder Assessment
- SCWA outreach

Future of he Pubic Policy Facilitating Committee

Public Comment

This is going to be very interesting - and telling for our future.  Be sure to spread the word to others you know should be there.

Have a great weekend,
RueBiolocical Opinion

The National Marine Fisheries Service has been working on a Biological Opinion as part of the Section 7 of the ESA but will focus on the water supply, flood control, and channel maintenance operations within the Russian River watershed.  This potentially is very significant to the type of decisions the Water Agency and the Army Corps can make for future operatio.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, October 1, 2008, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, at the Carston Cabaret room, Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa

–Larry

–Larry

Rainwater Harvesting Makes Comeback Amid Severe Drought

MALIA WOLLAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 1, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — Tara Hui climbed under her deck, nudged past a cluster of 55-gallon barrels and a roosting chicken, and pointed to a shiny metal gutter spout.

Tara Hui demonstrates how she drains water from bins stored below her deck where she harvests rainwater at her home in San Francisco. “See that?” she said. “That’s where the rainwater comes in from the roof.”

Hui is one of a growing band of people across the country turning to collected rainwater for nondrinking uses such as watering plants, flushing toilets and washing laundry.

Concern over drought and wasted resources, and stricter water conservation laws have revitalized the practice of capturing rainwater during storms and stockpiling it for use in drier times. A fixture of building design in the Roman Empire and in outposts along the American frontier, rainwater harvesting is making a comeback in states including Texas, North Carolina and California.

“We call it ‘the movement that’s taking the nation by storm,’ ” said Robyn Hadley, spokeswoman for the Austin, Texas-based American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, whose membership has jumped by more than 40 percent this year.

Hui, 37, got her first 55-gallon plastic barrel for free five years ago. The barrel had been packed with maraschino cherries, so when rain first filled it, the water smelled like candied fruit.

Now, she has a daisy chain of 25 linked barrels under her back deck with a combined capacity of nearly 1,250 gallons. She built the system herself, after searching the Internet for information and buying the necessary plumbing parts at a hardware store. The whole setup cost her $200.

The average American uses 101 gallons of water a day at home and in the yard. Add in agricultural and industrial water use and that climbs to an average of 1,430 gallons per day per person.

Scientists warn that climate change will result in more severe droughts and erratic storms worldwide, and this spring was the driest in California’s 114 years of record-keeping. Extreme drought and abnormally dry conditions persist across large swaths of the country, with states in the West and Southeast hit hardest.

Even in a drought, it only takes a few hours of heavy rain to fill all 25 of Hui’s barrels. She uses that water during the summer to irrigate her back yard.

This fall, San Francisco will try to recruit more people to hoard the rain. The city will be putting $100,000 toward hosting how-to workshops and offering rebates and discounts on rainwater catchment tanks.

In addition to conserving water, these efforts help alleviate the problem of storm runoff. Asphalt-covered roads, sidewalks and parking lots repel storm water, forcing it down storm drains and into creeks rather than allowing it to soak into soil. Big flushes of storm water in water treatment systems can send raw sewage flowing into the ocean. Overloaded streams can cause flooding and damage salmon habitat.

Elsewhere, roofs are being used to collect rain from Austin to Seattle. Santa Monica’s new library sits atop a 200,000-gallon rainwater cistern, and in August the city launched a rainwater rebate program for homeowners. In Marin County, a recent seminar on rainwater harvesting attracted a standing-room-only crowd of several hundred.

Doug Pushard, a software entrepreneur and rain collection enthusiast based in Santa Fe, N.M., runs HarvestH2O.com, a Web-based organization providing information on rainwater harvesting. It got more than 23,000 page views in July, almost triple the number he got in the same month last year, along with numerous calls and e-mails.

New companies and ingenuity in plumbing and policy are pushing rainwater harvesting from the off-the-grid fringe to the core of 21st-century green building design.

“You still have to be a tinkerer to make things work, but that’s changing,” Pushard said.

Every year, Sunset Magazine sponsors several “idea houses” featuring sustainable building design. As many as 40,000 people stream through each house to study the latest in green architecture. The 2007 idea houses in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe collected rainwater, as will this year’s idea house in Monterey.

“We’re going to see a lot more design features for recycled water and rainwater catchment,” said Dave Walls, executive director of the California Building Standards Commission, which in July adopted new building codes for the state requiring new buildings to strictly conserve water.

In June, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave a Washington-based nonprofit $4.2 million to determine whether rainwater harvesting could provide potable water to the billions of poor people worldwide who lack access to clean water. Drought-prone and groundwater-scarce places like Australia, the Bahamas, Iran and parts of India are already busy pooling precipitation.

“People don’t think about where their water comes from or how much they use,” Hui said as she used her collected rainwater for irrigation. “We all need to.”

The 11th Annual Coho Confab will be held on the South Fork of the Smith River in the far northwestern corner of California. This dynamic event is sponsored by Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation, Smith River Alliance, Smith River Advisory Council, and Cal Trout. Orientation presentations will focus on fire ecology and fisheries, coho salmon recovery, and the significance of the Mill Creek watershed acquisition in protecting and restoring a salmon stronghold. This year’s Confab will feature restoration tours in the Mill Creek watershed, tributaries of the South Fork, Yontucket Slough and the Smith River estuary. Randy Lew of Pacific Watershed Associates will lead a tour of road decommissioning and erosion control projects in Dominie and Rowdy Creeks. State Park geologist Rocco Fiori will discuss experimental wood loading designs to enhance stream function and salmonid habitats. A full-day tour of Mill Creek restoration projects will include presentations by Dan Burgess of Rural Human Services who will lead a tour of the native plant nursery for Mill Creek restoration, Lathrope Leonard of Redwood National and State Parks will lead a forestry tour focused on restoring late seral forests and Brian Merrill of California State Parks will discuss backcountry road management in North Coast Redwoods State Parks and rehabilitating watershed function.
Rod McLeod of the Mill Creek Monitoring Program will lead a hands-on workshop assessing juvenile coho summer abundance estimation in Mill Creek. Zack Larson, watershed coordinator of the Smith River Advisory Council, will facilitate a Smith River fish identification workshop.
Antonio Llanos of Mike Love and Associates will lead a tour of fish passage projects and will co-lead a tour of Yontocket Slough and the Smith River estuary with Zack Larson, Watershed Coordinator for the Smith River Advisory Council. Other workshops include instream fish identification, and macro-invertebrate sampling and stream health assessment. There will be an open forum entitled “Stories and Songs of Salmon” with native stories from Frank Lake and river troubadour Alice di Micele. and there will be an open forum and resource workshops. Saturday night will culminate with a wild salmon feast, and a cabaret.

Advanced registration fees are $100 that includes all camping, food and lodging. After September 5, registration is $125. For more information about the Confab, please visit www.calsalmon.org or www.treesfoundation.org . To register online and obtain logistical info please go to http://treesfoundation.org/cgi-priv/Conference.pl . To see the agenda or download a registration form to fax or mail, go to http://www.treesfoundation.org/cohoconfab/ConfabReg2008.pdf

SRF Central Coast Bioengineering Field School October 20-23, 2008 in the Santa Ynez Valley

SRF, with the support of the Department of Fish and Game, will sponsor a Bioengineering Field School on the Central Coast. Instructor Evan Engber, of Bioengineering Associates, will teach techniques to restore riparian habitat, control erosion and stabilize banks. Participants will tour projects in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and learn how to build willow matresses and live siltation baffles. Due to state budget freezes for agency travel, SRF has selected a more affordable location to host the field school. The dates are now October 20-23 at Camp Whittier . These are lodge accommodations with four to a room. The fees for the course are $300 which includes all instruction, materials, food and lodging. For more information, please see the registration form at www.calsalmon.org . Additional lodging can be found in the closest town of Solvang. The Solvang Gardens boutique hotel will honor the government rate for participants. Please see their web site: www.solvanggardens.com/reservations.html

Francine Allen
Project Coordinator
Salmonid Restoration Federation
PO Box 784
Redway, California 95560
(707) 923-7501
francine@calsalmon.org

Stormwater Enthusiasts,

Please join us for a fun-filled evening of music, snacks and drinks on
September 23rd at 5:30 pm at the Bayview Boat Club to celebrate our
latest stormwater milestone - San Francisco’s new Rainwater Harvesting
Rules. Homeowners are now finally able to legally disconnect their
downspouts and use rainwater for non-potable purposes both inside and
outdoors.

As far as we know, San Francisco is the first city in California to
formally adopt this practice. These rules were developed by staff from
the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, Department of
Public Health and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

A special thanks to Judy West, member of the SFPUC Citizens’ Advisory
Committee, for hosting the event. There will be snacks and a no-host
bar at 5:30 and jazz at 8pm. The Bayview Boat Club is located at 489
Terry Francois Blvd. (formerly China Basin St.)

RSVP to Rosey Jencks at rjencks@sfwater.org

Rosey

P.S. If you haven’t heard yet, start spreading the word to your family
and friends about the Oct. 11 Big Blue Bucket Eco-Fair. We’ll have lots
of stormwater-related activities including free rainbarrel raffles and
rainbarrel installation workshops. Visit our website for information at
www.BigBlueBucket.org.
_________________________________________
Rosey A. Jencks
Urban Watershed Management Program
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
1145 Market, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
rjencks@sfwater.org | 415-934-5762
http://stormwater.sfwater.org

Anne Underwood, Newsweek Web Exclusive

The common white sucker is nobody’s favorite fish. It’s a bottom feeder that trout fishermen in Colorado happily toss back into the water. But it’s also what scientists call a sentinel—a species whose health (or lack thereof) can warn us about problems in the environment. So imagine the reaction of environmental endocrinologist David O. Norris of the University of Colorado when he discovered some alarming changes in the sucker population of Boulder Creek. Upstream, where the water flows pure and clear out of the Rocky Mountains, the ratio of males to females is 50-50, just as nature intended. Downstream, below the wastewater-treatment plant in Boulder, the females outnumber the males by 5 to 1. Even more worrisome, Norris found that about 10 percent of the fish were neither clearly male nor female, but had sexual characteristics of both. “On the one hand, we were excited [to make such a dramatic finding],” says Norris. “At the same time, we were appalled.”

There’s something fishy in the nation’s water supply. True, its quality has improved dramatically since passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970s. Toxic substances and pollutants are now routinely filtered out. But across the nation, something’s causing disturbing effects on aquatic wildlife. In a search for culprits, scientists are zeroing in on a group of compounds they call “emerging contaminants,” including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and antibacterial soaps. Although we like to think that these compounds disappear when we wash them down the drain or flush them down the toilet, a lot of them are clearly ending up in water. Could they possibly affect human health? At this point, no one knows for sure. “We have lots of questions, but very few answers,” says environmental chemist Christian Daughton at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Scientists aren’t worried about any one of these chemicals in isolation. Most are found in minute doses, if they’re found at all. Toxicologist Amy Perbeck at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality calculated that the levels of ibuprofen in Michigan drinking water were so low that a person would have to consume 17,000 gallons to get the amount in one pill. But new technology is allowing scientists to screen for mere traces of compounds, down to levels that were previously undetectable—and they find just about everything they look for. A 2002 study by the U.S. Geological Survey detected such compounds in 80 percent of the 139 streams it examined, many of which were downstream from urban areas. None of the chemicals on its own appears to be toxic at minuscule doses. “But what happens when a person is exposed to a whole cocktail of them?” asks Perbeck.

The emerging compounds of greatest concern to most scientists are the “endocrine disrupters.” These are chemicals in the environment that mimic hormones when they get into the body. An astonishing array of chemicals fall into this category—not only natural and synthetic hormones, but also chemicals in certain cosmetics, shampoos, shaving lotions, skin creams, dishwashing liquids, pesticides, flame retardants, plastics and antibacterial soaps. Like actual hormones, “they have effects at exceedingly low levels,” says Herb Buxton, coordinator of the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program at the USGS. Because so many of them bind to a certain type of receptor in the body—whether for estrogens, androgens or thyroid hormones—the effects add up.

Judging by fish populations, the result isn’t good. Scientists have found “feminized” male fish in the Mississippi, Ohio, Allegheny, Monongahela, Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Unlike the abnormal Boulder Creek fish, which had both ovaries and testes, most of these fish are clearly males. But their testes contain some ovarian tissue that produces immature eggs, and their livers are producing egg-yolk proteins. In lab studies, scientists have also shown that male fish exposed to estrogenic compounds during early development have lower sperm counts and worrisome behavioral changes. In one experiment, Heiko Schoenfuss, head of the aquatic-toxicology lab at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, exposed male fathead minnows early in life to estrogenic chemicals called alkylphenols (which come from some common industrial and household cleaners)—and discovered that as adults, they failed to defend their territory. The result? They were unable to reproduce successfully because they allowed other males to invade their nesting areas and eat their offspring.

Put it all together, and scientists worry that endocrine disrupters could cause declines in fish populations. In a paper last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of Canadian and American scientists reported the collapse of the fathead-minnow population in a Canadian test lake after low levels of a potent synthetic estrogen were intentionally introduced. In the first year, researchers saw the same kind of feminization of male fish observed in the United States. The next year, says lead author Karen Kidd of the University of New Brunswick, they documented the “near extinction of this species from the lake. People, thankfully, are less vulnerable than fish, because we don’t live and breathe in water. To date, there is no conclusive evidence linking emerging contaminants to human health problems. But scientists wonder if endocrine disrupters in the water are partially responsible for some well-documented trends, including earlier puberty in girls and reduced sperm counts in men. In fish, sperm problems have been linked to waterborne contaminants, including phthalates, which are used in many plastics, cosmetics, skin-care products and pesticides. Reproductive epidemiologist Russ Hauser at Harvard has found an association in men between certain phthalates in their urine and low sperm counts—although he notes that there are multiple routes of exposure in people, including direct absorption through the skin from after-shaves and colognes. Water is only one of many sources. As Devra Lee Davis, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Environmental Oncology, sees it, humans are exposed to so many things over a lifetime that it’s hard to prove connections—but problems in wildlife should be a warning. “We have to stop treating people like lab rats in an uncontrolled experiment and start figuring out ways to reduce our exposures,” she says.

So how can we keep these chemicals out of the water supply? No one is suggesting that we give up medicines or mascara. There are, however, a few commonsense measures we could take. Look for phthalate-free deodorants and body lotions. The Environmental Working Group has a list on its Web site. Stop using antibacterial soaps. Numerous studies have found that washing with regular soap is just as effective. And learn how to dispose of drugs properly. Most shouldn’t be flushed. Some municipalities will even dispose of them along with hazardous waste.

If you’re truly worried about drinking water, the answer isn’t bottled water, which in many cases is just bottled tap water—and requires large amounts of energy to transport. Consumer devices for removing contaminants include charcoal filters, tabletop water distillers and purification units that use reverse osmosis. They can all take out a wide variety of chemicals. The fish should be so lucky.

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: September 12, 2008

A documentary and a three-alarm warning, “Flow” dives into our planet’s most essential resource — and third-largest industry — to find pollution, scarcity, human suffering and corporate profit. And that’s just in the United States. More About This Movie

Yet Irena Salina’s astonishingly wide-ranging film is less depressing than galvanizing, an informed and heartfelt examination of the tug of war between public health and private interests. From the dubious quality of our tap water (possibly laced with rocket fuel) to the terrifyingly unpoliced contents of bottled brands (one company pumped from the vicinity of a Superfund site), the movie ruthlessly dismantles our assumptions about water safety and government oversight.

Still reeling, we’re given a distressing glimpse of regions embroiled in bitter battles against privatization. In South Africa, villagers drink from stagnant ponds, unable to pay for the water that once was free, and protesters in Bolivia — where waste from a slaughterhouse is dumped into Lake Titicaca — brave gunfire to demand unrestricted access to potable water.

And lest we begin to comfort ourselves with first-world distance, Ms. Salina cleverly frames this section with the protracted conflict between the residents of Mecosta County, Mich., and the gluttonous demands of a Nestlé bottling plant.

Naming names and identifying culprits (hello, World Bank), “Flow” is designed to awaken the most somnolent consumer. At the very least it should make you think twice before you take that (unfiltered) shower.

Flow 2008 Movie Trailer