Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2012
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2012 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Joshua Melvin

RESERVOIR AT RISK FROM POT GROWERS

Last Week Alone, About 3.5 Tons of Banned Pesticides, Other Trash Were
Pulled Off Hills Above Lake

SAN MATEO - You can't swim or boat in Crystal Springs Reservoir
because it's the drinking water source for more than a million people,
yet illegal pot farms in the rugged land above the water might be a
bigger threat than skinny-dippers.

Last week authorities pulled 7,200 pounds of trash left behind by
illicit marijuana growers off the steep hillsides that funnel rain and
creek water into the reservoir. Among the car batteries and black
plastic irrigation tubes authorities carted out by helicopter were
toxic pesticides that have been banned from the United States.

Officials said the trip down the mountain dilutes the chemicals and
ends with most of them being absorbed in the soil, but some of them
end up the reservoir that provides water to the northern half of San
Mateo County and San Francisco. So far authorities haven't turned up
any evidence the toxins have harmed the safety of the water, but they
are keeping watch over their system with about 100,000 tests per year.

The amount of marijuana growing on the 23,000 acres around the
reservoir varies, but in the past five years the San Mateo County
Narcotics Task Force has seized 48,529 outdoor plants worth an
estimated $170 million, the majority of it on the reservoir watershed.
On Aug. 27, police seized 1,579 pot plants, said sheriff's Lt. John
Munsey, head of the task force.

Munsey said agents tearing down the gardens found pesticides methyl
parathion and carbofuran, which the Environmental Protection Agency
has effectively banned from use in the United States. Both chemicals
are considered highly toxic to people and animals. Carbofuran
poisoning, in the short term, can mean headache, sweating, nausea,
diarrhea, chest pains, blurred vision, anxiety and general muscular
weakness, according to the EPA.

The agents also found propane tanks, fertilizer, household garbage
like food waste and a handful of other chemicals, including one
pesticide called Weevil-Cide.

"Weevil-Cide is a highly hazardous material and should be used only by
individuals trained in its proper use," according to a warning from
the product's maker.

"It was an enormous amount of garbage. We were all a little bit
shocked," said Munsey, who added no one was arrested. "It just seemed
like (load) after (load)."

Authorities haven't detected methyl parathion or carbofuran in the
Crystal Springs water, said Manoucher Boozarpour, water quality
engineering manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

He said the commission tests for pesticides and has a limit of a 0.5
parts per billion of methyl parathion and 1 part per billion of
carbofuran. One part per billion is the equivalent of one drop of
impurity, like ink, in 500 barrels of water, according to a pesticide
information project that includes Cornell University and UC-Davis.

"It does end up in the water, but we haven't been able to detect it,"
said Boozarpour of the chemicals. "Historically we have never detected
anything in the water."

The impact of outdoor marijuana gardens on the Peninsula appears to be
relatively manageable when compared with the problem in the northern
reaches of the state. Matt St. John, executive director of the North
Coast Regional Water Board, said officials have seen areas where
growers built their own roads and clear cut land. They are also
noticing a bump in nutrients found in the water, which can prompt
explosions of algae. The blooms are often harmless, though some types
are toxic.

St. John said officials haven't drawn a direct link to the growing and
water pollution. The higher levels of nutrients could be due to
erosion spurred by growers who clear land to farm or to the fertilizer
they dump on the plants.

"We don't have any specific data on drinking water," he said. "But I
think it has the potential to end up in drinking water."
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MAP posted-by: Matt