To: Friends and Stewards of Lake Merced
Hello All, and Happy New Year:
The good news is that we received a lot of rain in December, 8.85 inches, the largest December rainfall since 1955 when we actually had more than a foot of rainfall. This brings the year's total to 27.74 inches, more than 7 inches above normal.
The bad news is that while the lake level rose a foot in December, the year-end level is still 4 inches below a year ago. Had we realized normal rainfall in 2001 we could expect the lake level to have gone down a foot or more. Obviously, above-normal rainfall does not represent a long-term solution to the problems at Lake Merced.
It's interesting that with less than 9 inches of rain the lake level went up a full foot. Do you suppose the difference is the result of the golf courses not irrigating their fairways while it's raining? :-)
On another note, people are noticing. After a boost in readership early in the year attributed to the publicity associated with the CalTrout complaint, our web site visitor rate has continued at a high level. In December we received visits from 3,646 visitors, triple the number of a year ago, bringing the year total to more than 38 thousand. When we started this site in the fall of 1997 we had 60 visitors that December. I don't expect that we can continue this growth rate much longer, but it is rewarding to know that we have attracted this much attention to these issues.
And a final report: Dave Dingman, chemist for the water department who conducts the quarterly analysis of water conditions, advises me that the Regional Water Quality Control Board has placed Lake Merced on its 'threatened' list. That means, among other things, that the monitors will be increased from quarterly to every 2 months. The most recent readings are not encouraging (October 1). Dissolved oxygen at 15 feet depth is still far below the level needed to support a fish population, and that measurement has not rebounded nearly as well this year as it has in the past. This is one of the key metrics used by the RWQCB in determining an 'impaired' lake, and they have requested that this be monitored even more closely in the future.
And a final note, a little humorous and a little sad: David reports that the water in Lake Merced is now so slimy that the lab at the Southeast Water Treatment Plant will no longer conduct the needed tests. After processing this water it's too hard to clean the test equipment, so David has been forced to send the samples out to a commercial lab.
Maybe this year will bring better news.
Best wishes for 2002.
John
