The South Yuba River--One of California's Rivers of Constant Sorrow

Curiously, the CVRWQB team wasn't the only group mucking about in the South Yuba River's murky waters; a spokesperson for the water quality board said that Royal Gorge, LLC would be having their own water consultants, Eco Logic, conduct an analysis of the algae. Royal Gorge LLC is a firm owned by Kirk Syme, Woodstock Development, Todd and Mark Foster, Foster Enterprises, and unknown investors.

What concern, you might ask, would Royal Gorge LLC have with the nature and source of algae in the South Yuba River? Well, the South Yuba's troubles have, as mentioned above, historically included dams, diversions, and dumping, but as of late those troubles have been eclipsed by the threat of a huge bloom of development up at Donner Summit. Royal Gorge LLC has, for more than a year, been in discussions with Placer County about remaking the cross country resort into a condo/hotel/housing/commercial development of up to 1000 units, which would at least double the load of effluent that is currently dumped into the South Yuba River. Many citizens fear that the South Yuba cannot shoulder the burden of additional effluent- if the river at times is now 60% effluent, how can it be made to be 120% effluent? (Yes, I know....)

Back when the communities that sit astride Donner Summit were developed, a patchy system of sewage disposal was used. Septic tanks were tried in many areas, and, were by and large, woeful failures, as granite was not designed to be an adequate leach field. The South Yuba River still has many leach fields in its watershed, including those at the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, and not all of them are working well, a subject that is generally not broached in polite company. “I know where your leach field is buried," won't get you invited to a lot of parties.... Perhaps the latest algal bloom is the product of yet another failing leach field, which will mean someone else will have to hook up to DSPUD, which will mean.....

It all means that maybe the South Yuba River and Donner Summit are well past saturation point, concerning what's directly dumped into the South Yuba River, what oozes in from leach fields that follow the course of the river down the mountain, and what doesn't evaporate from the Ski Hill that's also a mere parking-lot away from the point the river gurgles down from its headwaters in Van Norden Meadow. Perhaps it's time for someone to step in and put a halt to any new development, until the glaring problems of the South Yuba River, a stunningly beautiful, seriously impaired river that also eventually ends delivering water to someone's tap downstream, are addressed.

If the ongoing effluent disposal problems of DSPUD and the issues of failing leach fields at Donner Summit are not addressed, and large developments are permitted without serious upgrades, we certainly won't be meeting on the 'golden shore.' Or will we?*

*Hey, it's a great folk song-- and it's past time for California to take a hard look at water supplies/water quality, from the top of the watershed all the way down, especially as what goes in at the top of the watershed, comes out at the bottom. Your tap or mine?

Kathryn Gray is a graduate of the School of Social Ecology, University of California at Irvine, and Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. She and her husband, Joseph Gray, founded a specialized semiconductor company in 1989. Now retired, they spend their time on environmental causes, including monitoring the large development proposed on Donner Summit.