GILROY
– Two regional government agencies are prepared to once again
allow personal watercraft on Anderson Reservoir, northeast of
Morgan Hill, but want public feedback first.
GILROY – Two regional government agencies are prepared to once again allow personal watercraft on Anderson Reservoir, northeast of Morgan Hill, but want public feedback first.
Personal watercraft are boating equivalent of a motorcycle, commonly known by brand names such as Jet Ski, Sea-Doo and Wave Runner. They have been banned from Anderson for the past six years but remain OK to ride in limited numbers at Coyote Reservoir, east of San Martin, and Calero Reservoir, northwest of Morgan Hill.
In addition to lifting the Anderson ban, the proposal from the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department would raise the cap on personal watercraft at Coyote and Calero.
The two agencies invite the public to a meeting about the proposal at 7 p.m. Monday, July 19 at the Mount Madonna YMCA, 1766 Crest Ave., Morgan Hill.
The Water District manages the reservoirs while the Parks Department manages the parkland around them.
When these reservoirs were built in the 1930s and ’50s, the ballot agreement voters approved included a clause that recreation would be allowed if possible, according to Water District spokesperson Mike DiMarco.
In 1998, however, the Water District initiated the personal watercraft restrictions after national research began to show the cancer-causing potential of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), an octane-boosting chemical in gasoline at the time. The two-stroke engines common to personal watercraft left more gas in the water – and therefore more MTBE – than other boat engines. Manufacturers have recently started making personal watercraft with cleaner-burning four-stroke engines.
“MTBE … was very water soluble and almost impossible to treat in our water treatment process,” DiMarco said. “It was believed to cause cancer, but it was never hard-and-fast proven.”
Earlier this year, California rid MTBE in gas, replacing it with ethanol. Shortly afterward, according to DiMarco, Water District staff announced to the public they would be willing to reconsider the personal watercraft restrictions.
The current proposal – more lenient than the Water District’s original idea – came out of a May 24 meeting between personal watercraft enthusiasts and staff of Water District and Parks Department.
Their original proposal was to reopen Anderson to only four-stroke, ‘cleaner-burning’ motors and extend that to Calero and Coyote as well, DiMarco said, adding their concern was centered around four other chemicals found in gasoline that are a potential contaminant.
Those possibly poisonous chemicals are benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene, collectively known as BTEX.
“We’ve never detected it in our lakes, but they did detect it in Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake, where they do have four-stroke restrictions,” DiMarco said. “So we thought we’d be proactive.”
Personal watercraft riders challenged this plan, saying if the Water District can’t find BTEX in the reservoirs, it isn’t a problem.
Water District staff relented after re-examining testing results from the last five years and finding no BTEX.
“We feel comfortable,” DiMarco said. “This is something we can make happen.”
The plan will keep in place a rule that people must alert the Parks Department in advance before using personal watercraft at a reservoir on a weekend.
The Parks Department has received e-mails criticizing the proposal from the Bluewater Network, a San Francisco-based environmental group, DiMarco said.
Many found the policy to allow personal watercraft at Coyote Reservoir but not at Anderson questionable, since Coyote flows downstream to Anderson via Coyote Creek. DiMarco, however, said the churning action of the creek breaks up chemicals like MTBE and BTEX, rendering them harmless.
“This stuff is not a problem by the time it gets to Anderson,” DiMarco said. “The molecules that make up this chemical are volatile. Shaking, heat makes them break up into harmless components.”
To be safe, however, DiMarco said the Water District tests the inflow into Anderson anyway.
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@************ch.com or 847-7109.
