Despite a $225 million budget deficit, the Santa Clara County
Board of Supervisors approved a $560,000 vessel inspection program
at four reservoirs, including three in South County.
Despite a $225 million budget deficit, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a $560,000 vessel inspection program at four reservoirs, including three in South County.
The four reservoirs will reopen to recreational boating today after all 10 county reservoirs closed May 13 due to the threat of Quagga and Zebra mussels infestation after the invasive critters were found at the San Justo Reservoir in Hollister. So far, no mussels have been found in Santa Clara County, said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage.
Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department funds will be used to pay for the hefty inspection costs through July 27. The county supervisors are pushing the Santa Clara Valley Water District to share half the cost of the inspection program, said Gage, who chairs the board’s Housing, Land Use, Environment and Transportation Committee.
“The water district has to take some responsibility for this,” Gage said. “We don’t know where the mussels come from. They could come through the purchase of water.”
Quagga and Zebra mussels attach themselves to boats and can clog water pipes, boat piers and ruin boat motors. The mussels, which are about the size of a fingernail, inhabit fresh water and prefer hard surfaces.
The three power boating reservoirs to open, with the boat inspection program in place, are Anderson, Calero and Coyote. Stevens Creek in Cupertino, a non-power boating reservoir, will also open with inspections.
The future of water recreation in the 10 county reservoirs is murky, said Gage.
He said the program is expensive, about $650,000 a year. But with 27,000 launches in the four reservoirs alone last year, boating is a significant recreational activity in the area. Although the Parks and Recreation Department will charge a fee of $7 per inspection, Gage said passing the full amount on to boaters would deter many water recreation enthusiasts from taking their boats out.
“In our last meeting in June, we’ll have to decide to go forward or not,” Gage said.
“Inspections for Quagga/Zebra mussels may be a long term reality for county reservoirs and the water district should share the cost,” he said.
Gage said that because mussel infestation could be caused by boating or water importation, such as when the water district purchases and transports water into the county, the district should share the inspection cost to keep mussels out of the reservoirs.
If the moratorium were to carry on, though, Gage said a lot of people would have an expensive piece of equipment sitting just in their driveway.
