CLEARLAKE— At their regularly scheduled Thursday meeting, the City Council received a presentation regarding the Lake County Clean Water Program (LCCWP) and storm water management in Lake County, a “multi-jurisdictional program,” according to Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator Angela De Palma-Dow.
“Storm water does flow through both built and natural infrastructures. It can contain things that could be harmful for our waterways and is the main contributor to poor water quality conditions in some of our lakes and streams. Storm water management is the structure that we have in place to help abate some of that storm water, some of those pollutants and contaminants before they run into our water bodies,” she said.
“There are two different types of storm water management: structural and source,” said De Palma-Dow. “Structural is just like it sounds – it’s a structure that we have on the landscape, like filtering or bio-retention that can treat storm water on its path down into a water body. These are part of what’s called BMPs, or best management practices. The source control can be outreach and education – preventing pollution from getting started, from impacting our storm water at the source, policies and procedures that guide these things, how we plan the structures. These source controls, all can help (in) reducing impacts of storm water quality, and a lot of this is rooted in the Clean Water Act from 1972.”
De Palma-Dow added that “we pay some of the highest treatment costs in the United States for our drinking water. A lot of that is due to our water quality and to the amount of materials in it. This is a burden both to our consumers and the county overall. Anything we can do to improve water quality, like better storm water management, can help to improve some of those treatment costs.” Proper maintenance, like cleaning up after your pets and making sure trash is picked up after guests use the park, is part of the storm water requirements, particularly for parks that are adjacent to waterways.
“In general, there’s no sustainable funding source. It’s not guaranteed every year we’re going to have funds for this program. We need more consistent and committed funding sources, particularly for program and staff consistency and sustainability. Some of the pitfalls of this program over the years have been staff come and go and leave and then some of the programs suffer because of it,” she said.
The meeting also featured the presentation of a Proclamation declaring June 2022 as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month. LGBTQIA stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual”. Adding a “+” to the acronym is an acknowledgment that there are non-cisgender and non-straight identities that are not included.
“Our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people, but the fulfillment of this promise has been long in coming for many Americans. Some of the most inspiring moments in our history have arisen from the various civil rights movements that have brought one group after another from the margins to the mainstream of American society,” said Clearlake Mayor Dirk Slooten. “In the movement toward equal rights for LGBTQIA+ people, a historic turning point occurred on June 28, 1969, in New York City, with the onset of the Stonewall Riots. During these riots, those citizens rose up and resisted police harassment that arose out of discriminatory criminal laws that have since been declared unconstitutional. In the four decades since, civil rights have grown substantially, and LGBTQIA+ Pride celebrations have taken place around the country every June to commemorate the beginning of the Stonewall Riots.”
According to the Proclamation, California has been a leader in advancing civil rights. “While further progress is needed, it is important to recognize and celebrate the substantial gains that have been achieved. The City of Clearlake stands with the LGBTQIA+ community in the struggle to ensure equal treatment for all and to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights as human rights. The City Council of the City of Clearlake does hereby proclaim June 2022 as ‘LGBTQIA+ Pride Month’ in Clearlake and advocates for protections for all LGBTQIA+ individuals to make our community a place where all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, are treated with dignity and respect.
