The Capistrano Insider

I Hope You Looked Nice Monday if You Were on the Streets of Capistrano ...

Spotted this Googlecar on Ortega Highway, as it was leaving town. These are the vehicles used to shoot 360-degree photos for the street view function on Google Maps.

There's been some privacy complaints over the years, because these cameras (now in HD) capture everything. Here's a website of goofy google pics.

From wikipedia:

On each of these vehicles there are nine directional cameras for 360° views at a height of about 8.2 feet, or 2.5 meters, GPS units for positioning and three laser range scanners for the measuring of up to 50 meters 180° in the front of the vehicle. There are also 3G/GSM/Wi-Fi antennas for scanning 3G/GSM and Wi-Fi hotspots.[3] Recently, 'high quality' images are based on open source hardware cameras from Elphel.

 And if you're wondering, Google has cameras on a tricycle to reach places cars can't, and has even used snowmobiles ...

Chevron's MTBE Cleanup Plan Online

Chevron's plan to clean up the MTBE in Capistrano's groundwater is available online.

The idea is to essentially build a fitering system near City Hall and use the city's Dance Hall Well to suck out the tainted water, run through filters, then on to the city's Groundwater Recovery Plant. There, it will be scrubbed again and sent out to residents.

City officials aren't satisfied with the plan, which they say doesn't go far enough. They're concerned the MTBE plume will float past the Dance Hall Well and pollute the city's other drinking-water wells.

"The city wants assurance from Chevron that those other wells will be treated if contaminated," Utilities Director John O'Donnell told me. But, he added, if the system is not installed, the other wells will be contaminated anyhow. The city wants to know what the plan is then.

Chevron representatives will be at Coffee Chat on March 20 to share their thoughts. Coffee Chat is at Metro Java Cafe, 32211 Camino Capistrano. Here's a map.

Here's a link to the Web site with the clean up plan, maps and more.

Water Well Drying Up?

I pulled this off an electronic newsletter from the Municipal Water District of Orange County. That's an umbrella organization for 28 local water districts and cities -- including San Juan Capistrano. Known as MWDOC (pronounced Mo-Doc if you want to impress folks in water agencies), the agency is part of the water god, Metropolitan Water District (think "Chinatown.')

Anyhow, this from MWDOC's Assistant GM, Karl Sekel:

You have probably heard by now that Southern California’s water supplies have been cut by regulatory actions, and further reduced by the effects of a multi-year drought.  What you may not have heard is how serious this problem is and how deeply it will affect the lives of Southern California residents.

A recent news article noted that Lake Oroville, the start of the State Water Project, is projected to be at its lowest level of storage since 1977. DWR Director Lester Snow recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water and Power that next year "could be the worst drought in California's history." Consider the following statistics:

Modeling work by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) indicates that based on current demand, there is a 70% chance that MWD will run out of stored water within the next five years.

Under a second scenario in which demand on MWD was assumed to be reduced by 20% (through extra conservation, for example) there is a 30% chance that MWD will run out of stored water within the next five years.

For the first time in MWD’s eighty year history, MWD lacks sufficient supplies to meet demands without pulling water out of storage or securing water transfers from other locations.

Before the court order to reduce water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, MWD believes it would have been in a surplus situation about 70% of the time and would have to pull water out of storage 30% of the time.  Following the court order, MWD now believes it will be in a surplus situation only about 30% of the time, and 70% of the time it will be faced with pulling water out of storage.

There is a 40% chance that mandatory water rationing will be implemented in 2009.

Water delivery cutbacks and long-term droughts have created a very serious and very real water problem.  Residents and businesses can make a big difference in the reliability of our water supply by taking immediate steps now to reduce waste and improve water efficiency.  Failing to take action risks squandering our diminishing supplies, puts our residents’ quality of life in jeopardy, and places additional burdens on our already struggling economy.  Pressure needs to be brought to bear on our state’s leaders to find and implement long-term solutions to the problems in the Bay-Delta that are of paramount importance to solving our water supply problems.  The Bay-Delta is clearly broken and fixing it must be a priority for everyone in California.