Youngsters of all ages from Anaheim to Irvine have discovered that the Irvine Ranch Water District San Joaquin Marsh is the place to be during the summer. Sea and Sage Audubon is observing 20 years of presenting its summer nature camps, while the Discovery Science Center is enjoying its fourth year.

“We have many of the same campers coming back year after year,” said Trude Hurd, Project Director of Education for Sea and Sage.

The summer camps are held in the IRWD Learning Center at the Marsh Campus and combine hands-on activities with Marsh education. Veterans of the Sea and Sage Advanced Camp may go on to become members of the Junior Naturalist Program.

The Sea and Sage Fledgling Camp for seven and eight-year-olds introduces young campers to the world of birds and journaling. Marsh Bird Camp is for nine to 12 year olds. Campers 11 years and older may participate in Advanced Bird Camp or Birds, Bugs and Blossoms Camp.

Discovery Science Center has two offerings – Summer Smiles for five and six-year-olds and Project Discovery for ages seven to 10.

On a recent day of camp in the Discovery Room, Discovery Science Center instructor Karyn Nagel and her staff worked with Summer Smiles campers in constructing bird feeders from bread and birdseed. Egg was spread on the bread, and then pressed into the bird seed. Cookie cutters allowed the youngsters to create fun and interesting shapes in their bird feeders before they were allowed to dry. The finishing touch was placing a ribbon on the bread and birdseed so it could be tied on a tree to attract birds.

This was a jam-packed day – the youngsters heard a story, made leaf prints, took nature walks and capped their day making edible aquifers from vanilla ice cream, lemon-lime soda and chocolate chips.

In the Adventure Room, the Sea and Sage Marsh Bird Camp was enjoying Raptor Day. Volunteers from the Orange County Bird of Prey Center brought several visitors with them – Aries the American kestrel, Gus the screech owl, Spartacus the burrowing owl, JR the Harris Hawk, Wrong Way and great horned owl, and Hank the red-tailed hawk.

These birds have all been injured in some way and many are unable to be released into the wild. Volunteer Michelle Andre, wearing a long leather glove to protect from the birds’ sharp talons, deftly handled her specimens.

“We are all volunteers, we don’t get paid,” she explained. “We do this because we love the birds.”

In the afternoon, the campers continued their education about birds of prey by dissecting owl pellets. Because owls don’t chew their food, the soft portion of their prey is digested and the harder materials such as bone, fur and hair congeal into a mass and are regurgitated.

Please visit our website for more information on Marsh summer camps and community education programs.

Irvine Ranch Water District and the University of California Cooperative Extension are collaborating for the fourth consecutive year on a residential demonstration landscape open house and vendor fair on Saturday, September 29, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be held at the South Coast Research and Extension Center at 7601 Irvine Boulevard in Irvine.

“This open house will have something for everyone and help customers cut back on landscape watering and lower their bills at the same time,” said Fiona Sanchez, Assistant Director of Water Policy for IRWD “More than half of a household’s water use is outdoors.”

There is no charge for admission to the event, which will have something for everyone:

• Explore the landscapes to see how you can incorporate low water use plants in your garden.
• Various gardening industry vendors and water agency representatives will be on hand to demonstrate methods to help reduce landscape water use.
• Demonstrations throughout the day will focus on such topics as composting, irrigation and container planting.
• Taste exotic fruit grown at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center.
• Children may participate in gardening and water education activities with University Extension staff and Master Gardeners.
• Random opportunity drawings will be held throughout the day for gardening gifts.
• Presentations will be made by University of California researchers and landscape experts.

For more information about the event, please visit UCCE Demonstration Landscape Open House - Orange County Water Quality and Water Resources. To see a highlight of a past open house, please visit IRWD Water Smart Landscape Open House - YouTube.

In order to ensure that Irvine Ranch Water District meets or exceeds state and federal guidelines when it comes to delivering safe water to our customers, the dedicated six members of the Water Quality Monitoring team fan out into the community daily, conducting sampling at any of the 180 to 200 drinking water sampling sites. All water samples are tested in our state-certified Water Quality Laboratory.

“Our Water Quality Monitoring staff is made up of very dedicated professionals who care about the environment and quality of drinking water,” said Regulatory Compliance Manager Cindy Beck.

Results of potable water sampling are compiled in the annual Water Quality Report, which is sent out to customers and available on our website.

The sampling sites are located throughout the community. Quite possibly, you might have noticed these sampling cans and wondered what they were, or you might not have noticed them at all. They are designed to pleasantly blend in with the landscape.

“A typical day on Monday and Tuesday is set aside for sampling potable (drinking) water,” said IRWD Senior Scientist John Hayes.

Each sampling site chosen represents a portion of the IRWD service area, with accessibility and safety to the field crews in mind. Sampling cans are all painted the same color of light brown with a slight difference – potable water samplings cans have blue decals, while recycled water sampling cans have purple decals. Each can contains a lock that may only be opened by a member of the monitoring team.

Water from IRWD drinking water tank reservoirs and all of the IRWD drinking water wells are also sampled and tested weekly.

Non-Drinking Water Monitoring

 In addition to potable water, samples are collected from the San Joaquin Marsh and 11 other Natural Treatment System sites, from Irvine Lake, recycled water reservoirs, and both of the District’s water recycling plants, as well as 26 recycled water distribution system sample sites.

Once a week, monitoring crews take samples from Irvine Lake, which is the source of raw water used primarily for crop irrigation in the IRWD service area.  Water in Irvine Lake comes from Lake Matthews in Riverside County. Fine-meshed nets are used to monitor quagga mussel larvae. Quagga Mussels are an invasive species, which multiply at a rapid rate and can clog water delivery pipes. In addition, the lake is monitored for dissolved metals at different depths.

 Protecting the Environment

The Water Quality Monitoring Team also plays a key role in IRWD environmental stewardship, with five members of the team overseeing certain responsibilities:

• Industrial waste – the IRWD service area has many industrial-related businesses. IRWD conducts pre-treatment inspections of businesses to ensure no industrial waste is dumped into the sewer system, which could cause upsets in the District’s two wastewater treatment plants.
• Underground storage tank program – IRWD has tanks that provide diesel and gasoline to operate the District’s extensive fleet. These tanks are inspected weekly to ensure there are no leaks.
• Above ground storage tanks containing petroleum-related chemicals at various sites are inventoried once a year and inspected once a week for leaks.
• Hazardous waste program – used motor oil and filters, anti-freeze and paint are stored until they are properly disposed of. The county conducts an annual inspection of the storage site.
• Universal waste – light tubes, circuit boards and batteries and any other “e-waste” is collected and properly disposed of.

More information about water quality is available at our website.