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The
energy challenge facing California is real.
Every Californian needs to take immediate action
to reduce energy consumption
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For
a list of simple ways to reduce demand and cut
your energy costs, see the tips at: http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/news/echallenge.html
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Board Members Reappointed
Chairman John Slezak and Vice Chair Charlotte Craven were reappointed to the Regional Board by Governor Wilson in mid-November. They are now pending confirmation by the State Senate. Board member Beth Rogers has left the Board having not been confirmed by the State Senate within one year of her appointment. During her tenure with the Board, Ms. Rogers actively participated in the Board's Cost Benefit Committee (Note: the ongoing activity of the Monitoring Working Group is a direct outgrowth of the issues reviewed by the Cost Benefit Committee).
Visit by Legislative Analyst
The Office of Legislative Analyst is conducting a review of several Regional Boards to determine how they have made use of the additional funding provided by the Legislature for enforcement activities, beginning in FY 97-98. The legislative analyst visited the Regional Board and was provided with a briefing on ongoing enforcement activities and challenges facing the Regional Board.
Staff Agreement with California Energy Commission Regarding Energy Facilities Site Certification
On October 6, 1998, the Executive Officer signed a staff agreement between the staffs of the Energy Commission, the Regional Board, and the State Board. The purpose of the agreement is to ensure timely coordination and communication between the staff's during the Energy Commission's review of applications for certification of new energy facilities. As part of that process, the Energy Commission staff has agreed to include any applicable waste discharge requirements as a condition of the Energy Commission Certification of a facility. The staff agreement provides for identification of staff contacts, notification of regulatory activities, and commitments to the timely exchange of information and review of projects. Commission staff also have agreed to notify the Regional Board of any noncompliance with conditions of certification that affect water quality.
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SURFACE WATER DIVISION |
A. SURFACE WATER UPDATES
Chloride Policy
In January 1997, the Regional Board adopted a Chloride Policy (Resolution No. 97-02: Amendment to the California Regional Water Quality Control Plan for the Los Angeles Region, to incorporate a Policy for Addressing Levels of Chloride in Discharges of Wastewaters). This policy, in part, directs staff to work with concerned parties to consider revision of chloride objectives and/or wasteload allocations to ensure that all beneficial uses are adequately protected chloride. In late 1997 and early 1998, Regional Board staff led workshops to consider chloride standards needed for the protection of irrigation waters, and identified significant sources of chloride. Concerned parties now need to work together to quantify chloride loads from significant sources. Toward this end, staff will lead a workshop on:
Wednesday, January 13, 1999 @ 10:30
County of Ventura Administration Bldg.
3rd Floor Multi-purpose Room
800 South Victoria Blvd, Ventura
An agenda for this workshop was mailed out in early December. Please call Elizabeth Erickson at (323) 266-7609 with any questions or comments.
List of Impaired Waterbodies (303d List)
In April 1998, the Regional Board approved a revised list of impaired waterbodies (the 303(d) List) which included, among many other waterbodies, the listing of Reaches 7 and 8 of the Santa Clara River for chloride concentrations in excess of the chloride objective for these waters. In June 1998, after reviewing the nine Regional Boards' 303(d) submittals, the State Board adopted a State list with several changes to the Regional Boards' lists. One of the changes was the deletion of the chloride listings for Reaches 7 and 8 of the Santa Clara River, based on the rationale that the objective was too stringent and that an ongoing study is underway to determine the appropriateness of the objective. In a letter dated November 3, 1998, US EPA disapproved the State Board action deleting the chloride impairment listings for Reaches 7 and 8 of the Santa Clara River, stating that the State Board's decision was "... inconsistent with the regulatory requirement to apply applicable standards in the listing process." Therefore, the approved 1998 303(d) List of impaired waterbodies will include the listing of these two reaches for chloride impairment.
ACLs Issued to Las Virgenes Municipal Water District
During a portion of September and October, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District's Tapia Water Reclamation facility discharged treated wastewater to Malibu Creek in violation of the Board's NPDES permit (OrdersNo. 97-135 and No. 98-030) imposing a prohibition on the discharge of effluent to Malibu Creek during certain periods of the year. In response, the Regional Board's Executive Officer issued two separate complaints for administrative penalties. On October 8, 1998, ACL No. 98-079 was issued in the amount of $70,000 covering discharges that occurred during the month of September. On November 25, 1998, ACL No. 98-091 was issued in the amount of $117,000 for discharges that occurred during the month of October. The hearings for both ACLs will be consolidated and are scheduled for Board consideration at the December meeting.
State Board Remands The Tapia Permit
Background
In November 1997, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) reissued waste discharge requirements and NPDES permit (Order No. 97-135) to Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (Las Virgenes) for discharges from the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility (Tapia). The Tapia facility discharges disinfected tertiary treated municipal wastewater to Malibu Creek. In December 1997, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) received two petitions for review of the permit -- one from Las Virgenes and the other from Heal the Bay, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Santa Monica BayKeeper, and Dr. Jeff Harris (collectively environmental groups).
In the November 1997 permit, the Regional Board prohibits discharge from Tapia to Malibu Creek from May 1st to November 1st of each calendar year. The Regional Board also established effluent limits for nutrients -- nitrates at 10 mg/L daily maximum based on the Basin Plan drinking water standard, and phosphates at 3 mg/L monthly average and 6 mg/L daily maximum based on plant performance for the past five years. Furthermore, the permit included a receiving water narrative limit that the discharge shall not cause biostimulatory substances to be present in receiving waters at concentrations that promote aquatic growth to the extent that such growth causes nuisance or adversely affects beneficial uses. The Regional Board recognized that the nutrient limits are not protective of aquatic life in the creek and lagoon and other beneficial uses of the receiving waters. However, the Regional Board also recognized that there are several ongoing studies addressing the appropriate nutrient levels. Thus, the Regional Board had a finding in the permit, that the permit will be revisited in the year 2000 to establish appropriate nutrient limits.
In April 1998, the Regional Board amended Order No. 97-135 with Order No. 98-030. The amendment modified the discharge prohibition to start from either May 1st or the first natural closure of the Malibu Lagoon, whichever is later; and ends on October 31 of each calendar year. It also exempts from the prohibition discharges to augment streamflow in the creek when minimal streamflow condition exists. Furthermore, the amendment requires Las Virgenes to apply for an incidental take permit pursuant to the Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(B). Subsequent to the amendment of the permit, the appeals to the State Board were revised to address the provisions of the amendment.
Las Virgenes sought relief from the discharge prohibition, the phosphates limits, and the incidental take application requirement. The environmental groups requested reinstatement of the fixed discharge prohibition and more stringent nutrient limits.
State Board Action
After review of the appeals, on November 19, 1998, the State Board adopted an order remanding the permit to the Regional Board for revision consistent with the State Board findings and conclusions, which are summarized below:
1.The discharge prohibition starting from the natural closure of the lagoon (flexible) is appropriate as far as Tapia's contribution to flooding of the lagoon is concerned. However, the Regional Board must also consider whether the flexible natural closure prohibition -- as opposed to a fixed dry season flow prohibition -- is an adequate step to address public health problems associated with an open lagoon.
2.The Regional Board must include meaningful nutrient effluent limits in the permit to ensure that Tapia is not contributing to violations of the narrative nutrient (biostimulatory substances) objective during the dry season. Such limits shall either include maximum nitrate and phosphate effluent concentration limits for discharges occurring in the dry season or a fixed discharge prohibition from May 1 to October 31. The Regional Board may consider a longer prohibition or year-round nutrient limits based upon evidence received during its proceedings. Any additional limits may be accompanied by an appropriate time schedule for compliance.
3.The Regional Board exceeded its authority in requiring Las Virgenes to apply for an incidental take permit, so the requirement must be deleted from the permit.
4.If the National Marine Fisheries Service determines that maintenance of minimum flows is necessary, and if Las Virgenes is required to make discharges to achieve these flows, the Regional Board must consider the impact of any such requirement on the discharge prohibition and nutrient limits.
Mitigated Negative Declaration
As one of the measures to comply with the dry season discharge prohibition to Malibu Creek, Las Virgenes has applied for an NPDES permit to discharge to the Los Angeles River. To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, Las Virgenes is preparing a mitigated negative declaration. According to Las Virgenes, the negative declaration will be released for a 30-day public comment period on or before the end of November 1998, and is scheduled for consideration by the Las Virgenes Board on January 12, 1999.
City of Los Angeles Goes Full Secondary
By December 31, 1998, the City will reach another milestone in wastewater treatment at its Hyperion Treatment Plant -- the plant will be operating at full secondary in compliance with the terms of the Amended Consent Decree entered into in February 1987 by the City, the State of California (on behalf of this Regional Board), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The first milestone that the City reached under the consent decree was in November 1987 when the City ceased discharge of sludge into the ocean one month ahead of the due date -- December 31, 1987.
The Amended Consent Decree has been the result of a negotiated settlement of a complaint filed by the USEPA against the City in the seventies, for which the State of California was subsequently made a party to the action by order of the Court. The complaint alleged the City to have violated the terms and conditions of its NPDES permit and waste discharge requirements (collectively permit) by not eliminating the discharge of sewage sludge into the ocean and not providing full secondary treatment to its effluent discharge to the ocean according to the schedules provided in the permit.
Since 1987, the City has been upgrading the existing and/or constructing new facilities to meet the full secondary treatment requirement. The City has spent about $820 million for the upgrades and new facilities. When completed, Hyperion's secondary treatment system would consist of nine modules with a nominal capacity of 50 million gallons per day (mgd) for each module or a total of 450 mgd. Four modules were completed and have been in operation since December 1995.
During the November 3, 1998, semiannual report court hearing, the City reported that only three additional modules (out of the remaining five modules) will be operational by December 1998. Construction of the remaining two modules would be completed by January 1999. However, the City has indicated that even with only seven modules operating (representing 350 mgd nominal capacity), the City will still be able to achieve full secondary treatment by December 31, 1998. (Reportedly, flow to Hyperion for the past 12 months averaged about 370 mgd.) This is because the City was able to equip the secondary clarifiers (the limiting equipment in the system) with energy dissipating inlets (EDI) that enable the circular clarifiers to operate at greatly increased capacity (as much as twice the nominal capacity) while maintaining effluent quality. Full secondary start-up commenced during the last week of November 1998.
Storm Water Industrial Activities General Permit
- Los Angeles County
Annual reports of self-monitoring from 2,422 industrial facilities in Los Angeles County were due July 1, 1998. As of November 15, 1998, staff had received annual reports for 2,167 facilities (90% of all permitees, which is up from 80% as of August 1998). This compliance rate is the highest since the inception of the program about five years ago; improvements are due to continual outreach efforts and informal (level 1) enforcement letters. During November, staff worked with many of these non-compliant permittees, 26 of which have now been brought into compliance. Of the remaining 176 non-compliant permittees, 22 are no longer at addresses listed in our files, and cannot be located. By early December, additional enforcement action will be pursued against those permittees who continue to fail to comply with annual reporting requirements.
One of the requirements of the General Permit is to sample storm water runoff during two storm events each wet season. Based on annual reports received as of November 1, 1998, an estimated 1,000 permittees failed to comply with this sampling requirement during last year's wet season. Staff will be initiating enforcement action against these permittees in early December.
Malibu Package Plants
Waste Discharge Requirements for the Trancas Water Pollution Control Plant, which is operated by the County of Los Angeles, are in the process of being revised. Wendy Phillips and Ahmad Lamaa led a workshop, on Thursday evening, November 5th, for homeowners in the Trancas wastewater service area and other interested parties. Major points of discussion included the need for repairs and upgrade. No interest was expressed by homeowners or the County in restoring the degraded Trancas wetlands, which are immediately downstream of the Plant.
Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting for Lindane Reduction Project
On October 26, 1998, Regional Board staff attended the TAC meeting for lindane reduction. The TAC was established by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (County San.) for lindane reduction efforts for publicly owned treatment works (POTW). Lindane is problematic because lindane in effluent for many POTWs exceeds US EPA water quality standards. The TAC is investigating measures to reduce lindane in effluent. At this point, the main source of lindane appears to be from formulations purchased off the shelf and administered in homes for head lice. The meeting was attended by County Sanitation staff as well as representatives from the City of Los Angeles, USEPA, and the National Pediculosis Association. A pilot project for source control and reduction efforts is being planned for one of the County San. plants with a small service area.
Monitoring Working Group - Surface Waters/Stormwater Subcommittee Meeting
On October 26, 1998, Regional Board staff attended the Surface Water/Stormwater Subcommittee meeting. This subcommittee is one of three working subcommittees of the Regional Board's Monitoring Program Workgroup (MPW). The MPW was established to investigate measures to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of monitoring programs established by the Regional Board for waste dischargers. The MPW is expected to prioritize problems of monitoring programs and recommend solutions to the Regional Board for improving monitoring programs. Members of subcommittees include representatives from environmental groups, industry, and waste dischargers. The other two subcommittees address groundwater and electronic data base concerns.
Streambank Stabilization
Alex Fu, Sanitary Engineering Associate, participated in a Cover/Mulching and Streambank Stabilization Workshop, sponsored by the Ventura County Resource Conservation District on October 15, 1998. Staff from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Fish and Game, and US Fish and Wildlife Service made presentations regarding federal and state rules and regulations for streambed alteration, bank stabilization, and necessary mitigation measures for impacts to waterbody or riparian habitat. Alex Fu provided information on the Section 401 Water Quality Certification Program, and responded to questions and comments from growers, land owners, developers, and consultants.
Fifth Annual California Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup
Alex Fu, Sanitary Engineering Associate, and Deborah Smith, Assistant Executive Officer, attended a Bioassessment Workshop in Sacramento. This is an annual workshop at which the Department of Fish and Game, the State and Regional Boards, the US EPA, and others share information on implementing bioassessment programs across the State. The first day consisted of formal presentations addressing the theme "Analysis and Use of Bioassessment Data." In addition, Deborah Smith discussed opportunities to initiate a program in the Los Angeles Region, and other speakers presented research data involving aquatic Bioassessment projects in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. The following two days included technical sessions on macro-invertebrate sampling, education, volunteer monitoring, and computer database formatting.
New Appointment
Jon Bishop, Senior Water Resources Control Engineer, has been appointed as Chief of the Regional Board's new TMDL Unit. Jon has strong leadership, technical, and outreach skills, as demonstrated in his management of portions of the Superfund site in the San Gabriel Valley. Most recently, Jon led efforts here in R4 (and also statewide) to implement a sophisticated new database management system, that will be instrumental in implementing our watershed management initiative.
A TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) represents the assimilative capacity of a waterbody for a pollutant. We believe that beneficial uses will be more effectively protected by using TMDLs as tools to allocate wasteloads among point and nonpoint sources discharges--as such, we envision that TMDLs will become the analytical backbone of our watershed management initiative.
Regional Board Staff Erosion and Sediment Control Workshop
On November 9, 1998, Hossain Kazemi, Environmental Specialist IV with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board - San Francisco Region, conducted a training workshop for Los Angeles Regional Board staff. The purpose of the workshop was to expose staff to methods typically found on construction sites for erosion and sediment control and to discuss compliance and enforcement issues relating to non-compliance with the State of California General Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity (Permit). To complete the workshop, the procedures involved in conducting construction site inspections were also discussed in detail. The workshop consisted of slide and video presentations of different types and sizes of construction sites, applicable erosion controls, and the distribution of an erosion control handbook. Erosion and sediment control success stories as well as failures of erosion and sediment controls leading to enforcement in the San Francisco Region were also discussed.
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GROUNDWATER DIVISION |
B. GROUNDWATER UPDATES
Charnock Sub-basin Investigation Area
The activities within the Charnock Sub-basin Investigation Area have entered Phase II Enforcement activities. The PRPs selected a single group Shell / Chevron /Exxon Group) to negotiate with the Agencies on October 2, 1998. The PRP group responded to the Agencies on November 20, 1998, with a redline version of the Draft Consent Decree and Scope of Work provided to all PRP's on July 20, 1998. At this time, meetings are being held between the agencies, the impacted parties (City of Santa Monica and Southern California Water Company), and representatives from the PRP Group in order to provide an Agency response to the PRP Group by mid-December. Based upon the current schedule, the final date for PRP's to sign the Consent Decree is January 20, 1998.
Additional activities by Regional Board staff are focused on reviewing subsurface investigation reports, notifying PRP's that require additional soil and/or groundwater assessment, overseeing remedial site assessment investigation work, and implementing soil and groundwater cleanup plans where needed. Extensive soil gas and soil sampling work is currently being implemented to complete assessment activities along the Equilon Pipeline (formerly Shell Oil Company). A workplan to complete similar soil gas and soil sampling assessment work along the Chevron Pipeline is under review.
Arcadia Wellfield
Regional Board staff are completing the review and evaluation of the Groundwater Flow and Transport Model (Model) for the Arcadia Wellfield, the Phase 2C Final Hydrogoelogic Assessment Report, and results of the GTE phone vault investigation. The Model will be used to evaluate potential MTBE migration pathways from the former Service Station site which include; a utility vault, a subterranean parking garage, leakage through and/or absence of the shallow first aquitard separating the perched zone from the production zone.
The Treatment Feasibility Study and Remedial Action Plan for the production zone aquifer was approved for implementation on August 21, 1998. The method chosen for treatment of contaminated groundwater will be liquid-phase granular activated carbon (GAC). Groundwater will be pumped from the two existing production wells (Arcadia Wells No. 4 and 5) at a rate of approximately 400 gallons per minute. Extensive pilot testing of the GAC treatment system will be conducted in order to obtain a SDHS Permit to add the treated water to the domestic supply. A Design Plan for the groundwater treatment system is due by mid-December 1998. According to the approved implementation schedule the production zone aquifer recovery and treatment system shall be constructed and commence groundwater cleanup operations by January 31, 1999. Between February and June 1999, full scale demonstration testing and engineering evaluations of the treatment system will be conducted in order to obtain a SDHS Permit to add the treated water into the domestic supply. During the demonstration study treated groundwater will be discharged to the storm drain under a General NPDES Permit.
Jefferson New Middle School - Los Angeles
On November 5, 1998, Board staff attended the second in a series of hearings conducted by Senator Tom Hayden concerning the Jefferson New Middle School. At this hearing Board staff presented the actions taken by the Regional Board at the school since the previous hearing on September 23, 1998, and also provided recommendations for planned soil and ground water investigations at proposed new elementary and high schools in the City of South Gate. Staff previously had approved a proposal by the school district's consultant which provided for long-term safety of school attendees by the safe completion of ongoing remedial work regarding soil and ground water contamination at the school.
The technical work elements of each phase of the remedial work are designed to address all concerns raised by the school district and all agencies having directives and orders for this site. Remedial work is proposed to be conducted on weekends and holidays in November and December when students and faculty are not at school. Any work remaining after December will be conducted on weekends and during evenings after school is out of session.
Suva School - Bell Gardens
On November 23, 1998, staff attended a meeting at the DTSC office in Glendale and discussed the results of investigations concerning air, soil and drinking water at the Suva elementary and intermediate schools and future activities at this site. Analyses of samples of drinking water taken from three locations at the school indicated that hexavalent chromium and the 17 California Assessment Manual metals were either not detected or, if detected, were at concentrations below California and federal drinking water standards. hexavalent chromium was either not found or found in very low concentrations in most of the soil samples collected on the school grounds. DTSC is conducting further investigations in two areas where higher concentrations of hexavalent chromium were found. The results of surface soil sampling at facilities adjacent to Suva school indicate that those areas have been contaminated with hexavalent chromium and other metals. One facility was directed by Regional Board staff to conduct a site-specific human health risk assessment to be reviewed by DTSC to assure the health and safety of the people currently working at that facility. Regional Board staff will attend a public meeting to be held by DTSC on Thursday, December 3, 1998, at 5:30 p.m. at Bell Gardens High School.
Underground Storage Tank Working Group
The fifth regular meeting of the Underground Storage Tank Program Working Group was held on December 2, 1998. The focus of this meeting was risk assessment for UST cleanup actions. Discussion and presentation topics included "How Risk Assessment Answers Critical Questions Regarding Site Management" by Denise Clendening Ph.D. and an overview of MTBE Toxicity by Teri Copeland.
Landowner Notification-Assembly Bill 681 (Machado) Implementation
On August 3, 1998, Governor Pete Wilson signed Assembly Bill 681 (Machado), which makes changes affecting state and local agency corrective action oversight. The bill requires the state or local agency to inform the primary or active responsible parties of the duty to provide a complete mailing list of all record fee title. The primary or active responsible parties must certify in writing that this has been done prior to considering a Site Closure Proposal, Issue a Closure Letter, or make a No Further Action Determination. The local agency, Regional Board, or State Board must notify all current record owners of fee title, prior to taking the actions identified above. In addition, the agency must provide notification to all current fee title holders prior to considering corrective action proposed by the primary or active responsible party. Under Title 23, Division 3, Chapter 16, Article 11, Section 2722, corrective action includes one or more of the following activities: preliminary site assessment, soil and groundwater investigation, corrective action plan (remediation or mitigation activities) implementation, and verification monitoring.
This legislation affects the UST, SLIC, and WIP Programs at the Regional Board. In the short term, this legislation will result in only slight delays in closing some low risk fuel cases where the site owner is different than the tank owner/operator.
Mobil Oil Company Service Station No. 18FG9, Sherman Oaks
Mobil Oil Company (Mobil) operates a service station at 13272 Moorpark Avenue in Sherman Oaks. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) received a permit application from Mobil to operate a catalytic incinerator system as part of a soil vapor extraction (SVE) system to cleanup residual soil and groundwater pollution at the service station site. St. Francis de Sales and Dixie Canyon Elementry schools are located approximately 1/4 mile from the Mobil Oil Service Station. The SCAQMD Permit process requires that residents and the schools be notified of the proposed permit and receive comments from the community on the proposed plan prior to permit approval. Many residents and representatives of the neighboring community is concerned with the potential health and safety risks associated with operation and emissions from the proposed treatment system.
On November 5, 1998, an initial neighborhood meeting was held at St. Francis de Sales School in Sherman Oaks to provide information to residents of the area regarding the proposed cleanup plan. Regional Board staff presented an overview of site assessment and cleanup actions implemented by Mobil at the site and the SCAQMD presented information on the air modeling and potential health risks associated with operation and emissions from the vapor extraction treatment system.
On November 18, 1998, a followup meeting was held at the school to address public concern. Regional Board staff, SCAQMD, Mobil, and their consultants attended the meeting. Parents of the school children organized the meeting. The public, including children from the school, came forward with their concerns about operation of the SVE system. As a result of information obtained from the community Mobil has requested that SCAQMD hold their permit application in abeyance until public concerns are addressed, until additional investigation is conducted at the service station, and until additional cleanup options are evaluated (i.e., passive bioremediation versus active SVE cleanup). A workplan is due to the Regional Board by December 18, 1998 for completing a soil gas survey and the installation of additional groundwater monitoring well(s). A 30day review period for the workplan has been arranged in order to receive comments from the community group. A complete copy of the Regional Boards file for the Mobil site has been sent to St. Francis de Sales school, as the school has been identified as a repository for all information related to the site. The results from the soil gas survey and the additional groundwater monitoring wells will be used to determine alternatives for site management.
Appointment of Regional Board Staff Member as Associate Editor for the Journal of Soil Contamination
Regional Board staff, Yue Rong, Ph.D., was recently appointed as an Associate Editor for Journal of Soil Contamination, which is a peerreviewed professional journal. The journal is a quality publication of the Association of Environmental Health for Soils (AEHS), and has been in national and international circulation. The responsibility of the Associate Editor is to decide the acceptance of manuscripts submitted for publication based on peerreviewers' recommendation. Dr. Rong is the chief of L.A. Coastal unit, Underground Storage Tank Section at the Regional Board. And in recent years, he has been publishing a number of papers in his professional field on contaminant fate and transport, MTBE, and environmental data analysis.
Update on UST Upgrade Compliance
City of Los Angeles Fire Department has issued 606 upgrade certificates so far, this represents only 1/3 of the UST sites within their jurisdiction. There definitely will be sites that will not be able to obtain the upgrade certificates by the due date since there may not be enough tanks available for replacement. However, at this time, the City won't be able to estimate the number of non-compliance.
County of Los Angeles has issued around 800 certificates so far, also represents about 1/3 of their total UST sites. Out of 2800 questionnaire's, only half were returned and around 700 sites are still working on obtaining their upgrade certificates.
City of Vernon has issued 23 certificates so far, representing about 65% of their sites. Its
expected 90% of their sites will be in compliance by the due date.
Completion of Corrective Action at Leaking Underground Fuel Storage Tank Sites
Board staff have reviewed corrective actions taken for soil and groundwater contamination problems from leaking UST's for the time of October 10, 1998 through November 20, 1998, and determined that no further corrective actions are required:
BMW of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills (I-13107)
City of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills (I-12018)
Former Exxon Service Station No. 7-3698, Los Angeles (I-00035)
Former Unocal Service Station No. 5091, Santa Fe Springs (I-05566)
Jersey Gold Dairy, Cerritos (I-15697)
Los Angeles City DWP, Van Nuys (914050234)
Mobil Service Station No. 17-FID, Los Angeles (900240107)
Pacific Container Terminal, Long Beach (908020189)
Texaco Service Station, Norwalk (I-06367)
United States Postal Service, Los Angeles Bulk Mail Center, Bell (I-12243)
Unocal Service Station No. 5350, Whittier (I-05973)
Unocal Service Station No. 5842, Los Angeles (I-06474)
Unocal Service Station (Evangeline site), Los Angeles (900170161)
C. COASTAL WATERS/ WATERSHEDS UPDATES
Coastal Waters Presentations
Catherine Tyrrell, Coastal Waters Program Director made two presentations in late October and early November. The first presentation to the California Shore and Beach Preservation Association was on the subject of the "Regional Water Quality Control Board and Beach Water Quality". The second presentation was at the Second Environmental Conference the Greening of Southern California Strategies for the 21st Century. The subject of this presentation was "Future Issues Facing Water Quality Managers in Southern California".
Calleguas Creek Watershed
The Water Quality/Water Resources Subcommittee meeting originally scheduled for October 2 was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. The Subcommittee is currently in the process of drafting a Water Resources/Water Quality Chapter in the Calleguas Creek Watershed Management Plan. Subcommittee members have developed a list of their goals and objectives for water quality and water resources and are working to clarify participants' goals and objectives, identify possible solutions to problems, pinpoint concrete actions which will be taken to address the problems, filter out long-term from short-term goals, and reach agreement on what issues to deal with first. Seven primary goals have been identified including achieving 1) an adequate supply of water, 2) groundwater overdraft protection, 3) water quality protection, 4) maintaining aging infrastructure, 5) protection of natural habitat, 6) protection of lands from floods and erosion, and 7) regulatory streamlining. Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and concerns over use of household water softeners and their contributions of chlorides to treatment plants are two early action items that have been identified.
The Public Education/Outreach Subcommittee has completed the first edition of a newsletter to cover watershed issues and events. It will eventually have its own website with links to other web pages.
The Habitat/Recreation Subcommittee last met on October 28 and continues work on a wetlands study which includes a habitat mapping component.
The full Management committee met on November 4. The watershed effort will be receiving $200,000 in grant funding from Congress. Information on the Calleguas Creek Pollutant Load Investigation, funded by the 205(j) grant program, was presented. The committee has begun planning for a State of the Watershed conference to be held in early 1999. Information about the management committee and its subcommittees can be found at <www.calleguas.com>.
The Surface Water Element of the Calleguas Creek Characterization Study Monitoring Program continues. Samples are collected on the first Wednesday of each month.
Los Angeles River Watershed
The October meeting of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council was cancelled in favor of a water policy conference scheduled for October 21 and 22. A Water Quality Beneficial Uses Committee has been newly formed and used the first meeting to review the laws and regulations that apply to the listing and de-listing of beneficial uses. The Friends of the LA River now has a Los Angeles River e-mail discussion forum. To subscribe, e-mail to "la-river-discuss-subscribe@makelist.com". The Council will next meet on November 18.
Santa Monica Bay Watershed
The Modeling and Monitoring Subcommittee of the Malibu Creek Watershed Advisory Council is developing a watershed-wide monitoring program for the Malibu Creek Watershed. The group met on September 24, October 16, and again on November 23; a monitoring program is close to being finalized.
Meetings of the Malibu Creek Watershed Council and Malibu Lagoon Task Force were held on October 20.
A watershed committee has recently formed in the Topanga Creek Watershed. The first meeting of this group was held on July 27; subsequent meetings were held on August 31, September 29, and October 26. A major goal will be to prioritize potential actions previously identified in a draft Topanga Creek Watershed Management Study and start a coordinated resource management planning (CRMP) process. A longer-term goal is preparation of a watershed management plan that will help address a number of issues including flood control in the canyon. The committee's next meeting will consist of a watershed tour on December 1.
The committee's website address is <www.TopangaOnline.com/twc/>.
Other Santa Monica Bay Watershed activities are covered under the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project item.
Watershed Management Initiative Chapter
Each Regional Board has completed the process of producing a "chapter" on how that Board is implementing watershed management in the Region. The consolidated statewide chapter will become the basis for funding decisions including allocating money for monitoring, TMDL development, and grant monies disbursement. Copies of this Region's chapter may be obtained by contacting the Regional Board office, Regional Programs Section secretary. The next update of this Chapter is scheduled for March 1999.
USEPA Region 9 Nutrient Criteria Development Team Meeting
On November 9 and 10, Regional Board staff attended the first meeting of the USEPA Region 9 Nutrient Criteria Development Team held at the Region's office in San Francisco. The team was formed in response to a portion of the President's Clean Water Action Plan which mandates USEPA establish numeric nutrient criteria by 2000. The states will be required to develop numeric criteria by 2003 where data is available. USEPA is producing user manuals that are waterbody-type specific in order to aid in criteria development; it is anticipated these criteria will be ecoregional-specific by waterbody-type.
The California Unified Watershed Assessment
The final version of the California Unified Watershed Assessment (UWA) was released by the State Water Resources Control Board on October 1, 1998. This assessment was prepared jointly by the State Board and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) in accordance with the President's Clean Water Action Plan (CWAP) released on February 19, 1998. The two agencies utilized the expertise of a diverse working group in developing the assessment. Preparation of the UWA is the first step in a multi-year effort to address critical water resource issues in California. A summary document and map of the Priority Category I Watersheds are attached as Attachment A of this report. In addition, the CWAP is available for viewing on the Internet at <http://www.cleanwater.gov/>. The final UWA for California is available for viewing at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/cwap.html>.
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OUTREACH ACTIVITIES |
D. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
Regional Board staff Dr. Yue Rong presented a report entitled "Groundwater Data Analysis for MTBE in Los Angeles County and Ventura County," to the Environmental Engineering Division at the University of Southern California. The report provides an initial study on MTBE plume length in groundwater at 90 sites where high MTBE concentrations have been detected (>10,000 ug/L) and a characteristic shape of an idealized plume pattern was observed, based on groundwater monitoring data. The report investigated MTBE plume length and concentration changes over the distance of the plume length and over a period of monitoring time. The data indicate that MTBE concentrations decrease over the plume distance and increases over time at the downgradient wells. Findings in this report support our understanding that MTBE transport primarily depends upon its chemical properties, not upon other environmental factors.
Executive Officer Dennis Dickerson participated in two outreach efforts this past month speaking before the Southern California Waste Management Forum's Annual Conference on stormwater regulatory implementation issues and also at the EMAT conference in Long Beach on multi-media environmental programs.
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ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES |
E. ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATE
1998 California Legislative Summary
The 1998 California Legislation Summary is now available from the Regional Board or on the State Water Resources Control Board web site at www.swrcb.ca.gov/html/publictns.html. This document is provided by the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. It summarizes Assembly Bills and Senate Bills related to the following topics: Aboveground and Underground Tanks, Administration/ Budget/ Reorganization, Hazardous and Solid Waste/ Surface Impoundments/ Toxics, Recycled Water, Water Quality/ California Environmental Quality Act, Water Rights, Water Supply/ Groundwater, and Wetlands/ Fish & Wildlife. A survey page is included in the summary for your comments on the publication and constructive suggestions for its improvement.
Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act Requests for the Month of October 1998.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Public Record Act (PRA) requests to review or copy public documents are a very important part of the work at the Regional Board. The FOIA and PRA cover most of the documents at the Regional Board. The State legislature adopted statutory language requiring that these requests be tracked by the Regional Boards. The FOIA and PRA require agencies to provide a response on the availability of the requested document within 10 working days (FOIA) or 10 calendar days (PRA) of receiving the request. The Regional Board has a procedure and a database to track these requests.
During the month of October 1998, 18 FOIA / PRA requests were received and processed. In all cases but one, a response was provided within the mandated time frame. The one exception resulted from confusion over the file being requested which was resolved, and a response was provided by Board Staff.
Office Visitors
In October, we received 689 visitors in our office and in November, we received 447 visitors for a total of 6,179 thus far in 1998. In 1997, a total of 6,027 people visited our office.
Summary of Enforcement Actions October, 1998
Formal Enforcement Actions
Cleanup and Abatement Order...................................................................................... ...1
Administrative Civil Liability............................................................................................. ..3
Administrative Enforcement Actions
Effluent violations..................................................................................... .................. ....1
Unpermitted facilities........................................................................................... ..............2
Sewage spills......................................................................................... ........................2
Administrative Enforcement Actions for Overdue / Incomplete Reports
Discharger monitoring reports........................................................................................ ...1
Groundwater monitoring reports..................................................................................... ...3
Other technical reports................................................................................................... ...5
Site assessment plans................................................................................................... ...6
Site assessment reports.............................................................................................. ....15
Site remedial action plans............................................................................................... ...1
Administrative Enforcement Actions for Stormwater Permits
Failed to submit Notice of Intent for coverage under the General Construction Permit ..1
Failed to submit annual report for 1997-98....................................................... ..............1
Total Enforcement Actions for October.................................................... ............ ....43
Spills Reported During October 1998
All Reported Spills
Chemical.......................................................................... ..10
Crude oil............................................................................. ..3
Diesel.............................................................................. ...11
Gasoline........................................................................... ..11
Miscellaneous petroleum products..................................... .8
Oil...................................................................................... ..9
Other.................................................................................. ..8
Sewage.............................................................................. ..9
Waste water....................................................................... ..6
Vapors.............................................................................. ..16
Total.................................................................... ....91
Spills Which Entered Waterways or Waters
Chemical............................................................................. .2
Crude oil............................................................................. .. 2
Diesel.................................................................................. .7
Gasoline.............................................................................. .3
Miscellaneous petroleum products...................................... ....5
Oil........................................................................................ .3
Other................................................................................... .1
Sewage................................................................................ 6
Waste water........................................................................ .3
Total.................................................................... ....32