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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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"Achieving Success in the TMDL Program" Conference to be held September 29th
The
Regional Board, City of Los Angeles Department of
Public Works, and University of Southern California
are sponsoring a one-day conference entitled "Achieving
Success in the TMDL Program". The conference
is intended to help stakeholders understand the
many aspects of the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load)
process including the legal and regulatory framework,
perspectives and challenges, and tools to effectively
implement pollutant load reductions. The conference
will be held at USC, Davidson Executive Conference
Center.
There is a registration fee of $30.00 (lunch included).
For
additional information, please contact Ms. Chris
Harris, Harris & Company
at 213/749-3386 or Renee DeShazo, RWQCB at 213/576-6783.
A. TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS (TMDLs)
International Visitor
The Regional Board was visited by Mr. Hung -Teh Tsai, a Senior Specialist at the Environmental Protection Administration in Taiwan. With 21 million people on 36,000 km2, most of Taiwan's 126 rivers are urban rivers and the Taiwan region is experiencing problems similar to ours, which is why the Environmental Protection Administration of the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has a program similar to our TMDL program. Mr. Tsai spent more than a week in the U.S. during which he researched information on the TMDL process at the Library of Congress and several government agencies around the country. Board staff Myriam Zech answered Mr. Tsai's questions on the TMDL process in the Los Angeles Region and on the TMDLs that are currently being developed at the Regional Board.
Malibu Septic System Study
Regional Board staff participated in a joint sampling effort initiated by the City of Malibu, on August 9, 1999. The next joint sampling effort will be conducted when Malibu Lagoon breaches its berm. In the meantime, Regional Board staff have initiated their own investigation and sample groundwater and surface water in the study area on a weekly basis in order to preserve continuity. Staff continues to issue 13267 letters, to be followed by Waste Discharge Requirements to all businesses and multiple unit dwellings in the study area.
Halaco Facility
Regional
Board staff conducted a soil and groundwater sampling
event at the
Halaco facility, located adjacent to coastal wetlands
in Ventura County, on August 19, 1999. The sampling
event will provide staff with data required to renew
the facilities by Waste Discharge Requirements.
DHS personnel provided radiological safety and sampling
support.
Sanitary Landfills Workshop
On July 28, 1999, at the request of Cal/EPA, Regional Board staff participated in a workshop entitled "First Information Exchange Workshop on Technical Standards Applicable to Sanitary Landfills" held at the Instituto Tecnologicode in Tijuana Mexico (ITT). Representatives from the State Board, other Regional Boards, the Integrated Waste Management Board, and the City of San Diego attended and the workshop was opened with a welcoming statement from Secretary Winston Hickox of Cal EPA. The workshop had been requested by ITT to provide public and private functionaries involved in the decision making process regarding handling and disposal of municipal wastes with a comprehensive overview of the technical, economic, and engineering principles applicable to sanitary landfills.
Geographic Information System (GIS) Update
In response to the Governor's Executive Order D-5-99, UST Section staff is continuing with their efforts to integrate the use of GIS into the case review, evaluation and closure process. To date, the core data, which includes updated production well locations, recharge areas and LUST sites, have been obtained for the San Fernando Valley and efforts will now focus on the San Gabriel Valley, and the Central and West Coast Basins. Current efforts involve obtaining the necessary spatial data from several state, county, and local agencies. To reach this goal, staff met with representatives from other local agencies to lay the groundwork for a regional GIS data exchange/user group.
Charnock Sub-basin MTBE Investigation Area
At present there are 25 active sites in the Charnock Sub-Basin. Of the 25 active sites, site assessment has been completed at 16 sites, whereas there are 9 sites where additional site assessment is either underway or planned to be performed in the near future. Groundwater monitoring is being performed at all the sites. Quarterly groundwater monitoring reports are received, reviewed, and commented upon within a short time. Three sites have submitted site remedial action plans. The remedial action plans for soil and groundwater cleanups have been approved. Two of the sites needed to pump-and-treat the groundwater and discharge it to the storm drain under an NPDES permit. The NPDES permits were approved by the Regional Board during the July 8, 1999 Board meeting. Soil remediation has begun at one of the sites. Soil and groundwater remediation will be initiated in the near future at the two other sites.
Staff performs a project status update telephone
conference with the interested parties and USEPA.
Staff also attends meetings and participates in
telephone conferences to discuss the pilot project
cleanup alternatives for the remediation of the
groundwater.
The Executive Officer and EPA had issued separate enforcement Orders to CONOCO on April 20, 1999. The CAO required CONOCO to perform site investigation in a tiered approach with on-site soil and groundwater investigation to be followed by off-site assessment and data interpretation of the subsurface lithology as warranted, and then necessary cleanup. Following the issuance of CAO, staff had a meeting with representatives of CONOCO on May 11, 1999. Tier One work has been initiated at the site under direction from the Regional Board and USEPA.
Arcadia Wellfield MTBE Investigation
The shallow aquifer in the vicinity of the former Mobil Station 18-LDM has been treated with a pump and treat system since October 1997. The treatment system is capable of pumping 35 gallon per minutes (GPM) of extracted groundwater water. Currently, approximately 5 to 6 GPM of groundwater are being pumped from 12 groundwater extraction wells. To date (7/28/99), the treatment system has pumped 5.1 million gallons of groundwater and removed an estimated amount of 48.2 pounds of TPH and 165.1 pounds of MTBE. The impacted soil in the vadose zone is being treated with a vapor extraction system (VES) which began in May 1999.
A Production Aquifer Remediation System (PARS) using activated carbon filtering to clean up the production aquifer has been designed and approved by this Regional Board. In a public hearing by City of Los Angeles Planning Department on August 12, 1999, the variance application for the installation of PARS has been approved. Construction is schedule to begin on September 7, 1999. A Remedial Action Plan to clean up the MTBE contamination in the lower aquifer has been approved on May 21, 1999. Mobil has completed the installation of three additional groundwater extraction wells south of the Brentwood fault.
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 May 14, 1999, through August 27, 1999, and determined that no further corrective actions are required:
Former
Auto Fueling Station, Los Angeles (900040070)
Beach City Chevrolet-Geo, Signal Hill (I-10859)
Thrifty Oil Company Service Station No. 260, Redondo
Beach (R-10950)
Former Hartley & Nixon Rentals Facility, Montebello
(I-15140)
ARCO Products Company Service Station No. 6006,
Santa Clarita (R-00629)
Former Larry's Service Station, Los Angeles (R-16351)
Chevron USA Products Company Service Station No.
9-7829, West Covina (I-09937)
ARCO Products Company Service Station No. 0073,
Culver City (R-07112)
ARCO Products Company Service Station No. 1048,
Pomona (12048)
City of La Verne Maintenance Facility, La Verne
(I-12905)
Tosco Marketing Company, Santa Clarita (I-03338)
ARCO Products Company Service Station No. 1993,
Azusa (R-11019)
Chevron UAS Products Company Service Station No.
9-3408, Whittier (I-09901)
Mobil Oil Company Service Station No. 18-E50, Whittier
(I-01034)
ABC Unified School District, Artesia (R-11981)
Former Long Beach Mazda, Long Beach (908060052)
Vine Auto Protech, Los Angeles (900380252)
Former Texaco Service Station, Norwalk (I-00305)
Former 76 Products Company Service Station No. 2731,
Altadena (R-24748)
Former Mobil Oil Company Service Station No. 18-MRC,
Lomita (I-05152)
Former Shell Oil Company Service Station No. 204-1098-0107,
Calabasas (I-05699)
Former USA Gasoline Corporation Service Station
No. 230, Whittier (R-03633)
ARCO Products Company Service Station No. 5107,
Lawndale (I-05550)
Tosco Marketing Company Service Station No. 5881,
Santa Clarita (I-06364)
E. COASTAL WATERS/
WATERSHEDS UPDATES
Calleguas Creek Watershed
The Water Quality/Water Resources Subcommittee met on August 6. Updates on TMDLs and strategies for reduction of nitrogen by POTWs were major topics of discussion. The Subcommittee is currently in the process of drafting a Water Resources/Water Quality Chapter in the Calleguas Creek Watershed Management Plan which has gone out for in-house agency review. Subcommittee members have developed a list of their goals and objectives for water quality and water resources. They 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 address first. 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 Flood Protection/Sedimentation Subcommittee last met on July 12. They are currently involved with discussions on conducting a hydrologic study of the watershed and the need for historic photographs to evaluate changes in sedimentation over time. The next meeting of this subcommittee will be held on September 13.
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 group is currently organizing a state of the watershed conference that will held at the new California State University Channel Islands campus. The subcommittee last met on August 13.
The Habitat/Recreation Subcommittee met on August 10 and continues work on a wetlands study which includes a habitat mapping component. The subcommittee will next meet on October 12.
The Steering Committee for the Watershed Management Plan last met on May 24 and continues work on its expectations/products for 1999. A draft Table of Contents for the Calleguas Creek Watershed Management Plan being developed has been prepared.
The full Management Committee met on May 24. Information about the management committee and its subcommittees can be found at http://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. A component of the program, funded by Clean Water Act 205(j) monies, is evaluating nonpoint source contributions and is in the data analysis stage.
Los Angeles River Watershed
The
Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council
meets on the third Wednesday of each month. The
next meeting will be held on August 18. The Council's
Internet address is http://muspin.gsfc.nasa.gov/Prime/water.html.
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. To view
archives of past Los Angeles River discussions on
the Internet, go to http://www.egroups.com/list/la-river-discuss
On August 10, members of the Watershed Council assisted
the California Coastal Conservancy in conducting
a tour of potential restoration sites in the lower
watershed as part of a meeting of the Southern California
Wetlands Recovery Project. These sites may be viewed
at http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/scwrp/index.html.
Santa Monica Bay Watershed
The Modeling and Monitoring Subcommittee of the Malibu Creek Watershed Advisory Council has drafted a watershed-wide monitoring program for the Malibu Creek Watershed. The group last met on May 6; a draft monitoring program has been distributed to stakeholders for comment. A major task soon will be finding partners to participate in this voluntary program to assess and help correct the water quality concerns in this area.
The Malibu Lagoon Task Force last met on August 17. The Task Force is concerned with lagoon breaching, the septic tracer study, and all aspects of the UCLA study of the lagoon. The UCLA study covers a hydrologic evaluation, appropriateness of various biological and water quality objectives, water level management, eutrophication issues, pathogens, and the historical condition of the lagoon. The study was funded by a California Coastal Conservancy grant with assistance by local agencies. A recently hired facilitator was introduced at the August meeting and she will lead the group toward refining the future goals of the Task Force. The next meetings of the group are scheduled for September 14 and October 19.
The Malibu Creek Watershed Advisory Council also met on August 17 and included a report on subcommittee activities.
A watershed committee has been meeting in the Topanga Creek Watershed. The most recent meeting was held on August 24 and included a discussion of an upcoming streambank stabilization workshop as well as a summary of the committee's first year accomplishments. A major near-term goal of this watershed committee is 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 next meeting of the watershed committee is scheduled for September 16. The committee's website address is http://www.TopangaOnline.com/twc/.
A newly formed Technical Advisory Committee to the Topanga Creek Water Quality Study (funded through 205(j) monies) will met for the first time on June 15 to help guide the project.
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. This Region's Chapter was last updated in May 1999. Copies of this Region's Chapter and/or its Executive Summary may be obtained by contacting the Regional Board office, Regional Programs Section secretary. The document may also be sent out electronically (in MSWord6.0). Additionally, the Executive Summary will be posted on the Regional Board's webpage this summer.
319(h)/205(j) Request for Proposals
Proposals for region-specific 319(h)/205(j) grant funds have been reviewed and ranked by staff at the Regional Board and the ranked list was sent to State Board. A preliminary statewide ranking was undertaken by the Watershed Management Initiative (WMI) Workgroup on July 27 and 28, 1999. After further management review, a recommended ranking will be brought before the State Board for adoption in October. Final funding is subject to USEPA approval.
Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act Requests for the Month of July 1999.
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 to respond to, and a database to track, these requests.
During the month of July 1999, 27 FOIA / PRA requests were received and processed. A response was provided within the mandated time frame for all requests.
New Staff Member
GuiJun Hu has joined the Regional Board's Site Cleanup Unit. GuiJun has 7 years experience as a consulting engineer throughout California. He earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Hebei University of Agriculture, Hebei, People Republic of China (PRC) and a M.S. degree in Sanitary Engineering from China Academy of Science, Beijing, PRC. He also completed all Ph.D. courses (dissertation pending) in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University, Logan, Utah. In addition, he is registered in both California and Utah as Professional Engineer in Civil.
Personnel Report
As
of the month of August our staff total was 106:
87 technical staff (including 2 part-time technical
staff), 5 permanent administrative support staff,
and 14 permanent clerical staff.
Staff is currently taking steps to fill 1 Unit Chief
position, 14 technical positions, 1 Associate Governmental
Program Analyst, 1 Associate Information Systems
Analyst, and 1 clerical position. Since July the
following appointment has been made: 1 Water Resource
Control Engineer. The following separated from the
Board: 1 Associate Information Systems Analyst.
Regional Board Working with UCLA Law Clinic Students
A
group of 10 law students from UCLA will be studying
regulatory enforcement issues during the upcoming
semester with the help of the Regional Board. The
law clinic students, under the guidance of Professor
Tim Malloy and Regional Board staff, will review
files form the Industrial Activities General Permit.
They will conduct an in-depth review of each file
for potential violations of the General Permit.
By interpreting existing statutes, reviewing the
Permit conditions, and using the Regional Board's
enforcement policy guidelines, the students will
play a key role in helping Board staff in developing
enforcement cases. During the course of the semester,
the students will gain valuable experience in the
world of regulatory enforcement.
SUMMARY OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS - JULY 1 TO 31, 1999
| Formal Enforcement Actions | |
| There were no formal enforcement actions taken during July 1999 | |
| Administrative Enforcement Actions | |
| Permit violations |
10
|
| Violation of a time schedule in an enforcement order |
1
|
| Administrative Enforcement Actions for Overdue / Incomplete Reports | |
| Groundwater monitoring reports |
3
|
| Other technical reports |
4
|
| Site assessment plans |
4
|
| Site assessment reports |
1
|
| Site remedial action plans |
2
|
| Administrative Enforcement Actions for Stormwater Permits | |
| Failed to comply with permit requirements |
1
|
|
|
|
| Total Enforcement Actions for July |
26
|
SPILLS
REPORTED DURING JULY 1999
ALL
REPORTED SPILLS
| Chemical |
12
|
| Crude oil |
2
|
| Diesel |
16
|
| Gasoline |
3
|
| Miscellaneous petroleum products |
14
|
| Oil |
2
|
| Other |
3
|
| Sewage |
12
|
| Waste water |
4
|
| Vapors |
13
|
|
|
|
| Total |
81
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