The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCC AG PKT 2002-11-12 #V City of Seal Beach Agenda Report Date: November 12, 2002 To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: John B. Bahorski City Manager Subject: Possible Formation of a Water Quality Committee SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Council Member Antos has requested City Council discuss the possibility of forming a water quality committee to address a variety of issues facing the City; specifically, ocean and storm water quality, water reclamation and conservation, ground water, and drinking water availability in the event of drought. City Council is being requested to discuss the necessity for a committee and if the determination is made that a committee is needed, staff will return in December with a resolution forming the committee. BACKGROUND: The City manages three types of water: • Storm water • Drinking water • Wastewater Each type of water requires a different set of skills to manage and is highly regulated by State and Federal laws. In addition, each of these areas has different challenges that will impact the City of Seal Beach. At this time the most pressing issue is managing storm water. Staff is actively working to ensure that all water issues are addressed and that Seal Beach is complying with the State and Federal regulations. The City of Seal Beach Ad Hoc Water Quality Committee was formed in November 2000 to achieve the specific task of creating a storm water quality master plan. This committee was disbanded in October 2001 after their work was completed on the Water AGENDA ITEM V Council Member Antos requested this item be placed on the agenda to discuss the need to reconstitute a committee on water quality issues. Attachment A is an excerpt of minutes from the October 28, 2002 City Council meeting that summarizes the discussion on this issue. Although there is no citizens committee currently in place, Council Members are assigned to serve on agencies that deal with water and water quality issues. For example, Council Member Doane serves on the West Orange County Water Board and Council Member Campbell is the appointee to Orange County Sanitation District. Both of these appointees deal with water, water quality and water reclamation issues. In addition to these Council appointees, staff is very involved in water quality issues within Seal Beach and on a regional and statewide basis. An alternative to forming a full committee would be to create a City Council subcommittee for water related issues. The subcommittee could then explore the issues of water quality, ground water, water reclamation and provide reports back to Council on these important topics. A water subcommittee could be constituted at the December City Council meeting by appointing two City Council Members. A subcommittee of Council may be more beneficial since they would bring expertise obtained from other agencies involved in this field. Council may wish to consider this alternative in lieu of forming a full committee. However, if City Council desires to form a new water committee with a broader scope than the Ad Hoc Water Quality Committee, staff would recommend that this be done by resolution with a defined mission statement and sunset clause. A resolution could then be prepared for the December City Council meeting. FISCAL IMPACT: There will be a fiscal impact to forming a water committee, and the cost will be predominately in the staff time necessary to serve the committee. RECOMMENDATION: Provide staff with direction on how to proceed with the proposal. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: A. October 28, 2002 City Council minutes (Draft) u E X C E R P T F R O M C O U N C I L C O M M E N T S October 28, 2002 ANTOS: Based upon the comment of Councilmember Campbell, Councilman Antos noted that in the past the City had a Water Committee and based upon things that have come up and probably will come up he would request that the Council place on one of the next agendas a discussion to reconstitute a Water Committee, but not to just deal with water runoff as in the past, there are some other issues relative to water reclamation, if that process goes into effect there are some opportunities for the City to save a tremendous amount of money by using reclaimed water in the parks, etc. instead of using potable water, it is believed that the Engineering Department could save considerable in their budget from that, there are also some policies that need to be discussed relative to putting in lines to accept that water when tearing up the alleys in the event that reclaimed water becomes available in Southern California, there is cleanup now of some hazardous materials that are near and getting nearer the ground water. Councilman Antos expressed his opinion that all of those things need to be looked at, as well as water quality, therefore he would request concurrence of the Council to place this matter on an upcoming agenda for discussion of reconstituting the Water Committee but with broader objectives.