Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutEQCB Min 1982-06-15 . . . . ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CONTROL BOARD MINUTES OF JUNE 15, 1982 Meeting of June 15, 1982 was held at City Council Chambers at 211 8th Street in Seal Beach, California. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Chairman Frank Willson. The pledge to allegiance was given by Lowell Kolb. Frank Willson, Chairman Dave Potter Lowell Ko1b Yi1liam La Bar Mitchell Grayson Tim Dorsey, Lifeguard Chief Charles Antos, Associate Planner Also in attendance were Mayor Willemke Vanderstaay and Councilman Oscar Brownell. PRESENT: ABSENT: STAFF: The minutes of May 18, 1982 were approved. The chairman presented a statement regarding the purpose of this meeting, i.e., a fact finding mission. His statement is as follows: "This is a fact finding mission for our Board. It is devoted to the dis- cussion of hazardous waste, particularly as it applied to the San Gabriel River and its effect on the City of Seal Beach. It has been a continuing problem for our Board Tor a number of years and,it keeps cropping up from time to time. Our minutes of March 6, 1980 show that in a list of projects being considered, the San Gabriel River water quality problem had the Number 1 priority. The minutes stated 'at the present time, many agencies had some responsibilities for various aspects of water quality.' The Board would like to know who has the responsibility for water quality in the San Gabriel River. This led up to a discussion on March 16th of that year because on that day, it was found necessary to close the beach in Seal Beach because of the sewage spill in the San Gabriel River. The Board decided to again approach this problem from another way; to prepare a letter to send to some of the agencies that might be involved. In all we sent out 22 letters; some of these letters were to elected officials, but the majority of them were to the agencies concerned. We have had surprising responses to this. Out of the 22 letters, we have to date received 17 responses. One of our early replies was from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (CRWQCB), Santa Ana Region. They said they would be glad to meet with our board along with the Los Angeles Region of CRWQCB to clarify their respective jurisdictions and also to outline their actions that are being taken. At our May 18, 1982 meeting, we accepted this offer and at the same time decided to invite all those that had responded to our letter." At this point, Chairman Willson introduced Mayor Willemke Vanderstaay and Councilmember Oscar Brownell. . . . ~ EQCB - 6/15/82 Page 2 SPEAKERS Mr. James Anderson, Executive Director of Santa Ana Region of the CRWQCB furnished the Board with pamphlets regarding the makeup and duties of the CRWQCB. Mr. Anderson stated that the CRWQCB was made up of nine regions based on hydrologic boundaries (water flow). Orange County then petitioned the legislature to set up their own regional board; therefore, the Santa Ana Region and the Los Angeles Region were the only political boundaries. The boundary partially runs up the San Gabriel River; Santa Ana Region has the southside, and the Los Angeles Region has the northside. In 1970, it was decided that the laws were not tough enough, and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) was established to govern State policy and increase the size of the regional boards to 9 members. . Each region has 9 members that serve as the policy-making authority for the region. They hire their Executive Director much like a City Manager. This was set up in such a way that a broad spectrum of environmental concerns with respect to water protection throughout the State is served. In the Santa Ana Region, the basic concern is groundwater basin. We are also concerned with coastal drainage and discharge to the coastal waters from the San Gabriel River. Many of the dischargers do not effect the San Gabriel River directly, but discharge into tributaries. In the past, the Los Angeles and Santa Ana Regions have worked together and performed collective testing. In the Santa Ana Region there has been some testing of the San Gabriel River, but the areas mainly in the Los Angeles Regional Board are their jurisdiction, as they have the jurisdiction to issue permits. Anybody proposing to discharge waste must receive a permit from the CRWQCB setting the limits of constituents to regulate that discharg~ so that it does not cause pollution or nuisance. Under the Porter Cologne Act of 1970, this was expanded to include aquatic habitat and aesthetic enjoyment. In 1972, the Federal government adopted the Federal Clean Water Act, again expanding some of the duties of the nine regional boards. Our board meets about 10 times a year in Riverside. The Los Angeles Regional Board meets on the 4th Monday of each month in the State building in downtown Los Angeles. Enforcement actions for violations are reviewed and steps for enforcement taken at these meetings. Cease and desist orders directing dischargers to comply with requirements are made at this time. Fines can be placed in an amount up to $10,000 per day for violations. Monies collected are used for abatement procedures. When a city is not in compliance with our requirements, the CRWQCB can restrict future connections to the sewer system. This has been done in the past. These are the two major types of penalties in use. Criminal penalty is rarely used. . EQCB-6/l5/82 Page 3 In answer to a question by Mr. Kolb, under the law a discharger must file within 120 days of his proposed discharge. Under the Federal law, the discharger has 180 days tQ file. The Regional Boards then have about 30 days to circulate to any interested parties or agencies. This allows time for comments in writing and public hearings if necessary. Many times notices are required to be published in newspapers so that the public has some opportunity to be aware that the Regional Board is about to take action. In answer to a question by Mr. Kolb, the field inspectors monitor the points of discharge unannounced. Dischargers are required to make a daily report of analyses. Inspectors then go back and make sure those reports are accurate. In answer to another question, discharging into a sewer line is under the appropriate city's jurisdiction. Storm drain discharge is frowned upon, but is very unlikely to be observed by anyone, and therefore it is unlikely that discharger would be caught. In answer to a question by Mr. LaBar, the percentage of success factor for a violator is very high. In fact, Mr. Anderson did not recall a case that had been filed by the attorney being dismissed due to insuffient evidence. The largest penalty against a City was $500,000 (to the City of San Francisco). The largest commerical penalty paid was $14 or $16 million from a mining corporation. . In answer to a question by Mr. Potter, a number of agencies has limited responsibilites with respect to discharge into the San Gabriel River. They are the County Water Pollution Control Board, the California Regional Water Quality Board, the State Health Department, the County Health Department, the Coast Guard, the Dept. of Fish and Game, etc. There isnow a toll free number to call in Sacramento - the Office of Emergency Services - and they will contact the affected parties for any problems mentioned. That toll free number is 800/852-7550. In reply to a question by Mr. Potter, there have been attempts to coordinate under one juridiction, but so far have not been successful. . Mr. Richard Harris, Assistant Executive Officer of the Los Angeles CRWQCB, spoke regarding the Los Angeles Regional Board Program in controlling dis- chargers to the San Gabriel River. He stated that his region h~s most of the San Gabriel River and its tribu- taries including that part of Coyote Creek. All in all, in that area of jurisdiction, there are about 67 points of discharges; five from Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which are the Pomona, San Jose Creek, Los Coyotes, Whittier Narrows and Long Beach Water Reclamation Plants. Discharges from these reclamations plants are all highly treated, quality water. Another major discharger is the power plant which discharges a billion gallons of heated water. Gulf Oil Refinery in Santa Fe Springs is another major dis- charger. Otherwise, the remainders are pretty small dischargers. It is required that all dischargers fulfill monitoring requirements. Some must monitor every two hours. The LACRWQCB makes inspections unannounced. Significant violations must be reported immediately to the board and then be followed up with written reports as to what has happened and what pre- ventative measures will be taken in the future. . EQCB - 6/15/82 Page 4 . For enforcement actions, the most effective we have found is administrative enforcement -- not going to court. By either talking to or writing to violators, situations are usually corrected. Even on long-term violations, we try to work with the dischargers as it gets more action and is more cost effective for our board. With oil spills, we have never gone to court once. It is cheaper and more effective to deal with the dischargers directly. In answer to a question by Mr. LeBar, dischargers monitor their effluent at the point of discharge. They may also be required to monitor upstream. Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts has an established monitoring program upstream and downstream the San Gabriel River. Power plants monitor their effluent and downstream. Our board has had severe budget cuts so we will not be monitoring as much as in the past. We cannot pass this cost onto the discharger either as they cannot be required to monitor the whole river, and they only check for parameters which we ask of them (not the whole list of parameters). In answer to a question by Mr. Potter, dischargers are honest.in sampling. Every monitoring program is tailored to the discharger. We do not have a high level of illegal dumping, but that may become worse as Class I landfills (disposal places of hazardous waste) become scarce. In answer to a question by Mr. LaBar, the RWQCB would be'able to provide the EQCB with a periodical summation of monitoring through their office. Mr. Antos asked if ther~ were any penalties imposed r~garding the Santa Fe Chemical spill. Mr. Harris replied that to his knowledge, no penalties other than cost of cleanup was paid by them. Cleanup is now complete. Mr. Antos then asked if the sewer spill from the Long Beach Water Reclamation Plan was not penalized due to an Act of God. Mr. Harris answer that there has never been anything like this in his 20 years, and that it was his opinion that this was a "fluke." It would appear to be likely to have been caused by a lighting bolt. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts then presented a report and steps that they would take to prevent any possibility of a, likely occurrence. Kieran Bergin, Supervisor of Hazardous Waste Engineering of the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, spoke regarding hazardous waste in general. He came to the meeting as a result of a letter to Supervisor Dana's office. He stated that West Covina has the only hazardous waste disposal site within 170 miles of downtown Los Angeles which is a very heavy industrial area. He indicated that there is a cooperative effort going on now to locate additional hazardous waste disposal sites, together between the State Department of Health Services, the SWRCB and the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (West Covina ~s one of members of CSD's board of directors). He stated that it is very difficult to convince people to allow any type of disposal site to be situated near them. In answer to a question by Mr. LaBar, extensive geological requirements are placed on location of hazardous waste sites. The sites must have a permea- bility to allow water to go through the soil at a rate of 1" per 100 years. The sites are monitored at all times to make sure nothing is seeping out of the soil. . < . . EQCB - 6/15/82 Page 5 Mr. Bergin offered to send copies of quality reports to the EQCB if they desired. He also offered to take any of the members on a tour of the Long Beach Water Reclamation Plant. Don Schilling of Orange County Environmental Management Agency was. the next speaker. He stated that his agency is not deeply involved, in fact, only about 10 feet of the San Gabriel River is fed from Orange County. Basically the EMA has had a cciuntywide monitoring program. They look for a variety of constituents, not only to protect their own facilities, but to build a data base so that they know what the water quality was like. His agency does not have nearly the clout that the CRWQCB has. His agency does conduct routine inspection activities and does respond to some citizen complaints and complaints from other agencies concerning waste discharges and hazard waste discharge. . Pat Fitch from the Seal Beach "Journal" asked what is a coliform count. Reply was given that it is bacteria from waste, not necessarily human waste, but can also be from animal waste. What is of particular concern is the pathogens present in human waste. It is a measure or indicator or organisms. Anything above 24,000 MPN/100 milliliters could indicate a serious problem. MPN means most probable number. The lowest method of measuring is 2.2 MPN which means no contamination. Tim Dorsey, Chief of Lifeguards of the City of Seal Beach thanked everyone for coming down here to discuss problem. He indicated that his method of determining problems on the beach is if dead fish begin washing ashore, or if fecal matter washes on the beach. When either of those types of problems occur, the Health Department is contacted as to whether or not to close the beaches. Public beaches are supposed to close when the coliform count reaches 1000. . Since 1981 to present we have had 14 very high exposure of coliform counts, some of those in conjuction with rainy periods which do bring high counts. But besides those rainy conditions, we have had some very high coliform counts from 3500 to 24000 which leads me to believe there is some problem causing that at the base of the river, as after contacting the Health Department, no known cause has been found upstream. A theory has been developed that these high counts have occurred after heavy boating traffic over the weekend periods, when boats coming in to dock have unloaded their waste too close to shore and the wave action pushes waste onto our beachs. We will be monitoring these occurrences to see if they actually do coincide with weekends. Mr. Harris replied that he has no hard proof, but does theorize a similar situation. He stated that it is extremely unlikely that you will have fecal matter on the beach from any source coming downstream. He suggested that this matter be correlated with the weekend beach traffic to try to come up with a pattern to substantiate this theory. Meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m. ~'!1 K~\~~(; " . ""';"'" '::'~~:2'" ",', , ' " " ' '. ,', "",~., ,~.' ',': . .':," '; June 3, 1982 The Honorable Harriet Wieder Supervisor, Orange County 10 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92702 Dear Supervisor Wieder: . Thank you for your reply to our letter regarding the problems of hazardous waste in the San Gabriel River and its effect on the City of Seal Beach. The overall response has been so tre- mendous that our entire June meeting will be devoted to this one problem. Both the California Regional Water Quality Control Boards of the Santa Ana and Los Angeles Regions will be at this meeting for a presentation on this problem. You and/or your delegate are cordially invited to this meeting to be held; Date: Time: Place: June 15th 7:30 PM Seal Beach City Council Chambers 211 Eighth Street We are looking forward to meeting with you and to hear your thoughts on this very important matter. Very truly yours, Frank Willson Chairman Environmental Quality Control Board City of Seal Beach . fw/bl " . "ST/~TE OF CALI FORNI A-RESOURCES AGENCY EDMUND G. GROWN JR., GO'lernar ,CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD SANTA ANA REGION .-.' 9 INDIANA AVENUE, SUITE 200 ERSIDE. CALIFORNIA 92506 PHONE: (7141 684-9330 June 8, 1982 Frank E. Wilson, Chairman Seal Beach Environmental Quality Control Board City of Seal Beach 211 Eighth Street Seal Beach, CA 90740 Dear Mr. Wilson: . This will confirm our discussion regarding the meeting of the Environmental Control Board on June 15, 1982. Mr. Richard Harris, Assistant Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Regional Board, .and I will attend the meeting. I will discuss the makeup and duties of the Regi ona 1 Water Qual i ty Control Boards. Hr. Harri s \'/ill di s- cuss the program of the Los Angeles Region in controlling the dischargers which are tributary to the San Gabriel River. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service to your Boal~d and will look forward to meeting with you. Sincerely, Original Signed by: JAMES W. ANDERSON. E.O. JAMES W. ANDERSON Executive Officer cc: Richard Harris, Los Angeles Region ~rank E. ~Ii 1 son 13321 El Dorado Drive, Apt. 203G Seal Beach CA 90740 bee: .