McKinleyville Community Services District
Board Agenda Background
AGENDA ITEM: E.1.
AGENDA TITLE: Discuss the New NPDES Permit Proposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board
MEETING DATE: April 16, 2008
PRESENTED BY: Tom Marking
TYPE OF ITEM: Discussion
BACKGROUND:
We received a phone call on Monday, April 7, 2008 from our Regional Water Quality Control Board representative that a draft of our proposed NPDES permit had been posted on the web site. The draft permit is 108-pages in length and to state it is draconian in effect is to be polite. We have been attempting to communicate with RWQCB staff for over two years on the concerns over the California Toxics Rule and the potential issues on our pending discharge permit. To be “diplomatic” in my response, I can only say their staff has been less than forthcoming with their assistance. Our timeline to read, understand and respond to this document is quite short. Catherine Kuhlman, the Executive Director, posted notice of a public hearing on the web site, to be held on June 12, 2008. We have yet to receive any formal notification. This draft permit is scheduled for Regional Board action on April 24, 2008 and we have until May 4, 2008 to provide written reply if we wish to testify or challenge the terms of the permit. We received a registered letter today the 10th pushing the date for response back to June 4th. I presume their board staff realized we did not receive the necessary thirty-day notice as required by law. We will need this extra month to study the permit and prepare a rebuttal and response. The June 12th public hearing date is still scheduled. We have been requesting information for over two years on the CTR and we now received a denial to our requests in this draft permit. Our letters have gone unanswered and our questions evaded or misdirected by their staff. Unfortunately, that is the regulatory environment we face at this time.
Since July 1, 2006 we have been operating under an interim permit. Our five-year permit expired on June 30, 2006. We received notification of our Marsh Compliance Project acceptance in fall of 2006 and shortly after that an interim permit was issued that we have operated within since that date. We have met with RWQCB staff on several occasions regarding the storm water marsh, the nitrate concern at the ranch, monitoring wells at all discharge sites, the percolation ponds influence on the river, and the pending requirements of the California Toxics Rule to be implemented on May 18, 2010. We sent letters requesting for clarification of the CTR, but have received no explanation until now. I read the 108-page permit on the evening of 4-8-08. We need to act immediately on this permit. The Operations Director and I will meet with Steve McHaney, of Winzler and Kelly Consulting Engineers, to read the report and develop written response prior the to May 3rd required delivery date. This permit is very complicated with serious issues to be addressed that have far reaching ramifications. The list concerns: nitrate levels, priority pollutants at all discharge sites, groundwater monitoring, Best Management Practices for irrigation regarding nutrient and salinity at the Ranch Backswamp Wetland on the lower pastures, dioxins, pesticides, insecticides, copper, lead, boron, chloroform, bromoform, 4,4’-DDT, CTR pollutants, specific conductance, total dissolved solids, biochemical oxidation, non-filterable residue, chorine residual, temperature, pH, hardness, alkalinity, turbidity and increased monitoring and testing at all discharge sites. The cost of the engineering to study, design and construct a treatment process will be enormous. We are hard pressed to describe a scenario on how we can possibly discharge our normal effluent volumes without being in violation on a continual basis. This permit is set to take effect on August 1, 2008, three and one-half months away. This is an improbable, and possibly impossible task, to accomplish at all, much less in this short time period.
We have begun the process of studying the draft permit for frequency of monitoring, costs of lab testing and labor, operational impact, near term and long term action plans to minimize the violations that are certain to result if this draft permit is adopted.
It will require some time to decipher the schedule of monitoring and testing and what the cost will be. These requirements are far in excess of what we expected to see. We will need to read this permit carefully and prepare a response back to the RWQCB for consideration on some of their proposed changes and additions. From a cursory view, it appears we are being held to the CTR requirements as of this August 1, 2008 even though the CTR was not supposed to be applied until May 18, 2010. This is one of the numerous concerns to be addressed. We may determine the need to seek legal counsel on how to deal with the Water Board and their staff. This sequence of events over the past several years is very disturbing with the Board staff’s lack of communication and/or deliberate miscommunication to allow this to get this far along without notice of their intended actions.
Fiscal Impact: unknown at this time
Action Requested: Receive and File. Comment and direct Staff at your discretion.
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