Dissolved Oxygen
Total Maximum Daily Load
Stakeholder Process
| SAN
JOAQUIN
RIVER Dissolved Oxygen Total Maximum Daily Load Stakeholder Process |
San Joaquin River Dissolved Oxygen TMDL Steering Committee Meeting Notes - Draft 1 August 16, 2000 Attending: Doug Brewer (JSA), Al Brizard (Stanislaus Cnty Farm Bureau), Judith Buethe (Public Relations), Jim Curtis (Kennedy/Jenks), Lloyd Finley (Tyco PCG), Terry Gardner (Lathrop), Sharla Hardy (Stockton Public Works), John Herrick (SDWA), Tom Hickman (MBK/Merced ID), Dan Hinrichs (DJH Engineering, Modesto), Jay Jahangiri (Port of Stockton), G. Fred Lee (chair Tech Com), Frank Motzkus (Tracy), Bob Murdoch (Stockton), Garner Reynolds (Modesto), Mike Schafer (Lodi), Wayne Smith (Stockton Public Works), Alice Tulloch (Tulloch Eng.), Kevin Wolf (facilitation and notes, kjwolf@dcn.davis.ca.us 530-758-4211) Upcoming Meetings: Technical Committee – Sept. 7, 9 am –12:30 pm, DWR- 3251 S Street, Sacramento Executive Committee – Sept. 8, 2000 1:30–3:30 pm, 2500 Navy Drive, Stockton Steering Committee - September 20, 2000, 9 am – 12:00 pm, 2500 Navy Drive, Stockton 1:30-3:30 pm Tour of the City of Modesto’s sewage treatment facilities. Pollutant Exchange Committee – October 18, 12:45-2:30 pm, 2500 Navy Drive, Stockton Develop scenarios of different exchange options using real data from cities. Technical Committee – Sept. 7, 9 am –12:30 pm, DWR- 3251 S Street, Sacramento Material Handed Out at Meeting: 1. Final Draft of City and County Outreach and Education Brochure, Judith Buethe (jbuethe@pacbell.net, 209-464-8707) 2. SJR DO TMDL Funding Issues, G. Fred Lee (gfredlee@aol.com) 3. Work Plan for Using the DO Model to Calculate Strawman Loading, Carl Chen (carl@systechengineering.com) 4. Scope of Work – Outreach and Education in San Joaquin River Watershed, Judith Buethe 5. Principles for a Pollutant Exchange Program, Alice Tulloch (tullocheng@aol.com) A. Brochure Review 1. The Steering Committee provided Judith with suggestions for improving the design of the brochure cover. A main suggestion was to clarify that the map did not infer that the whole San Joaquin Watershed had low dissolved oxygen levels. For example, a pullout of the ship channel area labeled as “low dissolved oxygen problem area” and a “possible solution area” label for the watershed would help clarify this. 2. Judith will make changes in the brochure, review it with Bob Murdoch, and send it to the printer. Any additional suggestions should be made very soon. B. City Funding Proposals 1. Computer Model Runs for the Strawman Analysis. a. The Steering Committee approved allocating $15,000 from the City of Modesto’s contribution to Systech Engineering to implement the work plan as developed in conjunction with Fred Lee and Chris Foe. b. The City will write a direct contract with Systech. Garner Reynolds will help process this internally. 2. Outreach and Education in the San Joaquin Watershed. a. The Steering committee approved Judith Buethe’s proposed work plan and budget. It was clarified that the budget is based on stakeholder groups assisting with the outreach effort, meeting location, and some other needs. b. The City of Turlock and the City of Tracy will write separate contracts with Judith for separate parts of the project. Bob Murdoch will contact Turlock. Frank Motzkus will coordinate for Tracy. C. Proposition 13 Funding Opportunities 1. Bob Murdoch reviewed the Executive Committee’s discussion on the importance of understanding and participating in the funding opportunities that are available from Prop.13 that was passed in the March 2000 election. (For a summary of Prop. 13 language that could benefit the TMDL, see Kevin’s August 2nd email on Prop. 13 Funding Opportunities.) 2. Bob Murdoch, John Herrick, Doug Brewer, and Alice Tulloch volunteered to help do research on different Prop. 13 opportunities and report to the Steering Committee at their September meeting. Kevin will coordinate their efforts. 3. For the September meeting, Paul Marshall will be asked to provide an update on CALFED’s current thinking on low DO, research, and funding opportunities including those offered by Prop. 13. 4. AB 1813 may affect Prop. 13 funding procedures. Al Brizard will provide an update on the status of this bill at the September meeting. If it passes, what impacts might it have? D. RWQCB August 4 Review of Stakeholder Progress 1. Chris Foe (RWQCB) and Ronda Lucas (steering committee chair) presented summaries on the stakeholders’ progress at the August 4 Regional Board meeting. All indications are that the Board appreciated the update and had no concerns over the progress. 2. Chris reported through Kevin that management at the board very much supported the stakeholders’ efforts to advance a strawman analysis. 3. The environmental groups Natural Heritage Institute, Environmental Defense, League of Women Voters and DeltaKeeper spoke out against stakeholder-based TMDL processes. They argued that they did not have the resources to participate. 4. The Steering Committee agreed to request an opportunity to present the strawman load allocation results to the Environmental Water Caucus and provide them an update on the progress that has been made by the stakeholders as well as our rough two-year timeline. E. Maps 1. San Joaquin Watershed Map a. All stakeholder groups will want a map of the potential solution area. At this point we include the far southern reaches of the river to show the extent of the watershed. We also don't need to show the watershed upstream of the eastside tributaries major downstream dams. b. The watershed map should fit on an 11x17 and include at least the following: NPDES cities (discharging to the river) WDR cities (disposing sewage to land) Major tributaries and drainage canals Subwatershed boundaries (where possible) Other important locations such as Vernalis Mossdale Deep Water Ship Channel Old River* South Delta Barriers* Export pumps* * These may be only on a separate detailed map of the Delta. If anyone else has suggestions for additions to this base map, please contact Kevin. c. When the maps are completed, they will be put on the website. 2. Detailed map of the lower river a. A separate map should be presented of the section of the lower San Joaquin River with the dissolved oxygen problem and its surrounding area. The Port and the City will look into what they might already have. 3. Detailed map of the Delta a. A third map showing the waterways and important locations in the Delta should be developed. This includes: Disappointment Slough Stockton WWTF Existing and proposed cities Old River and the South Delta Barriers Export pumps Port and ship channel 4. Different Overlays a. There is general agreement that GIS based maps using layers of different attributes could be a valuable tool for presenting information to different interest groups. GIS has many other benefits where the integration of geographic information can help in TMDL analysis and implementation planning. There are no immediate funding sources to pay someone to integrate the existing GIS layers that different agencies have, and create the new ones needed to show stakeholders the many different characteristics they might be interested in. b. Different agencies have different GIS layers that might be useful to various aspects of the TMDL process including the development of maps for outreach and education purposes. (Note: I have begun exploring the possibility of GIS inventorying project so that we can avoid duplicating the work that has already been done in this area by other public agencies. If any agency representative would like to help determine their organization’s potential involvement with this project, please let me know. Kevin) F. Pollutant Exchange Principles 1. The principles drafted by committee chair Alice Tulloch and the Pollutant Exchange Committee were received well by the Steering Committee. There weren’t any suggested changes given at the meeting, but Alice encourages everyone to review the proposed language in more detail and contact her with suggestions. See Material Handed Out at the Meeting. 2. What pollutants or factors should be traded? The list is includes Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Organic Carbon, Assimilative Capacity, and Flow. 3. Developing offsets for different exchanges will be complicated by the time-distance relationship of pollutants of concern and the distance they enter the river from the Deep Water Ship Channel. 4. How will the implementation of other TMDLs being pursued in the San Joaquin watershed affect the dissolved oxygen TMDL and any exchange program? 5. Steering Committee members expressed concern over the difficulties any effort to implement exchanges would face before the TMDL was completed. (Note: As an exercise to focus the thinking of the Pollutant Exchange Committee and begin practical thinking on real pollutant exchange possibilities, I have arranged for some of the cities interested in exchange options to participate in the October 18 Pollutant Exchange Committee meeting and bring their real figures for what types and amounts of loads they might be interested in pursuing. Kevin) G. Future Funding Needs 1. Fred Lee presented a summary of funding needs he perceives the TMDL process will require. The concern is that without funding, the TMDL process will be hindered, and could be critically wounded if key stakeholders feel that the lack of certain information and analysis unfairly impacts their level of responsibility for load reduction. 2. The Technical Committee will develop and prioritize technically- oriented proposals that need additional funding. They will begin this process at their September meeting and will report their results to the Steering Committee. (The Steering Committee will make final prioritization decisions.) H. Miscellaneous 1. The USACE is not able to participate in the stakeholder process because it doesn’t have funding to allocate staff to the process. John Herrick said he would write a letter to Congressman Pombo and Senator Feinstein from the South Delta Water Agency requesting their assistance in finding available funding or man-hours so that they can participate. Other stakeholders can also send similar letters. The steering committee would also like work with the USACE’s in how their jet aerator is tested and operated. 2. Peer Review and CALFED 2000 grant. Peggy Lehman is requested to brief the Steering Committee on the Peer Review and the implementation of the CALFED 2000 grant.
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