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sr-071409-1h~® l/~_ nn /1 R Q City Of ® rtty ~/®~~1\/'' ^\Gp®~ Santa Monica City Council Meeting: July 14, 20091 Agenda Item: I '-" rl To: Mayor and City Council From: Dean Kubani, Director, Office of Sustainability and the Environment Subject: Compliance with Bacterial, Metals and Toxics Total Maximum Daily Load Requirements for Ballona Creek Recommended Action Staff recommends: 1) City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute two Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement cost-share monitoring plans to comply with the Los. Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's Bacterial, Metals and Toxics Total Maximum Daily Load requirements for the Ballona Creek Watershed. 2) Authorize expenditure in the amount of $8,000 to cover the cost of the MOA for three years and appropriate $2,700 from the Measure V account to account 06661.405490 pay for FY09-10. Executive Summary The City is obligated, as a municipal agency within the boundaries of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit system of Los Angeles County, to comply with requirements of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) to reduce pollution from urban runoff into the Santa Monica Bay. TMDLs are legal obligations created and enforced by the State Water Resources Control Board. TMDLs require monitoring plans to collect data on water quality prior to and after TMDLs are implemented to demonstrate compliance with water quality objectives. As a member of the jurisdiction that drains into Ballona Creek and Estuary, the City is obligated to share in the costs of implementing monitoring and implementation plans so that all the agencies in the jurisdiction are in compliance and can avoid fines for non- compliance, as well as improving water quality in the Bay. This report provides information on how the City will meet monitoring requirements for two. Ballona Creek and Estuary TMDLs. Background The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region (Board), to develop water quality standards that identify beneficial uses and criteria to protect beneficial uses for each water body found within its region. Beneficial uses include swimming, fishing, drinking water, navigability, and wildlife habitats and reproduction. The Board carries out its CWA responsibilities through the state's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and establishes water quality objectives designed to protect beneficial uses in the Water Quality Control Plan (Basin Plan). Section 303(d) of the CWA requires states to prepare a list of water bodies that do not meet water quality standards and establish for each of these water bodies pollutant load allocations known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) which will ensure attainment of water quality standards. A TMDL represents an amount of pollution that can be released by anthropogenic and natural sources of a watershed into a specific water body without causing a decline in water quality and beneficial uses. The TMDL can be a narrative or numerical standard to control pollution. For example, the existing trash TMDL for the Los Angeles River states that no trash can enter the Bay. For the bacterial TMDL for the Santa Monica Bay, a specific number of days of exceeding the concentration of bacterial indicators is allowed. Discussion The Board adopted metals, toxics; and bacterial TMDLs for the Ballona Creek, Ballona Estuary .and Sepulveda Channel (a sub-watershed of Ballona Creek), and they went into effect in 2008, 2006, and 2007, respectively. These TMDLs regulate discharges of runoff from six cities, the County of Los Angeles, and Caltrans, all of which exist in the watershed of Ballona Creek. This watershed is listed on California's 1998 Section 303(d) list, due to impairments from these pollutants of concern, and has been and continues to be subject to beach postings and closures due to elevated concentrations of these pollutants, preventing full enjoyment of the watershed's beneficial uses for water contact recreation, fishing, wildlife observation, and aquatic habitat and wildlife. 2 To implement. these TMDLs, the eight municipalities within the watershed were segregated by sub-watersheds. Each jurisdiction is responsible for water quality flowing from these sub-watersheds and their corresponding storm drain outlets to the creek, estuary or channel, if they exist. The largest landowner by area for this watershed, the City of Los Angeles, is the primary representative for the jurisdiction. Other members of the watershed include the cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City, Inglewood, West Hollywood, and the County of Los Angeles and Caltrans. Santa Monica's share of the total land area in this watershed is 0.32%. This area is used to calculate the City's share of any costs incurred by the monitoring plans, as well as a future preparation of an implementation plan which will provide strategies to reduce these pollutants to levels below the TMDL thresholds. Each TMDL requires the submission of a Coordinated Monitoring Plan (CMP), which was submitted to the Board on January 29, 2009. The CMP contains details for athree- year monitoring plan. Under the terms of the MOAs, the City of Santa Monica will not be responsible for any monitoring activities along the Ballona Creek watershed; the City of Los Angeles will be responsible for all monitoring and reporting activities to the Board. The City will be required to provide funding in an amount not to exceed $8,000 to the City to Los Angeles to help offset their costs for monitoring and reporting. A separate staff report will be required to authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute implementation plans to meet the numerical standards for these TMDLs. Staff will return to the City Council at a future date to present this next step in complying with the Ballona Creek watershed TMDLs. Financial Impacts & Budget Actions The estimated costs to fund the two TMDLs are not to exceed $8,000 over the three year monitoring period ending FY2011-12. An appropriation of $2,700 from account 06661.405490 is required for FY2009-10. An appropriation of $2,650 in the two 3 subsequent years will be included in the Proposed Budget of the respective year for Council's review and adoption. Prepared by: Neal Shapiro, Senior Environmental Analyst Approved: ~- ~- f Dean Kubani Director, Office of Sustainability & the Environment Forwarded to Council: 4 Reference Contract Nos. 9089 (CCS) & 9090 (ccs).