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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.
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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
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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:
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Reference Contract Nos.
9089 (CCS) & 9090
(ccs).