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SR 05-08-2018 3B City Council Report City Council Meeting: May 8, 2018 Agenda Item: 3.B 1 of 5 To: Mayor and City Council From: Susan Cline, Director, Public Works, Office of Sustainability & the Environment Subject: Cost-Sharing Memorandum of Agreements with the City of Los Angeles for Two Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Plans for Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute two Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement cost-sharing Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Plans (CIMPs) to comply with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit requirements. One MOA is for the Santa Monica Bay and one MOA is for Ballona Creek. Executive Summary The City is obligated to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit requirements to reduce pollution from runoff into the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek. NPDES requirements include coordinated integrated monitoring plans to collect data and demonstrate compliance with water quality objectives specified in the permit. As a jurisdiction that drains into the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek watersheds, the City is obligated to share the costs associated with implementing the coordinated integrated monitoring plans. The costs for the five- year monitoring period (FY 18/19 through FY 22/23) of the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek MOAs would not exceed $572,027 and $16,946, respectively. 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 protect beneficial uses for each water body found within its region. Beneficial uses include swimming, fishing, drinking water, navigability, and wildlife habitats and 2 of 5 reproduction. Section 303(d) of the CWA requires states to prepare a list of water bodies that do not meet water quality standards and establish Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for each of these water bodies. A TMDL represents an amount of pollution that can be released by human activity and natural sources into a specific water body without causing a decline in water quality and beneficial uses. The Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek watersheds have been included on California’s Section 303(d) list since 1998 due to impairments by bacteria, trash, organic chemicals and metals. The Board has adopted multiple TMDLs for these pollutants since 2003 in order to address these impairments. The City Council approved an initial Santa Monica Bay MOA for cost-sharing bacterial monitoring on July 8, 2003. The City Council approved the Ballona Creek MOAs for cost-sharing monitoring for bacteria, metals and toxics on July 14, 2009. In accordance with these TMDLs, the City of Los Angeles submitted a Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Plan (CIMP) for compliance with the TMDLs on behalf of the agencies within these watersheds. The City of Los Angeles is responsible for performing all required monitoring and reporting to the Board. The City of Los Angeles invoices the City of Santa Monica annually for its share of monitoring costs for Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek. The City Council approved the most recent three-year renewal of both MOAs on February 23, 2016, which end on June 30, 2018 (Attachment A). Discussion On November 28, 2012, the Board approved a new NDPES permit with more extensive monitoring requirements. The expanded CIMPs require the City to enter into new MOAs with the City of Los Angeles to reflect the additional monitoring protocols and requirements. Under the terms of the MOAs, the City of Los Angeles would continue to be responsible for all monitoring and reporting activities to the Board. 3 of 5 The new MOAs include additional costs associated with tasks that the City of Los Angeles performed at its own expense, in previous years, on behalf of other cities to meet the NPDES permit requirements. However, these costs have increased and the City of Los Angeles is proposing to include these additional costs in the updated MOAs. Costs reflect the following responsibilities:  Annual Reporting: As the principal reporting agency, the City of Los Angeles performs a number of tasks related to the annual report, such as water quality monitoring, annual rainfall tracking, and hydrology reporting.  Report of Waste Discharge: Prepare application reporting on discharge locations that could affect urban runoff. Reapplication of the permit every five years.  Adaptive Management: Biannual reporting stating how cities have modified their stormwater program to better meet the permit requirements.  Reasonable Assurance Analysis: Per the permit, this analysis was performed during the 2012 permit period to complete Enhanced Watershed Management Plans (EWMPs). It must be performed again for the renewed permit. This analysis is a computer model simulation that predicts if the stormwater harvesting projects to be built within each watershed by cities will achieve EWMP requirements. The analysis demonstrates to the Board that cities will meet EWMP requirements and water quality standards.  Enhanced Watershed Management Plan (EWMP) Time Extension: There is an interim EWMP Implementation milestone set for April 11, 2018. Under the terms of the EWMP, the City of Los Angeles plans to submit a time extension on behalf of the cities in these watersheds to give cities more time to comply with the EWMP. This will allow for additional work to meet some of the water quality standards that will not likely be met before the 2018 compliance milestone.  Time Schedule Orders (Santa Monica Bay Bacterial TMDL): The final compliance milestone for the wet-weather bacterial TMDL is July 15, 2021. Under the terms of the EWMP, the City of Los Angeles plans to submit a Time Schedule Order, on behalf of the cities in these watersheds to give cities more 4 of 5 time to comply with the TMDL. This will allow for additional work to meet some of the water quality standards that will not likely be met before the 2021 compliance milestone. The additional cost to the City of Santa Monica associated with the above administrative (non-CIMP) tasks totals $181,780 for Santa Monica Bay and $2,543 for Ballona Creek watersheds. The MOA five-year budgets for the CIMP and additional permit costs are listed below by fiscal year for each watershed. Santa Monica Bay Fiscal Year Budget 18/19 $93,821 19/20 $116,324 20/21 $128,205 21/22 $85,396 22/23 $96,279 Contingency $52,002 Total $572,027 Ballona Creek Fiscal Year Budget 18/19 $6,096 19/20 $2,394 20/21 $2,920 21/22 $2,075 22/23 $2,284 Contingency $1,177 Total $16,946 5 of 5 The budgetary difference between the two watersheds is due to the difference in drainage area of the City: Santa Monica Bay – 19.76%; Ballona Creek – 0.28%. Financial Impacts & Budget Actions Santa Monica Bay The MOA cost share for the Santa Monica Bay is for an amount not to exceed $572,027 over a five-year period through FY 2022-23. Funds of $93,821 are available in the Proposed FY 2018-19 budget in the Public Works Department. The MOA will be charged to account 06402.555170. Ballona Creek The MOA cost share for the Ballona Creek is for an amount not to exceed $16,946 over a five-year period through FY 2022-23. Funds of $6,096 are available in the Proposed FY 2018-19 budget in the Public Works Department. The MOA will be charged to account 06402.555170. Future year funding for both agreements is contingent on Council budget approval. Prepared By: Neal Shapiro, Senior Sustainability Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council Attachments: A. February 23, 2016 Staff Report REFERENCE: MOA No. 10670 (CCS) & MOA No. 10671 (CCS)