HomeMy WebLinkAbout17. Urban Runoff - Total Max. Daily Loads
AGENDA MEMO
DATE: July 13, 2010
TO:
Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Office of the City Manager
Desi Alvarez, Deputy City Manager
SUBJECT: URBAN RUNOFF AND TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS
RECOMMENDATION
That the Mayor and City Council receive and file this report.
BACKGROUND
On Friday July 9, 2010, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board- Los
Angeles Region (LARWQCB) will adopt the Los Angeles River. This water quality
regulation is likely to be the most costly of several watershed TMDLs that have been
adopted and/or proposed for adoption in the near future. Unfortunately, it is difficult to
fully anticipate the financial impact of TMDLs on individual municipalities since costs are
truly unknown although there are various estimates all of which indicate the financial
impact to cities will be severe.
DISCUSSION
TMDLs are regulatory tools authorized within the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act (CWA),
but were little used during the first quarter century of the act’s existence. The intent was
that TMDLs would be applied to water bodies where pollutants adversely impact some
beneficial use of the water body, such as water supply, swimming or fishing. In effect,
TMDLs require dischargers to limit the amount of a specific pollutant in their discharges
to “loads” that the water body could assimilate and yet protect the beneficial use of the
water. Third party litigation initiated by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
against the U.S. EPA resulted in local area Consent Decrees (setting time schedules)
whereby either the State Water Quality Board or US EPA must establish 97 TMDLs
covering all the water bodies in L.A. County. Pollutants regulated through TMDLs
include physical characteristics (trash, heat, lack of oxygen, toxicity), nutrients (nitrates,
phosphorous), chemicals (copper, lead, zinc), bacteria and invasive organisms.
TMDLs require a regulated agency such as Downey to monitor for specific
contaminants in the discharge and develop implementation plans that will ensure that
compliance schedules that may extend over a few years or decades are met. They are
enforceable through incorporation in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) Permits, such as the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4),
CITY OF DOWNEY, CALIFORNIA
Urban Runoff and Total Maximum Daily Loads
July 13, 2010
Page 2
General Industrial, and General Construction Permits issued to cities in Los Angeles
County or the state of California.
Once inserted into an NPDES permit, the potential for TMDL enforcement is greatly
facilitated and may occur through several different mechanisms. Third party litigation is
currently being directed at the City of Malibu and County of Los Angeles for bacterial
discharges in the Malibu Creek Watershed. The Water Board may collect Mandatory
Minimum Penalties (fines) whenever standards are exceeded. Enforcement may be
directed at a single jurisdiction or on a watershed basis with the regulators making no
effort to distinguish among the many sources of a pollutant.
FISCAL IMPACT
Based on the type and number of TMDLs currently being adopted by the LARWQCB
and U.S. EPA. The cost for compliance with TMDLs is unknown, but as previously
determined will be very high. For example, the estimate for compliance with the TMDL
for Bacteria in the L.A. River for dry weather flows only is $1.1 billion, which for Downey
translates to between $500,000 and $700,000 per year for the forseable future. The
most comprehensive estimate for compliance with all TMDLs in Los Angeles County is
$270 billion, and that is for capital cost only.