Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
November 25, 2008
4. Water Quality-
Recycled materials market chaos spurs talk of easing restrictions
Contra Costa Times
Capistrano's Water World, Southwest is Out; SJC is In
| The Capistrano Dispatch | |
Water penalties for YC, Live Oak
The Appeal-Democrat
$48,000 fine for fish kill in Colusa
The Appeal-Democrat
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Recycled materials market chaos spurs talk of easing restrictions
Contra Costa Times, 11/24/2008
By Matthias Gafni, Staff Writer
S
tate and local waste diversion agencies are trying to calm the jittery waste industry before it starts sending aluminum cans and glass bottles to landfills because the economic crisis has rocked recycling profits.
An emergency workshop in
If demand for recycled metals, glass and paper does not improve, some believe haulers may ask the state for a reprieve from Assembly Bill 939 — the landmark 1999 state law requiring jurisdictions keep at least half of their waste out of landfills.
"If they took all of what they've been diverting, landfills would be overwhelmed," said William Winchester, a
His clients, including one in Contra Costa, have begun looking at tweaking disposal contracts, which could lead to higher garbage rates for residents.
"I know everyone is looking at their agreements. We're constantly looking at projections and data for them, which is like looking into a crystal ball," said
Last week, the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority board set up an ad hoc committee to monitor the recycling market. The agency contracts for garbage service and recycling in Lamorinda,
"We may have to make temporary amendments to our contracts ... to ensure we keep these commodities out of the landfill," Executive Director Paul Morsen told the board.
In the past, the authority received about $1 million in profit-sharing from Pacific Rim Recycling, a
Against the background of growing concern, the larger crisis abated somewhat.
At the beginning of November, Steve Moore was renting warehouse space to store thousands of tons of recycled materials. The owner of Pacific Rim Recycling could not find a buyer, let alone a profitable sale price.
Since then,
"I'm safe through the first week of December," he said.
Prices have only slightly increased, but Asian buyers are finally buying materials again, and most importantly, shipping costs have nose-dived. At the
"There's more empty containers going back toward
"I still think it's very touch-and-go. We haven't seen the economy improve, have we?"
Some in the industry are hoarding materials, betting on higher prices.
"They have contracts that require the collection of waste,"
The specter of a never-ending stream of materials with no place to go has perked
"One fortunate thing that's taking place is we're trying to get ahead of the issue," he said.
The state is not shying from its recycling drive. At the Nov. 13 Integrated Waste board meeting, members granted a nearly $400,000 consulting contract to identify the cost effect of expanding commercial recycling.
So far, no disposal contracts in
"I'm sure there are other solutions without the adjustment of AB939," he said.
Waste Management, the largest recycler in the state and nation, is not prepared to ask for state law waivers, said company spokesman Kent Stoddard.
"We're worried and we're watching the markets very carefully. There may need to be some action by the state, but I don't think we're there yet," he said.
Waste Management — which sold 5.8 million tons of recycled materials in 2005 — has not had to stockpile materials in the weak market, Stoddard said. But, the domestic market needs a boost to help stabilize the battered commodities, he said.
"The industry is very, very nervous. It was so sudden, like almost overnight, from robust demand, high pricing to almost no demand, low pricing," Stoddard said.
"It's much deeper and broader than we've ever seen in the past, so a little panic is setting in.”#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_11067117?nclick_check=1
Capistrano's Water World, Southwest is Out; SJC is In
| The Capistrano Dispatch, 11/21/2008 | |
By Jonathan Volzke
City takes over operation of groundwater recovery plant nearly four years after it goes online
When the city cut the ribbon on the $25 million groundwater recovery plant in 2004, the project was heralded as a way to ensure
The system uses six wells to draw water from the mineral-rich water beneath our feet in the San Juan Basin, then pushes that water through two series of filters, like a reverse-osmosis system you’d have under your sink, but super-sized. The Capistrano groundwater recovery plant has two reverse osmosis “trains” made up of 64 vessels—white pipes—that each hold seven 8-inch filters.
The system was designed and built by ECO Resources, a subsidiary of Southwest Water. The contract called on that firm to operate the plant for 20 years, too, for another $20 million. The plant was to produce five million gallons of water a day—just about all the city needs in the winter and about half the summer demand.
Water rates went up a bit to pay for the system, but Metropolitan Water District was giving the city $250 for each acre-foot of water the plant produced. Besides, city officials said, there was a cost of ensuring a steady local supply, and eventually the plant would pay for itself as our water rates remained steady and Metropolitan’s rates increased.
It worked, too, for the first year, at least, even exceeding goals and expectations. The county chapter of the American Public Works Association gave the plant “project of the year” honors.
But then the plant started hiccupping on production, and ultimately began kicking out water that took on a disturbing yellow tinge—or worse—when it came out of residents’ taps.
Arlene brought her household water filter to a City Council meeting in March 2007. It was black. She used to change the whole-house filters every six months, but since the groundwater plant had been running, she was changing them out every two to three months—at a cost of $1,100. She was followed at the podium by Mary Eidsvold. She brought photos of her bathtub, filled with brown water. “I don’t even call when it’s yellow anymore,” Eidsvold said. “I only call when it’s brown.”
Linda Anderson echoed those complaints earlier this year, telling the council she couldn’t even wash white clothing in her home, lest they take on a yellow tinge.
The plant—also troubled by gasoline additive MTBE found in two of its feeder wells—went off line. The council hired a consultant to explore the problem, and began pushing Southwest Water to clean up its act—literally. In July, the city announced Southwest installed another filter system and reconfigured the plant to run all of the groundwater through the full system, rather than creating a blend of filtered and unfiltered water.
Also in July: The city hired John O’Donnell as its new Utilities Director. Not only does he hold a bachelor’s of science in civil and environmental engineering from the
The city restructured to create a utilities department, which cleared the way for the next big, and possibly final, move with the groundwater utilities plant: taking over operations from Southwest. In a deal announced this month, Assistant City Manager Cindy Russell said both parties “agreed to go their own ways,” and no money will change hands to dissolve what’s left of the 20-year contract.
“There were buyout clauses in contract,” Russell said. “But we have had issues with the plant. It just worked out to both sides saying ‘let’s just go our own way.’”
Russell said initial plans showed the city’s break-even point with the plant would come between 2015 and 2018. That’s been pushed back some, with the issues of the past few years, but getting out of the contract with Southwest also saves the city about $104,000 a month. That money, Russell said, will go into a savings fund to pay for maintenance and repairs at the plant. Two operators run the plant now, along with a supervisor, but Russell said it’s not even clear if all three employees will be needed in the long run.
City leaders heralded the move, but not everyone was immediately convinced.
“I still have my doubts about the city’s ability to run the facility and the fact that the city has hushed-up all of the details of why the takeover was necessary,” said John Perry, a water watchdog in the city. “Someone at the city should address the past failures and give the residents some confidence that they now have the situation under control. The city people who say everything is fine were the same people who designed the groundwater recovery plant and negotiated the contract with ECO Systems.
“Let’s follow this one very closely.”
One customer who is sold, though, is Linda Anderson, who complained earlier about her yellow water. She said she had one problem a few weeks back and called Mayor Joe Soto. Before she knew it, O’Donnell was on the phone, explaining the issues and assuring her it would be quickly fixed.
“It’s good,”
City Moving Forward with Kinoshita MTBE Study
The City Council on November 18 approved a $97,060 contract with Irvine-based Environ Strategy Consultants to test the soil and groundwater beneath old fuel tanks found at the city-owned Kinoshita farms area off Alipaz and Camino Del Avion.
The Kinoshita Well, one of six that supplies water for the city’s groundwater plant, was shut down in January after MTBE, a possible cancer-causing chemical once used as a gasoline additive, was found in the water. The city bought the property with proceeds from the 1990 Open Space Bond.
The Kinoshita Well, named after the family that farmed in the area, was shut down about a week after the city turned off the tap at its Dance Hall Well, also for trace amounts of MTBE. But the sources of the MTBE may be different: from the underground tanks at Kinoshita, and from two Chevron stations that leaked fuel in the 1980s at the Dance Hall.
The city removed three underground storage tanks, which once supplied farm operations at Kinoshita, and discovered that fuel, containing MTBE, had leaked. One tank was installed as far back as 1955, another in 1979, and no one could even hazard a guess at the third. The three tanks totaled about 2,000 gallons in capacity, although officials only found evidence that two leaked.
Under the contract approved Tuesday, Environ will figure out how much MTBE is in the soil, and whether any hit the groundwater—22 feet deep in that area—and how to clean it up. They’ll put a mobile lab right on the premises.
For the Dance Hall Well, Chevron is working on a plan that would build a new filtration system for that well, which is near City Hall. Those plans are due before the City Council shortly.#
Water penalties for YC, Live Oak
The Appeal-Democrat, 11/23/2008
Lapses in sewage treatment will strike at
The Central Valley Water Quality Management Board has announced administrative civil liability penalties against the two cities for water-quality violations going back eight years.
The fines stem from violations of state standards for suspended solids clouding wastewater from the towns' sewage treatment centers. Regulators also cited Live Oak's effluent for excessive oxygen depletion, which potentially can threaten fish.
Water quality officials recorded 39 water quality infractions in
The latest fines are in line with those assessed in other
Among Mid-Valley communities, western
Bill Lewis,
Live Oak City Manager Jim Goodwin said he will seek to have that town's fine applied to the cost of replacing or overhauling its sewage system, although the water quality board said in its ruling it would demand the city produce a plan to do so first.
Live Oak has forecast it will need as much as $25 million to overhaul its sewage treatment to consistently meet state water-quality rules.
That expense has led to proposals for centralizing several treatment systems in
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/live_71446___article.html/oak_sewage.html
$48,000 fine for fish kill in Colusa
The Appeal-Democrat, 11/23/2008
By Robert Parsons
A Colusa businessman has been fined $48,000 for his company's role in a chemical spill that polluted a drainage canal last year.
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board levied the administrative civil liability penalty against Frank A. Rogers and his Rogers Trucking Co.
Multiple phone calls to
Wendy Wyels, program manager for the water board, said the fine stems from an April 2007 incident near
"It's a fairly small fine for the magnitude of the impact, but under the water code, it was the maximum we could assess," Wyels said,
A driver working for
Officials learned of the contamination about two days later when dead fish surfaced in the canal system, Wyels said.
The board estimated more than 3,500 fish and other aquatic organisms died as a result of the spill.
"The spill was an accident," Wyels said, "but (
Wyels said the impact of the spill could have been significantly reduced, had authorities been immediately notified.
The district could have turned off its pumps near the spill point, which would have confined the spill to a smaller area, Wyels said.
Lewis Bair, general manager for the district, said the driver damaged a valve on a storage tank, which was located in a field about 30 feet from the drainage canal.
The tank leaked onto the field and into the drainage canal, which directly feeds the
"It's an unfortunate situation where a driver made a mistake," Bair said. "But they're not biologists. There was no malicious intent."
Bair said
Bair said the dead fish, mostly carp and suckerfish, were transported to a
There has been no long-term affect to the canal waters and said the fish population is still thriving in the area, he said.
The board said
"We hope other trucking companies will take notice and train their drivers to report spills when they happen," Wyels said.#
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/spill_71445___article.html/rogers_wyels.html
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