MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA Wednesday, July 18, 2018, 1:30 P.M

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MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA Wednesday, July 18, 2018, 1:30 p.m. (Closed Session Beginning at 3:30 p.m.) 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA, Conference Room “A”

City of Antioch: Phil Hoffmeister / Lynne Filson City of Brentwood: Jagtar Dhaliwal / Meghan Laporta / James Campero City of Clayton: Laura Hoffmeister / Mindy Gentry / Scott Alman City of Concord: Kevin Marstall / Frank Kennedy Town of Danville: Chris McCann / Steven Jones / Mark Rusch City of El Cerrito: Will Provost / Stephen Prée / Yvetteh Ortiz / Maria Sanders City of Hercules: Mike Roberts / Jeff Brown / Jose Pacheco / Frank Kennedy City of Lafayette: Alexandra Majoulet / Donna Feehan / Mike Moran City of Martinez: Tim Tucker / Khalil Yowakim Town of Moraga: Edric Kwan / Frank Kennedy City of Oakley: Billilee Saengchalern / Keith Coggins / Frank Kennedy City of Orinda: Scott Christie / Larry Theis / Jason Chen City of Pinole: Tamara Miller / Frank Kennedy / Michelle Fitzer City of Pittsburg: Jolan Longway / Fritz McKinley City of Pleasant Hill: Frank Kennedy / Mario Moreno City of Richmond: Joanne Le (Chair) / Ryan Smith City of San Pablo: Amanda Booth (Vice-Chair) / Karineh Samkian / Jill Mercurio City of San Ramon: Steven Spedowfski / Robin Bartlett / Maria Fierner City of Walnut Creek: Rinta Perkins / Carlton Thompson / Steve Waymire Contra Costa County: Cece Sellgren / Mike Carlson / Tim Jensen / Brian Balbas CCC Flood Control & Water Mike Carlson / Tim Jensen / Cece Sellgren Conservation District:

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW

Next Management Committee Meeting: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 1:30 p.m. 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, Conference Room A

The Contra Costa Clean Water Program will provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities that are planning to participate in Management Committee meetings. Contact Erica Lashley-Cornell at least 48 hours before the meeting at (925) 313-2360

CONTRA COSTA CLEAN WATER PROGRAM Management Committee Meeting Agenda July 18, 2018

AGENDA

Introductions/Announcements/Changes to Agenda Start by: 15 min. 1:30 pm

Public Comments: Any member of the general public may address the Management Committee on a subject within their jurisdiction and not listed on the agenda. Remarks should not exceed three (3) minutes.

Regional Water Quality Control Board Staff Comments/Reports: 10 min. 1:45 pm

A. Selina Louie – San Francisco Bay

B. Elizabeth Lee – Central Valley

Consent Calendar: All matters listed under the CONSENT CALENDAR are 05 min. 1:55 pm considered to be routine and can be acted on by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless requested by a member of the Management Committee or a member of the public prior to the time the Management Committee votes on the motion to adopt.

A. Management Committee Meeting Minutes – June 20, 2018 (Courtney Riddle)

B. ACCEPT the Following Subcommittee Meeting Minutes into the Management Committee Record: 1. Administrative Committee Meeting Minutes – June 5, 2018 (Courtney Riddle) 2. Development Committee Meeting Minutes – May 23, 2018 (Dan Cloak – Program Consultant) 3. Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes January 8, February 12, March 12, April 9, and May 14, 2018 (Lucile Paquette)

Presentations:

A. Update on Fiscal Year 2017-18 C.11/12 Mercury and PCBs Load Reductions 20 min. 2:00 pm Reporting (Lucile Paquette)

B. Overview of 2018 Reasonable Assurance Analyses Report (Lisa Austin, 20 min. 2:20 pm Geosyntec; Adêle Ho)

Actions:

A. APPROVE the Stressor / Source Identification Study Work Plan Addressing Fish 20 min. 2:40 pm Kills in Marsh Creek and Transmittal Letter and its Submittal to the San Francisco Bay and Central Valley Bay Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and DIRECT the Program Manager to Sign and Certify the Submittal on Behalf of Each 2

Permittee’s Duly Authorized Representative (Lucile Paquette)

Reports:

A. Update on the Recruitment for the Administrative Analyst (Courtney Riddle) 10 min. 3:00 pm

B. Update on Municipal Regional Permit Amendment for East County Permittees 10 min. 3:10 pm (Courtney Riddle)

Information Items

A. BASMAA Committee Meeting Summaries 5 min. 3:20 pm 1. Trash http://basmaa.org/Board-and-Committees 2. MPC http://basmaa.org/Board-and-Committees

B. June 22, 2018, East Bay Times Article – “Oakland to Spend Millions to Curb Homelessness, Illegal Dumping Problem”

C. June 27, 2018, American City&County Article – “Stormwater’s New Look”

D. Stormwater Trash Management July 31, 2018 Webinar - Series # 3 Straws, Stormwater and Youth

Old/New Business: 5 min. 3:25 pm

Closed Session: The Management Committee Will Receive Information from Chair 20 min. 3:30 pm Joanne Le

Adjournment: Approximately 3:50 p.m.

UPCOMING EVENTS and/or DEADLINES July 20, 2018 Deadline for informing Program staff of any special issues or circumstances that will result in your agency not being able to submit all or a portion of your Final Municipal Annual Report by the August 30, 2018 deadline.

July 25, 2018 Interested parties 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Review 2018 RAA Report* *Draft Quantitative Relationship between Green Infrastructure and PCBs/Hg Load Reductions” Report PLEASE RSVP TO [email protected]

July 31, 2018 Final comments on 2018 RAA Report* due to Program Staff *Draft Quantitative Relationship btw GI and PCBs/Hg Load Reductions” Report

August 30, 2018 Submit final Municipal Annual Report as a single PDF file to erica.lashley- [email protected] or upload to Groupsite.

October 15-17, 14th Annual CASQA Conference, Riverside. For more information later, visit 2018 https://www.casqa.org/events/annual-conference

FUTURE PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEETINGS All meetings held at 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, Conference Room A, Except for Monitoring Committee which will be held at 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, Conference Room G.

July 25 Public Information / Participation (PIP) Committee Meeting, 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon 4th Wednesday Meeting will be held in Room G (Reduced Schedule) July 25 Development Committee (DC) Meeting, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. 4th Wednesday July 30 Monitoring Committee (MonC) Meeting, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (August Meeting Rescheduled) August 6 Municipal Operations Committee (MOC) Meeting, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon 1st Monday August 7 Administrative Committee (AC) Meeting 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon 1st Tuesday August 15 Management Committee (MC) Meeting, 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. 3rd Wednesday

MONTHLY BASMAA SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS Times and locations for the BASMAA Subcommittee meetings are subject to change. Development Committee, 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. 1st Thursday

Monitoring/POCs Committee, 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. 1st Wednesday

Public Information/Participation Committee, 1:30 – 4:00 p.m. 4th Wednesday Trash Subcommittee, 9:30 a.m.-12 noon 4th Tuesday

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MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES REVISED June 20, 2018

Attendance:

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister City of Brentwood Meghan Laporta City of Clayton Laura Hoffmeister / Mindy Gentry / Scott Alman City of Concord Kevin Marstall Town of Danville Chris McCann (Chair) City of El Cerrito Will Provost City of Hercules Frank Kennedy City of Lafayette Donna Feehan (Vice- Chair) / Alexandra Majoulet City of Martinez Khalil Yowakim Town of Moraga Edric Kwan City of Oakley Billilee Saengchalern City of Orinda Scott Christie City of Pinole Frank Kennedy City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway City of Pleasant Hill Frank Kennedy City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (via conference phone) / Jill Mercurio City of San Ramon Steven Spedowfski City of Walnut Creek Rinta Perkins Contra Costa County Cece Sellgren / Mike Carlson / Tim Jensen Contra Costa County Flood Control & Water Mike Carlson / Tim Jensen Conservation District / Cece Sellgren

Program Staff: Courtney Riddle, Beth Baldwin, Lucile Paquette, Erica Lashley-Cornell, Robert Alexander Program Consultants: Adêle Ho; Lisa Austin, Geosyntec

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MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC/ OTHERS/GUESTS: Michele Mancuso (Contra Costa County); Derrek Crutchfield (City of Vallejo); Mitch Avalon (Contra Costa County, Consultant)

1. Introductions/Announcements/Changes to Agenda: Vice-Chair Donna Feehan opened the meeting at 1:32 p.m. Following self-introductions, she asked if there were any announcements.

Courtney Riddle announced that the Action Item on providing an opposition letter for Assembly Bill 3014 (Quirk) was removed from the agenda due to the legislation item being withdrawn from the legislature. Mitch Avalon announced that Contra Costa County was planning a polystyrene ban.

2. Public Comments: No members of the public chose to speak.

3. Regional Board Staff Comments/Reports: Regional Board representatives were not in attendance.

4. Consent Calendar:

APPROVE the May 16, 2018 Management Committee Meeting Minutes

ACCEPT the Following Subcommittee Meeting Minutes into the Management Committee Record 1. Administrative Committee Meeting Minutes – May 1, 2018 2. Development Committee Meeting Minutes – April 25, 2018 3. Public Information/Participation Committee Meeting Minutes – March 28, 2018 4. Municipal Operations Committee Meeting Minutes – February 5, February 13, March 19, April 2, and April 16, 2018

Moved/Seconded (Spedowfski/Perkins) to approve the Consent Calendar. Motion Carried

Ayes: 19 (Cities/Towns of Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District)

Noes: None

Absent: Clayton and Danville

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Abstain: None

5. Presentations:

A. Town of Moraga Proposition 218 Stormwater Funding Legislation: Edric Kwan gave Committee members a brief overview of the ordinance that was on the Town of Moraga’s ballot to address the town’s stormwater needs and help fund engineering projects. It didn’t receive enough votes to qualify to be placed on the June election ballot. He said there was an opposition group that sent out negative information on the ordinance and there were many other factors that caused it to lose by a slim margin. He believed that it was a good effort and would try again to have a similar ordinance passed in the year 2020. He will provide a more in-depth presentation at the upcoming American Public Works Association conference. Questions were asked and answered.

B. Reasonable Assurance Analyses (RAA) Update: Program consultant Adêle Ho gave Committee members a brief overview of the RAA process. She stated that the Program is close to meeting their 2018 PCB load reduction goal but may not be able to meet the 2020 goal will be more difficult due to less source properties available for cleanup. Program consultant Lisa Austin discussed the projects tasks Geosyntec has completed for the RAA and the upcoming tasks that they are currently working on. She discussed how the green infrastructure (GI) requirements fit into the RAA process. Ho stated that staff from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Water Board (Water Board) expects a significant commitment to investment in GI from all municipalities. Austin then reviewed the RAA timeline with Committee members. They are working with Program consultant Dan Cloak to plan a workshop for September or October to discuss the GI planning and RAA. Ho requested that Committee members email her with any suggestions on topics they would like to discuss at the workshop. Ho also requested feedback on what format Committee members would like the GI development forecast in. The Committee consented to using a Google Earth KMZ and spreadsheet option with the option of viewing it in ArcGIS in the future. Ho asked Committee members to provide her with any GI and operations and maintenance costs projection analyses that they have completed.

Ho gave Committee members an update on the GI planning process. The Program’s Development Committee was looking into the option of using Santa Clara’s GI planning documents but after review, they decided they were not useful. They are looking into other options for GI specifications. She requested feedback if the Committee wanted standard or details and specifications, and asked the Committee members to provide an email on their preference. Questions were asked and answered.

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C. Fiscal Year (FY) 2017/18 Municipal Annual Report Packet: Riddle provided the Key Changes handout and reviewed it with Committee members. The Program’s PIP Committee will prepare the outreach summary at their July meeting and she will provide it to Committee members after that meeting. Beth Baldwin stated that those Permittees who participate in the Central Contra Costa Sanitary Sewer District’s inspection program will receive a list of businesses that were inspected during the year. Baldwin gave an in-depth overview of the changes in the section for Provision C.10 and provided recommendations for filling out those sections. Baldwin and Riddle also specified which items in the report will be handled by the Program through the ArcGIS application and other Program report appendices.

6. Actions:

A. APPROVE Management Committee Chair’s Recommendations for Permittee Voting Membership on Subcommittees for FY 2018/19: Chris McCann stated that all BASMAA subcommittees have at least one representative and thanked Contra Costa County for volunteering staff to be on the committees.

Moved/Seconded (Marstall/Kwan) to approve the Management Committee Chair’s recommendations for Permittee voting membership on subcommittees for FY 2018/19.

Ayes: 20 (Cities/Towns of Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District)

Noes: None

Absent: Clayton

Abstain: None

B. AFFIRM the Administrative Committee’s Decision to Hire a Student Intern for a Cost Not to Exceed $7,000: Riddle introduced Robert Alexander who is a currently a student at Rice University. He is majoring in neuroscience. He is assisting the Program with reading reports and unpacking from their most recent move.

Moved/Seconded (Spedowfski/Marstall) to affirm the Administrative Committee’s decision to hire a student intern for a cost not to exceed $7,000. Motion Carried.

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Noes: None

Absent: Clayton

Abstain: None

C. AFFIRM the Administrative Committee’s Decision to Support a Change in Scope for BASMAA’s PCBs-Containing Materials and Wastes During Building Demolition Project: Riddle reviewed the project’s change in scope with Committee members. She stated that the Program’s cost will be $987.

Moved/Seconded (Perkins/Le) to affirm the Administrative Committee’s decision to support a change in scope for BASMAA’s PCBs-Containing materials and wastes during building demolition project. Motion Carried.

Noes: None

Absent: Clayton

Abstain: None

7. Reports:

A. Provision C.10 Trash Load Reduction Update: Baldwin gave the Committee an update on Permittees who did not meet the 70% trash reduction by July 2017. Six regional permittees have not met the requirement and received violation notices. Water Board staff is working with those cities to determine options to help them reach compliance.

Baldwin gave an update on the mapping exercise to identify private lands greater than 10,000 square feet. The map is now available for Committee members to use to

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identify parcels in the ArcGIS database. She stated she’s working with Program consultant’s PSOMAS to create a map for Permittees to turn in in the upcoming annual report. She says there are some unanswered questions from the mapping exercise which she will seek clarification on at the next BASMAA trash meeting. There will also be a presentation at that meeting on the work the Town of Moraga did to work with private property owners and trash reduction.

Baldwin gave an update on the receiving water trash monitoring plan. Program consultant’s ADH have completed all visual assessments for the wet season and have begun their dry season assessments and targeted site monitoring. She’s working with cities on getting encroachment permits and picking dates for ADH to do the assessments. Baldwin asked Committee members to inform her about any recent trash pickups that they’ve done in their trash hot-spot areas and the date that it was performed. The Program will be submitting a progress report on the efforts as an appendix in the upcoming annual report.

B. Provision C.5.e Control of Mobile Sources Update: Baldwin informed the Committee that while there is no submittal needed for this provision in the upcoming annual report, a submittal will be required in the following year’s report. Permittees need to discuss changes to best management practice standards and develop mobile business standards. She’s still waiting on feedback from Water Board staff on the submittal the Program submitted in last year’s annual report.

8. Information Items:

A. BASMAA Committee Meeting Summaries 1. Trash http://basmaa.org/Board-and-Committees 2. MPC http://basmaa.org/Board-and-Committees

B. Program Workshop Updates 1. C.6 Workshop April 17, 2018 2. C.3 Workshop April 24, 2018 3. C.4 Workshop May 03, 2018

C. June 04, 2018, East Bay Times Article – “Illegal Trash Dumping Problem Getting Worse in Oakland’s Hot Spots”

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9. Old/New Business: Will Provost requested a presentation on the California Environmental Quality Act and how it fits into the GI Plan at an upcoming. McCann suggested bringing it up at a future Development Committee meeting. Jill Mercurio informed the Committee that the City of Vallejo’s will host an illegal dumping forum in Pleasant Hill on June 28. Kwan is organizing a dragon boat trash pickup in September 29 in the Oakland estuary.

10. Closed Session: Receive Information from Chair Chris McCann Chair McCann began the Closed Session at 3:30 p.m. There was nothing to report from the Closed Session.

11. Adjournment: Chair McCann adjourned the meeting at 4:20 p.m.

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Page 7 of 7 Administrative Committee Meeting Minutes June 05, 2018

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT Voting Members City of Concord Kevin Marstall City of El Cerrito Will Provost Contra Costa County Cece Sellgren/Mike Carlson (Vice-Chair) CCC Flood Control District Mike Carlson (Vice- Chair)/Cece Sellgren Town of Danville Chris McCann(Chair) City of Martinez Tim Tucker/Khalil Yowakim City of Oakley Billilee Saengchalern City of San Pablo Amanda Booth Non-Voting Members City of Hercules Jeff Brown City of San Ramon Steven Spedowfski City of Walnut Creek Rinta Perkins Program Staff: Courtney Riddle, Erica Lashley-Cornell

1) Introductory Remarks: Chair Chris McCann began the meeting at 9:40 am. After self- introductions, she proceeded to the agenda.

2) Approval of Minutes: (Moved/Seconded) Sellgren/Carlson to approve the May 1, 2018 Administrative Committee Meeting minutes with revisions.

3) Reschedule/Cancel July Administrative Committee Meeting: Courtney Riddle requested feedback on the Committee’s recommendation. The Committee recommended that the Program hold the meeting on July 10, with the option of canceling the meeting if needed. McCann suggested checking with new Committee members to see if they’re available to meet on July 10.

4) Updated on Program Staffing Plan (Plan): Riddle informed the Committee that Program consultant Mitch Avalon is finalizing a report on the Plan. The Plan will memorialize the work Avalon, the Steering Committee, and Program staff during the time he was tasked with guiding the Plan process. The Committee discussed the background of the plan. McCann would like to have the Administrative Committee review the report prior to having it placed on the Management Committee agenda. She asked if there will be a recommendation in the Plan to hire an additional staff person or Geographic Information Specialist (GIS) employee. Cece Sellgren stated that many cities do not have their own GIS staff and it would be good for the Program to have a GIS person to assist those cities. Mike Carlson stated that Contra Costa County does not have a good GIS specialist job description and that will make it difficult for the Program to hire a GIS employee. Carlson would like Riddle and Avalon to look at the Program’s needs and come up with a recommendation. Riddle says that the Plan does discuss the Program’s GIS needs but it doesn’t have a defined clear recommendation for a Program staff position. Steven Spedowfski discussed the background of Program’s pilot GIS project. Will Provost is supportive of finding additional staffing support for the Program. Sellgren recommended having a staff person that the Watershed Program can share with the Program. Carlson suggested that Riddle come up with a recommendation after determining what staffing assistance the Program needs. Carlson suggested that it’s easier to hire an existing position with the Program, even if it’s not a GIS specialist, than to define a new GIS position. Booth stated that all of this discussion should be included in the Plan. Riddle wanted to know if the Committee would like to reconvene a Steering Committee to discuss this further. McCann stated that Administrative Committee should be in charge of personnel and would like the incoming and outgoing Committees to review the report prior to the next Administrative Committee meeting in July. McCann stated that any review of the Plan by Management Committee should be postponed until the Administrative Committee can review it. Booth wanted to know if the report will mention work done on staff retention and requesting a salary survey. Riddle stated that she and Carlson will be working on that but that will be done as a separate part of the Plan. Perkins and McCann suggested finding a way to reclassify or offer to increase the salary steps of an incoming Program employee. Carlson stated that it would be difficult to make changes just for the Program that wouldn’t affect other County positions. Riddle will do more research on having a salary survey done and have more discussion on it at July’s meeting.

5) Letter of Opposition for Assembly Bill 3014 – (Quirk) Brake Friction Copper Limits Exemption: Riddle gave a brief background on the assembly bill and requested direction on whether the Committee would like the Program to write an opposition letter. The Committee agreed that the Program should draft an opposition letter if the Management Committee agrees to approve the recommendation.

6) Personnel Update: 1. Administrative Analyst Position: Riddle stated that the Contra Costa County Human Resources Department has generated a new list for this position. Once the list is certified, Program staff will begin the interview process. 2. Summer Student Intern: Riddle informed the Committee that the Program will have a student intern who will begin tomorrow. The intern has a background in science and Program staff is creating a list of projects for the intern to work on. Booth said that the University of California Berkeley extension is a good place to look for student interns.

2 7) Program Website Update: Riddle is working with WebSight Design to get a launch date for the new Program website and will inform the Committee.

8) Update on the Fiscal Year 2017/18 Annual Report Format and Guidance: Riddle informed the Committee that Program staff is working on the guidance documents for June’s Management Committee presentation. Sellgren wanted to know if there will be any new forms or reports that the Permittees will need to complete in the upcoming annual report. Riddle stated that she’s working with Program staff to determine that for Permittees.

9) Request for Additional Scope and Budget for BASMAA’s PCBs in Demolition Project: Riddle stated that at the last BASMAA Board of Supervisor meeting, there was a request from consultants EOA and Larry Walker and Associates for additional funds to the project. The Program’s contribution will be approximately $900. Booth wanted to know if this will be going to first or second task of the project. Riddle stated that it will be for the first task. Riddle will provide a copy of the scope to Committee members. The Committee consented to contributing an additional $900 for the first task of the project.

10) Approve June 20, 2018 Management Committee Draft Agenda: Will Provost would like the ArcGIS Online deadlines added to the agenda’s deadline. Riddle will add the deadlines to the agenda. McCann would like any additional deadlines from Permittees added to the Committee’s agenda deadline. Riddle will update the agenda with upcoming deadlines. The Committee agreed to remove the staff report on the Plan. Perkins recommended having an update on the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) Provision C.5 requirement on mobile businesses. Riddle will check with Beth Baldwin to see if she can provide an update. Billilee Saengchalern wanted to know if there will be an update on the adding the East County Permittees to the MRP. Riddle stated that since the MRP amendment meeting takes place after the Management Committee meeting, it can be a meeting announcement. Booth would like an announcement with a summary from last week’s Pollutants of Concern meeting. Riddle will provide an update as an announcement. Saengchalern requested an update on the Storm Water Resource Plan. Provost would like more information on Green Infrastructure (GI) exemption for the GI Plan at the meeting. McCann suggested adding that as a staff report at the meeting. Riddle will make the suggested additions to the agenda. The Committee agreed to the agenda via consensus.

11) Old/New Business: Perkins gave an update on the alternative compliance process. Riddle suggested having further discussion at an upcoming Administrative Committee on the process and other discussions that occur at BASMAA meetings. The Committee consented to have further discussion at an upcoming Administrative Committee meeting.

3 12) Adjournment: Chair McCann adjourned the meeting at 11:21 a.m.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 9:30 am – 12 noon, 255 Glacier Drive, Room A, Martinez, CA

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Development Committee May 23, 2018 Meeting Summary (DRAFT)

Voting Members:

Municipality Attending Absent City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister City of Brentwood Aman Grewal City of Clayton Laura Hoffmeister City of Concord Mitra Abkeneri Contra Costa County John Steere Cece Sellgren City of Hercules Jeff Brown City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway City of Pleasant Hill Frank Kennedy City of San Ramon Rod Wui City of Walnut Creek Ryan Cook

Program Staff: Dan Cloak Consultant Adele Ho Staff

Introductions, Announcements, and Changes to Agenda Former Committee chair John Steere presided. John called the meeting to order. Adele asked that an update on Alternative Compliance be added to the agenda. Consent Calendar On the motion by Jeff Brown, seconded by Jolan Longway, the summary of the April 25 meeting was accepted without changes. GI Planning and RAA Reports/Discussion BASMAA work on sizing criteria for bioretention facilities on private projects and in public right-of-way (Review 2nd draft). Dan reported that the BASMAA Development Committee’s Sizing Criteria Work Group met May 3. That Work Group concluded that it wasn’t possible to develop a regionally consistent approach to sizing bioretention facilities in Regulated Projects. The Work Group requested that the draft memorandum “Guidance for Sizing Green Infrastructure Facilities,” be revised to address sizing of facilities only for Green Infrastructure (that is, non-Regulated retrofit) projects. Dan prepared the second draft, which has also been circulated to the BASMAA Work Group. In the second draft, a number of technical comments from SCVURPPP have been incorporated and the criteria (Section 4) revised to focus on Green Infrastructure facilities. The Committee discussed the draft and agreed to provide any comments by Friday, June 1 in anticipation of the next BASMAA Work Group meeting on June 7. The Committee discussed and reiterated the need for CCCWP to provide guidance on the application, to Regulated Projects, of the findings in Tony Dubin’s December 2017 memo. The Committee discussed various policy concerns and options. Green Infrastructure Design Guidelines for Streetscapes and Other Public Infrastructure/Specifications and Typical Design Details. Dan reported that the Committee’s Work Group (Billilee Saengchalern, Frank Kennedy Scott Alman, Khalil Yowakim, and Jack Dhaliwal) met as scheduled on May 8 and directed the Committee’s attention to a May 14, 2018 summary of that meeting (included in the packet). The Committee concurred with the intent to produce guidance that would be of greatest use to municipal staff planners and engineers who are intending to implement a Green Infrastructure project and are looking for guidance on the best ways to do it. Ryan (Walnut Creek) and Jolan (Pittsburg) reported that their cities are working on adding sections to their standard specifications and details for Green Infrastructure projects. Dan directed the Committee’s attention to the links in his April 16 memo to the Work Group. It was noted that the guidelines and details should address opportunities to integrate Green Infrastructure retrofits into private development projects. As a next step, it was agreed to solicit feedback from the City County Engineering Advisory Committee. Adele will follow up. Outreach to Promote Green Infrastructure. Dan reported on his presentation to the May 10 meeting of Contra Costa Planning Directors at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, which Adele and Courtney Riddle also attended. The Committee asked that the presentation be uploaded to the CCCWP website. The Committee discussed implementation of Provision C.3.j.i.(4). The May 10 presentation, along with other outreach by CCCWP staff and consultants, will be noted in the group activities Annual Report section. Committee members noted they have included information about Green Infrastructure in municipal newsletters and on municipal websites. Using the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s UrbanSim model to project the amount and locations of private development. Dan reported that Will Lewis (LWA) has drafted a process and templates municipal staff can use to review the UrbanSim projections and provide feedback to be incorporated into the projections to be used in their Green Infrastructure Plans. He has also obtained all the data and prepared the initial projections. The next step will be to “test drive” the process with selected municipalities before sending the projections and forms to all municipalities for their review and response.

2 Storm Water Resources Plan. Adele said she is asking municipalities to be diligent about recording and sending her their hours to count toward the required match. Reasonable Assurance Analysis. Adele noted a meeting of the regional Pollutants of Concern Steering Committee (with Water Board staff) is coming up on May 31. The Committee discussed concerns about what the RAA is intended to show in terms of pollutant reductions, including how and when they will be achieved. Courtney is discussing this concern informally with the managers of the other countywide programs. Dan noted concerns about how treatment by Green Infrastructure facilities is being represented in RAA models; we need an accurate representation of the effectiveness of bioretention in capturing sediment-bound pollutants and preventing them from being transported to the MS4. Frank noted that some desktop analyses suggest there is a disconnect between the permit-mandated load reductions and what can actually be achieved. Alternative Compliance. The CCCWP Committee discussed needs and opportunities for alternative compliance. Dan reported that alternative compliance had been discussed very briefly at the May 3 BASMAA Development Committee meeting. It may be more productive to pursue individual projects (that is, pursue a specific proposal for C.3 off-site compliance outside the jurisdiction of the main project) and identify the regulatory and institutional barriers encountered, rather than attempting to implement arrangements programmatically.

New Development Reports/Discussion Coming changes to the CCCWP website. Dan and Adele reported that the website refresh, which has been in process for a couple of years now, is now scheduled to be rolled out during June. The C.3 pages will remain in their current structure and retain current content but will have a new look.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM.

NEXT DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING: Wednesday, June 27, 2018 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA 94553 Conference Room “A”

3 Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes January 8, 2018

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED Voting Members City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister County Flood Control District Michele Mancuso (Vice-Chair) City of Pinole Amelia Timbers City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (Chair) Non-Voting Members City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway City of Walnut Creek Rinta Perkins (via Conference phone)

Program Staff: Lucile Paquette, Erica Lashley-Cornell

1. Introductory Remarks: Chair Amanda Booth called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m.; followed by self-introductions she asked if there were any announcements or changes to the agenda.

Lucile Paquette announced that there will be a webinar for the next CASQA Quarterly Meeting in the Program’s conference room on January 11. The American Public Works Association will be having a seminar on January 25 on local grant funding opportunities.

Rachel Kraai informed the Committee that there will be a discussion of the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) amendment at the end of the meeting. She also thanked Committee members for their assistance with the Reasonable Assurance Analyses (RAA)’s scope of work and Geosyntec is developing their first draft of the RAA Methodology Memo.

2. Approval of Minutes: Moved/Seconded (Booth /Hoffmeister) to approve the December 11, 2017 minutes with additional revisions by Rachel Kraai. Motion Carried.

3. Local and Regional Monitoring Update: Paquette informed the Committee that Program consultant’s ADH have begun their wet-season sampling in areas of Marsh Creek and Walnut Creek. She’s also working with ADH, Jack Dhaliwal of Brentwood and Program consultant Khalil Abusaba to prepare the scope and work plan for the Stressor Source Identification (SSID) project on the fish kills in Marsh Creek. The SSID work plan is due to the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) in the 2018 Annual Report.

Paquette requested sites from Committee members to sample bacteria and suggested sites that are near encampments or dog parks. Phil Hoffmeister requested an updated list of the locations of New Zealand Mud Snails and Paquette stated she would provide him with that. Monitoring wells in the Cities of San Pablo and Pittsburg have devices installed to collect data on infiltration at those sites.

Paquette gave the Committee an update on regional monitoring projects. The BASMAA PCBs in Stormwater and Infrastructure Caulk study has finished sampling all the sites in Contra Costa County. The results will be published in a report as an appendix to the 2018 Annual Report. Paquette is also working with BASMAA to get the Regional SSID Project’s focus to be on PCBs in electrical utilities. The regional RAA Committee will have their technical collaboration meeting this month. Training materials for the PCBs in Demolition project will be available to municipalities by the end of the fiscal year. Kraai stated that she is planning a training workshop with Program consultant Sandy Mathews to assist Permittees with implementing the PCBs in Demolition program. BASMAA is also developing a scope of work for Revised Source Control Load Reduction Accounting for RAA project.

Rinta Perkins gave Committee members and update on the alternative compliance workgroup. She stated that the last meeting was well attended by regional permittees, Program staff and consultants. They’re still developing options and ongoing meetings will continue.

4. Review Urban Creek Monitoring Report (UCMR): Paquette reviewed the draft report with Committee members. She pointed out that there were exceedances in temperatures recorded in some of the sampled creeks. The bacteria E. coli was also found in some of the sampled streams, as well as nickel, and zinc. The California Stream Condition Index (CSCI) scores were low at all ten of the creeks sampled, which is not unusual. Paquette stated that there will be a Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report as an appendix in the UCMR from the San Francisco Estuary Institute, which conducts the monitoring BASMAA Stormwater Programs participate in with the Small Tributary Loading Strategy (STLS) workgroup, a subgroup of Sources Pathways Loading workgroup (SPLWG) a branch of the SF Bay Regional Monitoring Program (RMP). The draft report will be finalized and provided for approval at the March Management Committee meeting.

5. 2018 Loads Reporting - Next Steps: Paquette informed the Committee that she’s working with Permittees on clarifying the PCB source property referrals that were rejected by Water Board staff in 2017. She will provide an updated referral list at the next Committee meeting. She gave Committee members a handout on, “Enhanced O&M Load Reduction Accounting – Assumption and Data Needs,” and requested feedback from Committee members on the assumptions proposed and methods for data collection from Permittees. She will finalize the handout with Program consultant Lisa Austin and discuss it at the BASMAA Monitoring Committee. She’s also working

with Geosyntec to update ArcGIS Online C.3 Tracking application for 2018 reporting.

Adêle Ho informed the Committee that for the Region 2 permit amendment, she’s preparing a spreadsheet that compares the Region 2 and Region 5 permit requirements and she’ll provide it to Program staff and Region 5 Permittees for review.

6. Adjournment: 12:05 p.m.

Next Monitoring Committee Meeting: February 12, 2018, 10:00 a.m.-12 noon, 220 A Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA

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3 Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes February 12, 2018

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT Voting Members City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister County Flood Control District Michele Mancuso (Vice-Chair) City of Pinole Amelia Timbers City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (Chair) Non-Voting Members City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway City of Walnut Creek Neil Mock

Program Staff: Lucile Paquette, Beth Baldwin, Erica Lashley-Cornell Program Consultant: Khalil Abusaba (AMEC) Guests: Casey Wichert (City of Brentwood, via Conference Phone)

1. Introductory Remarks: Chair Amanda Booth called the meeting to order at 9:31 a.m., followed by self-introductions, she asked if there were any announcements. Lucile Paquette announced that the Program has a new manager, Courtney Riddle.

2. Stressor Source Identification Project (SSID) – Review Scope and Budget: Khalil Abusaba began his PowerPoint presentation on the Marsh Creek SSID Project by showing a map of the study area. He explained that the City of Brentwood received a Section 13267 enforcement letter from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board requesting more information due to the reoccurring fish kills in Marsh Creek. Brentwood responded to the Water Board with a monitoring plan. Since the Municipal Regional Permit requires Permittees to partake in the SSID study, the CCCWP Monitoring Committee decided that the fish kill incidents would be a valuable SSID project to pursue as well as assisting the Brentwood Permittees to address the mysterious issue. Abusaba worked with Paquette and monitoring contractors (ADH) to develop a scope and budget for a work plan for the study, which was presented for consideration and approval. The City of Brentwood will share its monitoring data with the Program, and consider how it can provide supplemental resources for the study. Paquette reviewed the scope of work described in the staff report. She stated that if the Committee approves and recommends moving forward with the scope of work, it will be brought to the February Management Committee for their approval. Moved/Seconded (Hoffmeister/Timbers) to recommend the scope of work and budget for the SSID Project to the Management Committee. Motion Carried.

3. 2018 Loads Reporting – Enhanced Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Accounting: Paquette reviewed the Enhanced O & M Load Reduction Accounting Approach memo with Committee members. She stated that permittees will need to collect and report their O&M data into a spreadsheet that Program consultant’s Geosyntec will incorporate with information from the trash application in the ArcGIS Online Database to account for pollutant loads removed by the actions. Booth asked if Geosyntec wanted the average across inlets or each inlet accounted for and Paquette will ask Geosyntec for clarification. Beth Baldwin stated that many Permittees use the same consultant (REM) to monitor their trash inlets and they will also have access to the trash inlet data. Permittees will need to decide if they would like to use default assumptions when submitting their data to staff and Geosyntec.

4. Review Urban Creeks Monitoring Report (UCMR), Comments Due 2/22: Paquette discussed the additional reports that will be included as attachments in the UCMR. The final draft will be provided for approval at the March 12th Monitoring Committee meeting and then for consideration of the Management Committee to approve for submittal at their March 21st meeting. She will also follow-up on the exceedances that have been reported.

5. Local and Regional Monitoring Update: Paquette informed the Committee that she’s working with other Program staff to mail out the 2018 Creek Status permission letters. She requested sites referrals from the Committee for bacteria or temperature monitoring and suggested those that have had exceedances at the past. Booth recommended that Paquette make an announcement to other Permittees at the upcoming Management Committee meeting. Paquette agreed and will make the announcement at the February meeting. Paquette is working on the Methylmercury Control Study Final report for the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board submittal. The report will be reviewed at the same time as the Pollutants of Concern Accomplishments and Allocations Report, both due in October 2018. Paquette and some Permittees will be meeting with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board staff to discuss the PCB source property referrals that were submitted in 2017 to clarify the reasoning that some were rejected, to present some 2018 draft referrals and agree on conclusions and next steps for obtaining all credit possible.

Paquette stated that the BASMAA Pollutants of Concern Committee is reviewing the draft C.11 and C.12 section template for the 2018 Annual Report. The PCBs in Caulk study team is in the process of compositing the samples that were collected regionally. BASMAA is also discussing a FY 18/19 regional project studying a link between PCBs and electrical utilities that ultimately load to the Bay.

6. Adjournment: 11:41 a.m.

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Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes March 12, 2018

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT Voting Members City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister County Flood Control District Michele Mancuso (Vice-Chair) City of Pinole Amelia Timbers (Via Phone) City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (Chair) City of Walnut Creek Neil Mock Non-Voting Members City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway

Program Staff: Lucile Paquette, Courtney Riddle, Rachel Kraai, Erica Lashley-Cornell Program Consultant: Lisa Austin (Geosyntec) (Via Phone)

1. Introductory Remarks: Chair Amanda Booth called the meeting to order at 10:11 a.m., followed by self-introductions and then proceeded to the agenda.

2. Credit for County Green Infrastructure (GI) Projects Built within City Jurisdiction: Lucile Paquette informed the Committee that she’s working with Management Committee representatives to come to a solution on County owned parcels that are within city limits and deciding which entity receives GI credit. Lisa Austin provided a handout with 3 scenarios prepared by Program consultant Lisa Austin for Committee members to analyze. Paquette suggested a goal of the Committee coming up with a set of guidelines that can be brought to the Management Committee for review and approval. After lengthy discussion by the meeting attendees, they agreed to have Program staff come up with two scenarios and bring it back to the Committee for approval during their April meeting. Neil Mock suggested that the County should find out if they are exempt from building permits which might affect the outcome of the scenarios. Michele Mancuso will follow up with that information. (Note: The topic was subsequently discussed at the April Administrative Committee where they directed staff to bring the discussion to the Development Committee rather than back to Monitoring Committee for resolution).

3. Approve Water Year (WY) 2017 Urban Creeks Monitoring Report (UCMR): Paquette requested approval and recommendation of the WY 2017 UCMR for submittal. The Management Committee will then be asked to approve the UCMR, transmittal letter and submittal of the monitoring results at their March 2018 meeting. She will include a detailed list of exceedances in her Management Committee staff report. Moved/Seconded (Booth/Le) to approve and the UCMR, transmittal letter and submittal

of the monitoring results and bring the items to the Management Committee for approval. Mock from the City of Walnut Creek abstained.

4. 2018 Loads Reporting – Enhanced Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Accounting: Paquette reviewed the Enhanced O&M Load Reduction Accounting Approach memo with Committee members. She stated that not all Permittees are doing the enhanced measures and she was not convinced that it is worth creating a specialized application for them in the ArcGIS database. She suggested that it may be better to document the enhanced efforts but not to track them in the AGOL as they would likely not change much over time once implemented.

5. Local and Regional Monitoring Update: Paquette is working with Program staff to secure permissions for the upcoming Creek Status monitoring. She asked for Committee members to give her referrals on sites that are near illegal encampments or that have bacteria, water quality or temperature changes.

Regionally, BASMAA is still waiting for results from the PCBs in Caulk project. The University of Sacramento has finished the water column testing for PCBs. Paquette is continuing her work with Water Board staff to get them to accept some of the rejected referral sites. There will be a Water Summit in San Mateo on March 30 on flooding, streams and the drought. She’ll share the event flyer with Committee members via Groupsite. The Pollutants of Concern Steering Committee will be discussing the Reasonable Assurance Analyses at their May 2018 meeting.

6. Stressor Source Identification (SSID) – Investigation of Marsh Creek Fish Kills: Paquette provided a PowerPoint image produced by Program consultant Khalil Abusaba. The picture showed a diagram of the different inter-related stakeholder groups that are interested or have been involved with the fish kills that the SSID study is investigating. Paquette explained that since the Program has taken on the SSID study, it is now responsible to provide updates on the status of the fish kill events. Paquette will be working with Program staff to come up with a process to streamline communication and information regarding the project. Booth suggested that the Program should form an Ad- Hoc subcommittee with interested stakeholders and Paquette agreed and will follow-up with Permittees.

7. Adjournment: 12:05 p.m.

Next Monitoring Committee Meeting: April 9, 2018, 10:00 a.m.-12 noon, 220 A Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA

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G:\NPDES\Monitoring Committee\Minutes-Attendance\17-18\2018-03 Mon Com Minutes.docx

2 Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes April 9, 2018

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister County Flood Control District Michele Mancuso (Vice-Chair) City of Pinole Amelia Timbers (Via Phone) City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (Chair) City of Walnut Creek Neil Mock

Non-Voting Members City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway

Program Staff: Lucile Paquette, Erica Lashley-Cornell, Courtney Riddle Program Consultant: Khalil Abusaba (Wood)

1. Introductory Remarks: Chair Amanda Booth called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m., followed by self-introductions and proceeded to the agenda.

2. Review Stressor Source Identification (SSID) Subcommittee and Communication Plan: Lucile Paquette produced a copy of the SSID project with the scope of work laid out in a “mind map” format. Khalil Abusaba reviewed the handout with Committee members. Their suggestion is to have the Program form a SSID Communication Subcommittee to handle communications and deliverables for the project; the Committee agreed. Paquette will bring to suggestion to the April Management Committee for the approval of the formation of an ad-hoc committee, as required by the Program Agreement. Abusaba stated that in the past, communications regarding the Marsh Creek fish kills were handled by different stakeholders and the media. Abusaba recommended drafting a 1 page fact sheet that could be shared with any interested parties, including the media if requested, informing them that the Program is conducting a SSID project investigating causes of the fish kills in Marsh Creek. Booth suggested including language that clearly states that while the Program will be conducting a study addressing the topic, they’re not legally responsible to respond to the 13267 letter from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. The Committee agreed with the suggestion and directed staff and Abusaba to develop the fact sheet to disseminate one consistent message about the study to anyone interested in knowing more about it, and when any information would be reported. Paquette will work with the Communication Subcommittee (once established) to develop a fact sheet for input and review. Paquette also will work with Abusaba to have the SSID work plan ready for review and comments

in June for a goal of approval by Program Committees for submittal to the Regional Water Boards in July.

3. Discuss Draft Fiscal Year (FY) 18-19 Monitoring Committee Work plan: Paquette reviewed the current year’s Monitoring Committee work plan with members and emphasized upcoming projects for the next fiscal year. She stated that some projects will be handled by BASMAA but the Monitoring Committee will be required to follow the progress of those projects and review the reports. Paquette indicated that there are some Program roles and responsibilities that are still unknown, due to changes in Program staff, but she will finalize the work plan soon and provide a copy of the plan to Committee members for feedback.

4. Local and Regional Monitoring Update: Paquette informed the Committee that she submitted the Urban Creeks Monitoring Report to both the San Francisco Bay and the Central Valley Water Boards (Water Boards). She is still waiting for confirmation from Central Valley to make sure they received the report. She will also provide a copy of the report to the Federal Parks for the John Muir site in Martinez as part of the permit to monitor that site. She stated that Program consultant (ADH) are currently installing monitoring equipment into creeks for WY 2018 water quality monitoring. They are also planning to collect samples for PCBs at Sim’s Metals in Richmond during upcoming rain events. Paquette is also continuing to work with Water Board staff to accept the PCB source property referrals that were previously rejected. She will attend a meeting that Water Board staff is planning at the end of April with DTSC and the City of Richmond, to discuss properties in the City of Richmond that drain directly to Stege Marsh that have had long-term PCB clean-up orders and work conducted on them. The BASMAA Regional Monitoring Coalition 5-Year Bioassemssment Report project is ongoing and will help BASMAA member agencies develop recommendations for Creek Status monitoring for next permit term. Paquette announced that Program Manager Courtney Riddle will be the Program representative for BASMAA’s PCBs in Demolition Project.

5. Adjournment: 11:40 a.m.

Next Monitoring Committee Meeting: May 14, 2018 10:00 a.m.- 12 noon, 220 A Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA

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G:\NPDES\Monitoring Committee\Minutes-Attendance\17-18\2018-04 Mon Com Minutes.docx

2 Monitoring Committee Meeting Minutes May 14, 2018 Via Conference Call

MUNICIPALITY ATTENDED ABSENT Voting Members City of Antioch Phil Hoffmeister County Flood Control District Michele Mancuso (Vice-Chair) City of Pinole Amelia Timbers City of Richmond Joanne Le City of San Pablo Amanda Booth (Chair) City of Walnut Creek Neil Mock Non-Voting Members City of Pittsburg Jolan Longway

Program Staff: Lucile Paquette, Erica Lashley-Cornell

1. Introductory Remarks: Vice-Chair Michele Mancuso called the meeting to order at 10:35 a.m. Following self-introductions, she asked if there were any announcements. Lucile Paquette announced that the Clean Water Program has moved back to 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez and all future Monitoring Committee meetings will be held in Conference Room G. Paquette also announced that PCBs in Building Demolition Materials Stakeholder meeting will be held on May 22, aimed at Permittee staff that would be implementing the protocol, such as planners and City counter staff. The Pollutants of Concern Steering Committee meeting will be May 31 at the Geosyntec office. Program consultant Adêle Ho will now manage the Reasonable Assurance Analyses (RAA) project during Rachel Kraai’s planned leave. Khalil Abusaba and Dan Cloak will continue to be technical advisors for the project. Paquette requested that the date of the August Monitoring Committee meeting be tentatively rescheduled or canceled. The Committee agreed to consider the need at the July meeting.

2. Stressor Source Identification (SSID) Update: Review and Approve SSID Fact Sheet: Paquette informed the Committee that the monitoring equipment has been installed in Marsh Creek. The SSID Communication’s subcommittee that includes staff from the Program, Contra Costa County/Flood Control District and the City of Brentwood met to discuss the fact sheet and Paquette presented their feedback to Committee members. After discussion, Paquette agreed to revise the document, incorporating the comments and will request approval of the fact sheet at the May Management Committee meeting.

3. Update on 2018 Loads Reduction Reporting: Paquette stated that she’s received a lot of

enhanced O&M data from Permittees, and Program consultant’s Geosyntec are compiling the information for loads accounting. She’ll share the results at the June Monitoring meeting and BASMAA Pollutants of Concern meeting. She reminded Permittees that all new C.3 projects and trash device data should be entered into the ArcGIS database by June 15, 2018. All entered data will be included in the PCB and mercury loads avoided report that will be an appendix to the Annual Report. She also had a meeting with San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board staff on the PCB source property referrals and they came to an agreement, which she’ll share with Committee members at a future meeting.

4. Local and Regional Monitoring Update: Paquette stated that local bioassessment monitoring is beginning this week. She still needs five locations to sample for bacteria, preferably near an illegal encampment, dog park or any suspected broken sewer or septic systems. There is also potential to sample near established trash hot spots that are being assessed this summer. Program staff and GIS consultant PSOMAS, are working on improving and updating a list of issues for the C.3 tracking application in ArcGIS. The Program has decided to keep PSOMAS on board as the Program’s GIS consultant until the end of the permit term.

Regionally, the PCBs in Building Material’s project is ongoing. Permittees will need to set up legal authority to enforce an assessment protocol by July 1, 2019. Program Consultant Sandy Matthews is scheduled to provide an update on the project at the May Management Committee meeting. The PCBs in Caulk project report will be developed and reviewed for inclusion as an appendix in the 2018 Annual Report. The Regional SSID Project on PCBs in Electrical Utilities is coming together and she reviewed the draft scope of work for the project with Committee members. Courtney Riddle will attend the tri- Annual review meeting and she’ll report back to the Committee on that.

5. Old/New Business: None

6. Adjournment: 11:18 a.m.

Next Monitoring Committee Meeting: June 11, 2018, 10:00 a.m.-12 noon, 255 Glacier Drive, Room G, Martinez, CA

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G:\NPDES\Monitoring Committee\Minutes-Attendance\17-18\2018-05 Mon Com Minutes.docx

2 Date: July 18, 2018

To: Management Committee

From: Lucile Paquette, Watershed Management Planning Specialist

Subject: Presentation Item A – Update on Fiscal Year (FY) 2017/18 C.11/12 Mercury and PCBs Load Reductions Reporting

Recommendation

Receive an update on the Mercury and PCBs Load Reductions that will be reported in the FY 2017/18 Annual Report, due September 30, 2018.

Background

Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) Provisions C.11.a and C.12.a require the Permittees to demonstrate cumulative Bay Area-wide and Program area-specific mercury and PCBs load reductions over the current permit term. MRP Provisions C.11.b and C.12.b required the Permittees to develop and implement an assessment methodology and data collection program to quantify mercury and PCBs loads reduced through implementation of pollution prevention, source control, and treatment control measures. The Permittees developed an Interim Accounting Methodology for TMDLs Loads Reduced report (BASMAA, 2017) to document the load reduction accounting assessment methodology that will be used to demonstrate progress towards achieving the load reductions required in this permit term. CCCWP Permittees developed the ArcGIS Online (AGOL) system to input their Green Infrastructure projects and trash devices, which can then be used to compile geospatially referenced data needed to make load reduction calculations for reporting.

The load reduction requirements for all Permittees within each county are set forth in Table 12.1. If neither the permit-area-wide total load reduction (500 grams/yr.) criteria nor the county-specific load reduction criterion is achieved, Permittees shall achieve load reductions consistent with their share of the county total. The individual Permittee share of the county load reduction performance criteria is the proportion of county population in each municipality. We estimate the Contra Costa County-wide load reduction goal for 2018, 90 g/yr., will be met.

Discussion

On July 3, 2018 CCCWP staff sent Permittees CCCWP PCBs Load Reductions Draft for Permittee Input (2018-06-29) that will be attached to the FY 2017-2018 Annual Report, due September 30, 2018. The draft report was updated with the information from Permittees and/or that exists in the C.3 tracking tool and Trash app in AGOL.

Geosyntec has updated preliminary calculations for inlet cleaning (with and without trash devices), street sweeping, channel desilting control measures, PCBs Source Property referrals and abatements and included them in the draft report. For this presentation, staff will briefly review the estimated county-wide loads reduced and review what information municipalities will need to review and provide for the Loads Reduced Report. Any questions about the report will be answered. See the information below about how to retrieve and review your section of the report.

The CCCWP PCBs Load Reductions Draft Report for Permittee Input (2018-06-29) has been uploaded to Groupsite. You can download it from the folder: File Cabinet > Management Committee > PCBs Control Measure Planning > FY 2017-18 C.11/12 reports > CCCWP PCBs Load Reductions Draft for Permittee Input (2018-06-29).

Please download the file and:

1. Save the file with your City/Town name on the end,

2. Focus on reviewing/updating the text in your Municipality's section. This is where you should elaborate on your Enhanced Operations and Maintenance work, or any other efforts your City or Town has made toward reducing loads (i.e. put up street sweeping signs, etc.)

3. Review Sections 1 (Intro), 2 (Description of Control Measures), and 23 (Loads Reduced) if you are so inclined.

4. Return your City/Town's updated file to Lucile Paquette by July 23rd, or confirm that you have no updates.

Contact Lucile Paquette with any questions at: 925-313-2373 or [email protected]

Fiscal Impact:

None

Attachments:

On Groupsite

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G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Lucile\2018-07\Presentation A – Update on FY17-18 C.11+12 Mercury and PCBs Load Reductions Reporting.docx

Date: July 18, 2018

To: Management Committee

From: Adêle Ho, Interim Staff

Subject: Presentation Item B – Overview of 2018 Reasonable Assurance Analyses (RAA) Report

Recommendation:

Receive overview of the Draft report, “Quantitative Relationship between Green Infrastructure Implementation and PCBs/Mercury Load Reductions”, (“2018 RAA Report”).

Background:

MRP Provision C.3.j requires the Permittees to develop a Green Infrastructure Plan for inclusion in the 2019 Annual Report using a mechanism to prioritize and map areas for potential and planned green infrastructure projects, both public and private, for implementation by 2020, 2030, and 2040. The Program has been providing support for the prioritization and mapping mechanisms for public and private green infrastructure projects through the stormwater resource planning effort and the on-call technical assistance contracts.

MRP Provisions C.11.c and C.12.c require the Permittees to prepare a Reasonable Assurance Analysis (RAA) for inclusion in the 2020 Annual Report that quantitatively demonstrates that specified mercury and PCBs load reductions will be achieved by 2040 through implementation of green infrastructure. Additionally, MRP Provisions C.11.d. and C.12.d. require the Permittees to prepare plans and implementation schedules for mercury and PCBs control measures and an RAA demonstrating that sufficient control measures will be implemented to attain the mercury TMDL wasteload allocations by 2028 and the PCBs TMDL wasteload allocations by 2030. Although the final RAA report is due in 2020, a report on the Quantitative Relationship between Green Infrastructure Implementation and PCBs/Mercury Load Reductions is due with the 2018 Annual Report. This submittal must include a description of the data and models that will be used for the RAA.

Staff and consultant Lisa Austin of Geosyntec will present a brief overview of the 2018 RAA Report. A detailed presentation, review and comment session will be

conducted On Wednesday, July 25th, 11 am to 1 pm, at the County offices, Room A, 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez. Comments on the report are due (either to Staff - Adêle Ho, or directly to Lisa Austin with a cc to Staff) no later than July 31st.

PLEASE RSVP to Staff if you plan on attending the July 25th meeting (lunch will be provided).

Attachment – Draft 2018 RAA Report – provided via GroupSite on 07-17-18

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G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Adele\2018-07\Presentation Item B - Overview of 2018 RAA Report_CRcomments.doc

Date: July 18, 2018

To: Management Committee

From: Lucile Paquette, Watershed Management Planning Specialist

Subject: Action Item A: APPROVE the Stressor / Source Identification (SSID) Study Work Plan Addressing Fish Kills in Marsh Creek and Transmittal Letter and its Submittal to the San Francisco Bay and Central Valley Bay Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and DIRECT the Program Manager to Sign and Certify the Submittal on Behalf of Each Permittee’s Duly Authorized Representative.

Recommendation:

APPROVE Monitoring Committee’s Recommendation of Stressor / Source Identification Study Work Plan Addressing Fish Kills in Marsh Creek to fulfill CCCWP’s requirement established under Provision C.8.e.iii of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit (MRP) issued in 2015 by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFRWQCB, 2015) and the East Contra Costa County Municipal Permit (CVRWQCB, 2010).

Background:

On February 21, 2018 the CCCWP Management Committee approved the Monitoring Committee’s recommendation to proceed with developing a work plan for the Stressor Source Identification Study addressing fish kills in Marsh Creek. MRP Provision C.8.e. requires a stressor source identification project to be considered when any monitoring result triggers a follow-up. Permittees must develop a work plan for each SSID project and submit the work plans with the Urban Creeks Monitoring Report (UCMR) such that SSID projects are started (at a minimum, have a workplan) by the third year of the permit term, with the goal of completing Step 21, at a minimum within the permit term. By concurrence with BASMAA Regional Monitoring Coalition and SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board staff, Contra Costa is allotted 1 SSID this permit term2.

1 (2) Step 2: The Permittees shall conduct SSID investigations according to the schedule in each SSID project work plan and shall report on the status of SSID investigations annually in the UCMR. Local stormwater Permittees shall be advised of the SSID project and consulted regarding possible local sources and potential management actions during the work plan phase and periodically throughout the SSID project.

2 After regional allocation there is one unallocated project that is under consideration as a BASMAA Regional Project for FY 2018/19.

Discussion:

This SSID Study work plan will fulfill CCCWP’s requirement established under Provision C.8.e.iii of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit (MRP) issued in 2015 by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFRWQCB, 2015) and the East Contra Costa County Municipal Permit (CVRWQCB, 2010). This document is the first deliverable (Step 1) to develop a SSID work plan addressing potential causes of impaired beneficial uses.

The stressor source identification (SSID) study will investigate the root causes of fish kills in Marsh Creek via monitoring, data compilation and review, literature review, and modeling.

The primary objective of the SSID study is to determine whether low dissolved oxygen causes fish kills in Marsh Creek and, if so, to determine the causes of the low dissolved oxygen. A primary suspected cause of low dissolved oxygen is algal growth in reaches subject to intermittent non-stormwater flows; therefore, identifying sources of non- stormwater flow is an important objective of this study. An alternate hypothesis, not necessarily exclusive of low dissolved oxygen, is that pesticide toxicity causes fish kills. Proving or disproving pesticide linkages is more complex compared to identifying low dissolved oxygen as a root cause; therefore, the objective for the pesticide assessment is to provide the most substantive weight of evidence achievable within the schedule and budget for this study.

The study approach follows the results of an initial data compilation and review that was completed during Year 1 (FY 2017-2018), and used to develop this work plan. The review provides evidence strongly suggesting low dissolved oxygen is a likely cause of fish kills in Marsh Creek. Additional evidence points to growth and decay of algae during spring through fall in reaches upstream of the Brentwood wastewater treatment plant (WTP); these reaches are subject to intermittent non-stormwater flows which could influence oxygen levels in creek water.

Therefore, the study will include field monitoring with an initial focus on continuous monitoring of dissolved oxygen, as well as pH, turbidity, temperature, and conductivity at three locations: just upstream of the WTP outfall, just downstream of the WTP outfall, and at the furthest downstream location above the zone of tidal influence. This continuous monitoring approach will bracket the area where fish are attracted by the continuous flow of the WTP, and consequently where most fish kills have been observed. The continuous monitoring will allow unattended measurements in the pre- dawn hours, when dissolved oxygen levels are generally lowest, and enable for the first time a pairing of real-time dissolved oxygen and other data with a fish kill event, should one occur during the study.

The entire study is expected to cost no more than $450,000 over four years. Study preparations in Year 1 (FY 2017-2018, currently under way) are expected to cost $50,000. Implementation of the study in Year 2 (FY 2018-2019) will cost up to $200,000. Should the study continue into Years 3 and 4, effort would be limited to $100,000 each year. A significant factor affecting the length of the study is whether substantial fish mortality occurs while continuous dissolved oxygen sensors are operating. If an event occurs and lethally low levels of dissolved oxygen are documented, the study could be curtailed soon after identifying the most likely causes of low dissolved oxygen. At the other extreme, the study would be terminated if no fish kill events occur within the four years, and the findings would necessarily be less conclusive.

Section 1 of this work plan provides an introduction and background, summarizing the problem statement, regulatory and environmental setting, the history of fish kills events and understanding of flow and dissolved oxygen conditions prior to the events, and relevant monitoring projects in the watershed. Section 2 develops available background information into a conceptual model with associated management hypotheses to be tested by work plan implementation. Section 3 presents the Phase I (February 2018- June 2019) implementation approach. Section 4 presents the Phase II (July 2019-June 2020) implementation approach. Section 5 summarizes quality assurance and quality control procedures. Section 6 presents an overview of the data management and reporting plan. Cited references are listed in Section 7.

Fiscal Impact:

None

Attachment(s):

1. CCCWP SSID Work Plan Cover Letter - 2018 July 18 2. Work Plan for SSID Study_Marsh Creek Fish Kills_DRAFT_07112018_revised

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G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Lucile\2018-07\Action Item A - APPROVE CCCWP SSID Work Plan.docx

3 Courtney Riddle Program Manager

July 18, 2018

Bruce H. Wolfe, Executive Officer California Regional Water Quality Control Board San Francisco Bay Region 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1400 Oakland, CA 94612

Ms. Pamela Creedon, Executive Officer California Regional Water Quality Control Board Central Valley Region 11020 Sun Center Drive, #200 Rancho Cordova, CA 95670-6114

SUBJECT: Transmittal of the Stressor / Source Identification Work Plan in Accordance with MRP 2.0 Permit Provision C.8.e.iii(1) and Central Valley Permit Provision C.8.d.i

Dear Mr. Wolfe and Ms. Creedon:

Attached is the CCCWP Stressor / Source Identification Work Plan submitted on behalf of all Contra Costa Permittees per the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) for urban stormwater issued by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFBRWQCB; Order No. R2-2015-0049; “MRP 2.0”) and the East Contra Costa County Municipal NPDES Permit (Central Valley Permit) issued by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB; Order No. R5-2010-0102). This work plan fulfills the requirements of MRP 2.0 Provision C.8.iii(1) to develop and submit a work plan in year three of the permit term.

With the approval and direction from each duly authorized representative of each Permittee, I am authorized to submit and certify under penalty of law that this document and all attachments were prepared under my direction or supervision in accordance with a system designed to assure that qualified personnel properly gathered and evaluated the information submitted. Based on my inquiry of the person or persons who manage the system, or those persons directly responsible for gathering the information, the information submitted is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, accurate, and complete. I am aware that there are significant penalties for submitting false information, including the possibly of fine and imprisonment for knowing violations.

255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA 94553-4825 • Tel: (925) 313-2360 Fax: (925) 313-2301 • Website: www.cccleanwater.org

Program Participants: Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, Concord, Danville, El Cerrito, Hercules, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Oakley, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County and Contra Costa County Flood Control & Water Conservation District

Sincerely,

Courtney Riddle, Program Manager Contra Costa Clean Water Program

cc: Thomas Mumley, SFBRWQCB Keith Lichten, SFBRWQCB Dale Bowyer, SFBRWQCB Janet O’Hara, SFBRWQCB Kevin Lunde, SFBRWQCB Selina Louie, SFBRWQCB Elizabeth Lee, CVRWQCB

G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Lucile\2018-07\Action Item A - Attach-CCCWP SSID Work Plan Cover Letter - 2018 July 18.docx

Contra Costa Clean Water Program

Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study

Work Plan

DRAFT

Submitted to

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 255 Glacier Drive Martinez, California 94553

Submitted by

Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. 180 Grand Avenue, Suite 1100 Oakland, California 94612 and

ADH Environmental 3065 Porter Street, Suite 101 Soquel, California 95073

Contra Costa Clean Water Program

Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study

Work Plan

DRAFT

July 2018

Submitted to Contra Costa Clean Water Program 255 Glacier Drive Martinez, California 94553

Submitted by Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc. 180 Grand Avenue, Suite 1100 Oakland, California 94612 and ADH Environmental 3065 Porter Street, Suite 101 Soquel, California 95073

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents ...... i List of Tables ...... iii List of Figures ...... iii Acronyms and Abbreviations ...... iv Executive Summary ...... 1 1. Introduction and Background ...... 3 1.1 Problem Statement ...... 3 1.2 Environmental Setting ...... 3 1.3 Regulatory Setting...... 6 1.4 History of Fish Kills ...... 6 1.5 Monitoring Projects in the Marsh Creek Watershed ...... 7 1.5.1 Relevant Marsh Creek Monitoring Conducted by CCCWP ...... 14 1.5.2 Relevant Marsh Creek Monitoring Conducted by Other Parties ...... 14 2. Conceptual Model and Management Hypotheses ...... 17 2.1 Low Dissolved Oxygen as a Potential Cause ...... 17 2.2 Episodic Non-stormwater Flow as a Potential Cause ...... 20 2.3 Pesticide Toxicity as a Potential Cause ...... 23 2.4 Swings in pH as a Potential Cause ...... 25 2.5 Temperature as a Potential Cause ...... 26 2.6 Conceptual Model Summary and Management Hypotheses ...... 27 3. Phase I Implementation (February 2018-June 2019) ...... 29 3.1 Establishment of Monitoring Stations on Marsh Creek ...... 29 3.2 Multi-Parameter Sonde Monitoring Stations with Telemetry ...... 31 3.3 Water Level and Temperature Monitoring Stations ...... 32 3.4 Development of a Flow Rating Curve ...... 33 3.5 Develop Outfall Map and Inventory ...... 33 3.6 Water and Sediment Sampling ...... 33 3.6.1 Pesticide and Toxicity Sampling Conducted under Provision C.8.g ...... 33 3.6.2 Additional Water Monitoring Addressing this Study ...... 34 3.7 Water Quality Modeling ...... 35 4. Phase II Implementation (July 2019-June 2020) ...... 37 5. Quality Assurance / Quality Control ...... 39 5.1 Instrument Testing, Maintenance and Calibration ...... 39 5.2 Field Measurement QA/QC ...... 39 5.3 Laboratory Data QA/QC ...... 39 5.4 Time Series Data Review and Validation ...... 40 5.5 Analytical Data Verification and Validation ...... 40

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

6. Data Management and Reporting ...... 41 6.1 Field Data Management ...... 41 6.2 Water Quality Time Series Data Management ...... 41 6.3 Physical and Chemical Data Management ...... 42 6.4 Reporting ...... 43 7. References ...... 45 Appendix: Response to Brentwood 13267 letter

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

List of Tables Table 1. Dates of Marsh Creek Fish Kills, Antecedent DO Conditions and Antecedent Dry Days ...... 8 Table 2. Summary of Toxicity Test Results from Marsh Creek and its Tributaries ...... 23 Table 3. Toxicity of Permethrin to Larger Fish, Crayfish and Amphipods ...... 24 Table 4. Variation of Acute and Chronic Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia with pH ...... 25 Table 5. Management Hypotheses and Associated Monitoring Approaches for Actions to be Initiated During Work Plan Development, Beginning February 2018 ...... 28 Table 6. Station Designation, Location, and Installed Equipment/Measurement Parameters ...... 30 Table 7. YSI EXO3™ Sonde Sensor Specifications ...... 32 Table 8. Analytical Tests, Methods, Reporting Limits and Holding Times for Water Toxicity Testing .. 34 Table 9. Analytical Tests, Methods, Reporting Limits and Holding Times for Water and Sediment Chemistry Testing ...... 34 Table 10. Analytical Tests for Additional Opportunistic Water Sampling ...... 35

List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Study Area Showing Relevant Watershed Features and Monitoring Locations ...... 4 Figure 2. Water Quality and Weather Profile of Marsh Creek Two Weeks Prior to Fish Kills with Antecedent Rain Events ...... 9 Figure 3. Water Quality and Weather Profiles of Marsh Creek Two Weeks Prior to Fish Kill Events with No Antecedent Rainfall ...... 11 Figure 4. Dissolved Oxygen in Marsh Creek, 2001-2011 ...... 17 Figure 5. Comparison of the Magnitude of Dissolved Oxygen Cycles and Ash Free Dry Weight (AFDW) Among Four Contra Costa County Creeks ...... 19 Figure 6. Cycling of Dissolved Oxygen and pH in Marsh Creek, May and August 2012 ...... 20 Figure 7. Visible Unattached Algae in Marsh Creek as Seen from the Ground and Above ...... 20 Figure 8. Flow in Marsh Creek Upstream of the WTP Prior to the July 6, 2016 Fish Kill ...... 21 Figure 9. Adult Chinook Salmon Stranded Between Check Dams in Marsh Creek at the POC Loads Monitoring Station, December 6, 2011 ...... 22 Figure 10. Seven-Day Average Maximum Daily Water Temperature (MWAT) Data Collected Using HOBOs® at Four Sites in Marsh, Walnut, Alhambra, and Wildcat Creeks ...... 26 Figure 11. Continuous Water Quality Monitoring Station Locations on Marsh Creek ...... 30 Figure 12. Typical Configuration of Multiparameter Sonde Monitoring Station ...... 31

iii

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Acronyms and Abbreviations AFDW ash free dry weight BASMAA Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association BOD biochemical oxygen demand Brentwood City of Brentwood CCCWP Contra Costa Clean Water Program CDFW California Department of Fish and Wildlife CVRWQCB Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region Delta San Joaquin River Delta DO dissolved oxygen EDD electronic data deliverable FOMCW Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed FY fiscal year GIS geographic information systems MRP Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit MWAT maximum daily water temperature NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NTU nephelometric turbidity unit PCBs polychlorinated biphenyl congeners POC pollutants of concern ppb parts per billion QA/QC quality assurance/quality control SFRWQCB Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Region SSC suspended sediment concentration SSID stressor and source identification SWAMP Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program TMDL total maximum daily load USGS U.S. Geological Survey WTP wastewater treatment plant WY water year

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The stressor and source identification (SSID) study will investigate the root causes of fish kills in Marsh Creek via monitoring, data compilation and review, literature review, and modeling. This SSID work plan is the first deliverable required under Provision C.8.e.iii of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit (MRP) issued in 2015 by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFRWQCB, 2015).

The primary objective of the SSID study is to determine whether low dissolved oxygen causes fish kills in Marsh Creek and, if so, to determine the causes of the low dissolved oxygen. A primary suspected cause of low dissolved oxygen is algal growth in reaches subject to intermittent non-stormwater flows; therefore, identifying sources of non-stormwater flow is an important objective of this study. An alternate hypothesis, not necessarily exclusive of low dissolved oxygen, is that pesticide toxicity causes fish kills. Proving or disproving pesticide linkages is more complex compared to identifying low dissolved oxygen as a root cause; therefore, the objective for the pesticide assessment is to provide the most substantive weight of evidence achievable within the schedule and budget for this study.

Therefore, the study will include field monitoring with an initial focus on continuous monitoring of dissolved oxygen, as well as pH, turbidity, temperature, and conductivity at three locations: just upstream of the WTP outfall, just downstream of the WTP outfall, and at the furthest downstream location above the zone of tidal influence. This continuous monitoring approach will bracket the area where fish are attracted by the continuous flow of the WTP, and consequently where most fish kills have been observed. The continuous monitoring will allow unattended measurements in the pre-dawn hours, when dissolved oxygen levels are generally lowest, and enable for the first time a pairing of real-time dissolved oxygen and other data with a fish kill event, should one occur during the study.

Additional water quality monitoring will focus on sources of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and pesticides. Production of BOD is thought to occur in the creek above the WTP because of pools of water which form between check dams due to intermittent non-stormwater flows. Water levels, flows, and BOD will be measured periodically in reaches upstream of the WTP to characterize the typical and extreme BOD loads in the creek. Together with the continuous monitoring data and WTP effluent monitoring data, creek BOD loads can be used to develop a water quality model which will help us understand whether BOD loads from the reaches of the creek upstream of the WTP could explain lethal dissolved oxygen sags in the reaches where fish kills have been observed.

Pesticides monitoring will be performed in conjunction with source identification of non-stormwater flows, and opportunistically in the event of a fish kill. Non-stormwater flow source identification will rely

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan on a combination of desktop analysis of maps and aerial photos, site walks, and deployment of continuous water level sensors at locations of suspected intermittent flows. Significant sources of flow will be sampled for BOD, pesticides, and other constituents.

Section 1 of this work plan provides an introduction and background, summarizing the problem statement, regulatory and environmental setting, the history of fish kills events and understanding of flow and dissolved oxygen conditions prior to the events, and relevant monitoring projects in the watershed. Section 2 develops available background information into a conceptual model with associated management hypotheses to be tested by work plan implementation. Section 3 presents the Phase I (February 2018-June 2019) implementation approach. Section 4 presents the Phase II (July 2019- June 2020) implementation approach. Section 5 summarizes quality assurance and quality control procedures. Section 6 presents an overview of the data management and reporting plan. Cited references are listed in Section 7.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Thoughtful response to serious environmental effects shows the commitment of the Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP) to managing water quality in urban drainages. This work plan, which addresses recurrent fish kills in Marsh Creek, fulfills Step 1 of Provision C.8.e.iii of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit (MRP) issued by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFRWQCB, 2015), which requires development of a stressor and source identification (SSID) study work plan to address potential sources and causes of water quality impairment.

1.1 Problem Statement According to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB, 2017), nine documented fish kills occurred in Marsh Creek over the past twelve years1. These events are often associated with intermittent dry season flows or storm events with varying antecedent dry periods. The most recent event occurred in October 2017 and killed more than 500 fish, including Chinook salmon. CCCWP decided to implement an SSID study to investigate the potential causes of these occurrences. The scope of this work plan is to identify root causes of fish kills in Marsh Creek via monitoring, data compilation, literature review, and modeling.

1.2 Environmental Setting According to the Contra Costa County Watershed Atlas (Contra Costa Community Development Department, 2003), Marsh Creek watershed is the second largest watershed in Contra Costa County, totaling 60,066 acres of urban, agricultural, and open space land uses. The creek flows 34.6 miles from its headwaters in the Mount Diablo foothills to the San Joaquin River Delta at Big Break (Figure 1). The Marsh Creek Reservoir interrupts the flow from the upper watershed at 24.4 miles downstream of the headwaters. This study will investigate the lower watershed only, from the reservoir to the Delta, because under typical hydrologic conditions flow from the upper watershed does not reach the lower watershed.

Tributaries entering the middle portion of the main stem near and within Brentwood include Dry Creek (5.8 miles), Sand Creek (18.7 miles), and Deer Creek (9 miles). Marsh Creek runs through unincorporated county property, as well as the cities of Brentwood and Oakley, and through agricultural areas (Contra Costa County Community Development Department, 2003). Flood control assets in the creek are owned and maintained by the Contra Costa Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

1 The approximate dates on which CVRWQCB staff believe nine fish kills occurred are listed in a letter dated November 9, 2017 from Elizabeth Lee and Andrew Alevogt (CVRWQCB) and Gustavo Vina (City of Brentwood). Additional details on seven of the nine events were provided to CCCWP by Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed (FOMCW, 2016). The summary by FOMCW notes corroborating observations by staff of the East Bay Regional Parks, the CVRWQCB, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). According to information provided by FOMCW, staff from either the CVRWQCB and/or the CDFW investigated and validated at least five of the nine fish kills cited in the CVRWQCB letter of November 9, 2017.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 1. Map of Study Area Showing Relevant Watershed Features and Monitoring Locations

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

During most of the summer, streamflow in the creek is generally low, but rarely dry. Known sources of dry weather flow are associated with wastewater treatment plant discharge, agricultural irrigation return flows, and non-stormwater urban drainage from the Brentwood area. Seasonal stormwater flows, the effects of urban development, and agricultural runoff contributions have significant impacts on the quality and quantity of water in Marsh Creek. Groundwater around Marsh Creek in Brentwood is typically shallow, with depths of approximately 10 to 30 feet below ground surface (The Planning Center, 1993).

The Brentwood wastewater treatment plant (WTP), located approximately 3.5 miles south of the Delta at Big Break, treats sanitary wastewater from nearby residential areas and discharges its effluent into Marsh Creek, as authorized by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The treatment plant has a design capacity of 5 million gallons per day (mgd); present actual flows are more typically in the range of 2 to 3 mgd, depending in part on recycled water consumption by irrigators.

The WTP creates a relatively constant body of flowing water in Marsh Creek downstream of its outfall. In the region below the WTP, Marsh Creek flow, following urban rhythms, shows daily cycles. Flow rates tend to peak mid-day, following peaks in early morning residential usage, and are at minimum in the pre-dawn hours. Upstream of the WTP outfall, flows are more intermittent, resulting from more intermittent activities. In addition to the Brentwood WTP, there are a multitude of farms, businesses, and storm drains which discharge stormwater and non-stormwater runoff into Marsh Creek. Agricultural and golf course irrigation, hydrant flushing, and residential irrigation are all potential sources of non- stormwater flow into Marsh Creek.

Recreational access trails, including bike trails, are located along the banks of Marsh Creek, allowing unrestricted public access. Marsh Creek is identified as an important biological resource and habitat. The Central Valley Basin Plan (CVRWQCB, 2016) lists the following beneficial uses for Marsh Creek:

• Water contact recreation • Water non-contact recreation • Warm water fisheries habitat • Wildlife habitat • Rare, threatened, or endangered species

Historical accounts are not clear as to the historical importance of Marsh Creek as a salmonid habitat. Remains of salmonids have been found at pre-European archeological sites in the area, but it is unknown whether the fish were caught in Marsh Creek or the Delta. Surveys performed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW; formerly the California Department of Fish and Game) in 1942, 1975, 1981 and 1996 did not yield evidence of salmonids. On the other hand, volunteers working with the Natural Heritage Institute and Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed (FOMCW) have regularly observed and documented adult and juvenile Chinook salmon in Marsh Creek going back to 2001 (FOMCW, 2010). It is important to note that the Brentwood WTP came online in the 2002 time frame, establishing a continuous source of high quality flow in lower Marsh Creek below the WTP. This may have created habitat and passage, enabling Chinook salmon to migrate into the area and spawn.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

1.3 Regulatory Setting On November 9, 2017, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB, 2017) issued a Water Code Section 13267 Order for Technical and Monitoring Reports to the City of Brentwood (Brentwood) in relation to historic fish kills. Pursuant to this order, Brentwood was directed to develop a plan for storm event sampling to occur during the first rain event and any other rain event of the water year forecasted for at least 0.10 inch in a 24-hour period and preceded by at least 30 days of dry weather. Brentwood is responding to the CVRWQCB Water Code Section 13267 Order independent of this SSID study.

This SSID study implements a more holistic approach to the potential causes of fish kills, broadening the narrower scope of the November 2017 Water Code Section 13267 Order. The MRP requires SSID studies from CCCWP, as a countywide program, to address known water quality impairments. This project is an ideal candidate as an SSID study, not only because of the visibility of the issue, but also because investigating the various potential causes will yield information of general benefit to countywide Permittees and to regulatory agencies on factors affecting urban creek health.

The CVRWQCB adopted total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for pyrethroid pesticides in specific waterbodies of the Central Valley (Resolution R5-2017-0057). California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) provided evidence suggesting pyrethroid pesticides may be involved as causative factors in the Marsh Creek fish kills (CDFW, 2016).

1.4 History of Fish Kills According to the CVRWQCB, nine documented fish kills have occurred in Marsh Creek over the last twelve years. The most recent event occurred on or about October 23, 2017. Table 1 shows the approximate dates of the fish kill occurrences, as cited by the CVRWQCB (2017), along with the number of dry weather days antecedent to each fish kill.

As shown in Figure 2, four of the nine fish kills occurred within two weeks after a rain event, which may indicate a potential role of stormwater flows in those instances. Weekly receiving water monitoring data provided by the Brentwood WTP provide additional information. In three of the four events associated with antecedent rain, dissolved oxygen concentrations upstream of the Brentwood WTP outfall were depressed compared to downstream of the outfall. The shaded rows in Table 1 highlight events where dissolved oxygen was low at the upstream receiving water monitoring location and a rainfall event occurred within a few days of the event. Thus, a combination of antecedent stagnant, low dissolved oxygen conditions upstream of the WTP discharge, followed by a flushing of the stagnant water into the reach downstream of the WTP during rainfall events, is potentially implicated as a cause of at least some of the observed fish kills.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

The timing of the other five events suggests non-stormwater flows may play a potential role in causing fish kills (Figure 3). All five events occurring under non-storm conditions were associated with some fluctuation in the stage or flow recorded at the stream gauge just upstream of the WTP outfall2. Low dissolved oxygen was recorded at the upstream receiving water monitoring station prior to one of the five non-storm events (on 9/5/2007).

The absence of measured low dissolved oxygen in the upstream receiving water station prior to five of the nine events does not rule out low dissolved oxygen as a root cause in those five events. The receiving water monitoring at Brentwood WTP occurs once a week; samples are typically collected during business (daylight) hours. As discussed in Section 2, daily dissolved oxygen cycles in Marsh Creek reach a low point in the pre-dawn hours. It is entirely possible that, although low dissolved oxygen was a root cause in most or all the prior fish kill events, acceptable dissolved oxygen levels were subsequently measured during daylight hours only because of the natural daily dissolved oxygen cycle.

Marsh Creek fish kill events typically occurred during spring or late summer to early fall. To date, none occurred between November and February. Air temperatures prior to these events ranged from nightly lows in in the 50s and 60s (Fahrenheit) to daytime highs in the 70s and 80s. None of the events was associated with unusually hot weather for the area. WTP operations were normal prior to all events, as evidenced by steady effluent flows and turbidity, concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and ammonia that met effluent limitations. None of the other receiving water parameters (pH, temperature, conductivity) stood out as unusual prior to events3.

1.5 Monitoring Projects in the Marsh Creek Watershed This section summarizes the relevant monitoring in Marsh Creek or its tributaries. The first subsection summarizes monitoring conducted by CCCWP. The second subsection summarizes monitoring conducted by other parties. The data sources reviewed are not the entire universe of monitoring within the Marsh Creek watershed but are the ones most relevant to understanding potential causes of fish kills. Relevant information from the data sources listed below was mined during development of the work plan to build on a foundation of lessons learned.

2 The gauge, designated MBW by the California Data Exchange Center, had a verified rating curve until 2013, and so historic data recorded flow in units of cubic feet per second. Stage data at MBW after 2013 are not associated with a verified rating curve and are therefore reported as stage height in units of feet. 3 Receiving water and effluent monitoring data were provided by Brentwood to CCCWP. The downstream receiving water location monitored by Brentwood is 300 feet downstream from the Brentwood WTP outfall, close to the nearest downstream monitoring location proposed for this study and shown in Figure 1. The upstream location monitored by Brentwood is 100 feet upstream from the Brentwood WTP outfall, between the outfall and the nearest upstream location proposed for this study and shown in Figure 1.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Table 1. Dates of Marsh Creek Fish Kills, Antecedent DO Conditions and Antecedent Dry Days

Low DO Upstream Days Between Previous Rain Previous Event Fish Kill Date Prior to Fish Kill? Event and Fish Kill Inches of Rain 09/15/05 No 117 0.1 09/05/07 Yes 123 0.1 05/02/08 No 36 0.05 09/27/14 Yes 2 0.3 03/19/15 No 8 0.2 10/04/15 Yes 1 0.5 07/06/16 No 61* 0.14 05/18/17 No 28 0.1 10/23/17 Yes 3 0.1

Source: CDEC, Brentwood Corp Yard (BTD); http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecstation2 (accessed 01/29/18). Dissolved oxygen conditions as reported by the Brentwood WTP through its weekly receiving water monitoring program. Shaded rows highlight events where dissolved oxygen was low at the upstream receiving water monitoring location and a rainfall event occurred within two weeks of the event. *Note: The rain gauge at BTD recorded 0.5 inches on 5/23/2016; however, river stage was not affected by the recorded precipitation, none of the nearby rain gauges recorded bucket tips by rainfall, and weather report archives from Weather Underground do not indicate a precipitation event in Brentwood on 5/23/2018. The precipitation event recorded on 5/23/2016 at BTD is considered a data error.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 2. Water Quality and Weather Profile of Marsh Creek Two Weeks Prior to Fish Kills with Antecedent Rain Events

RSW-001 = upstream receiving water

RSW-002 = downstream receiving water

EFF-001= WTP Outfall

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

RSW-001 = upstream receiving water

RSW-002 = downstream receiving water

EFF-001 = WTP outfall

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 3. Water Quality and Weather Profiles of Marsh Creek Two Weeks Prior to Fish Kill Events with No Antecedent Rainfall

RSW-001 = upstream receiving water

RSW-002 = downstream receiving water

EFF-001= WTP outfall

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

RSW-001 = upstream receiving water

RSW-002 = downstream receiving water

EFF-001= WTP outfall

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

RSW-001 = upstream receiving water

RSW-002 = downstream receiving water

EFF-001= WTP outfall

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

1.5.1 Relevant Marsh Creek Monitoring Conducted by CCCWP In compliance with the MRP and prior stormwater permits, CCCWP performed several types of monitoring in the Marsh Creek Watershed: stormwater pollutants of concern (POC) monitoring, creek status bioassessment and related water quality monitoring, creek status pesticides and toxicity monitoring, targeted continuous water quality monitoring, and an SSID study focused on pesticide- caused toxicity.

The stormwater POC monitoring commenced in water year (WY) 2011-2012 and continued through two and a half storm seasons (through the spring of 2014), at a location just above the Marsh Creek fish ladder adjacent to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauging station (see section 1.5.2). Monitoring included the collection of rainfall and stage data, as well as the measurement of turbidity, metals, mercury, methylmercury, PCBs, PAHs, nutrients, suspended sediments, total organic carbon, pesticides, and toxicity in composite and grab samples representing the storm event. A sonde was deployed to provide a continuous record of stage, turbidity, temperature, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen during and between storm events. The sonde was also deployed for two 2-week periods in May and August of 2012 to provide data on dry weather water quality conditions.

Creek status monitoring included bioassessments, physical habitat characterizations, and grab samples to measure nutrients and other water quality parameters in Marsh Creek and its tributaries (e.g., Dry Creek). This monitoring was conducted annually in the Marsh Creek watershed from 2002 to 2009. In 2012, bioassessment monitoring in the eastern county drainages resumed as part of the MRP Regional Monitoring Coalition and continues to the present. The current bioassessment monitoring approach implements a random stratified sampling design, in contrast to the fixed station monitoring performed from 2002 to 2009. This means that, in any given year, Marsh Creek itself may or may not be monitored; however, Marsh Creek and its tributaries would be monitored at least once during a five-year permit term.

During the implementation of MRP 1.0 (SFRWQCB, 2009), pesticides and toxicity monitoring revealed elevated pesticide levels and toxicity in samples collected within the Marsh Creek watershed. In response, the CCCWP Permittees conducted an SSID study addressing the sources and causes of water and sediment toxicity to aquatic organisms (Hyalella azteca). That study identified pyrethroid pesticides as a likely cause of water and sediment toxicity. Those results are consistent with statewide studies documenting the prevalence of pyrethroid-related toxicity in urban drainages.

1.5.2 Relevant Marsh Creek Monitoring Conducted by Other Parties Beginning October 1, 2000, the USGS operated a stream level gauge at Marsh Creek (CCCWP, 2014). The gauge is located 400 meters upstream of the Brentwood WTP outfall to Marsh Creek, just above the fish ladder at the drop structure. Data collection by USGS at this site was discontinued after September 30, 2013 due to budget reductions. The Contra Costa County Flood Control District now operates this gauge, but it does not currently have an updated rating curve which allows conversion of stage data to flow data.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

The Brentwood WTP regularly conducts effluent and receiving water monitoring in compliance with its permit. In addition, rain gauges are located nearby at the Brentwood WTP and Marsh Creek Reservoir. A water level gauge at Marsh Creek Reservoir provides information as to whether flows from the upper watershed reach the lower watershed. Data from the WTP effluent and receiving water monitoring program are summarized, along with Marsh Creek flow/stage data and weather information, in Figures 2 and 3.

The Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed (FOMCW) is a community organization with a mission to “protect, conserve, and restore Marsh Creek and its tributaries, and to inspire appreciation and conservation of the Marsh Creek Watershed.” (FOMCW, 2018). According to their “2015 State of the Creek Report,” volunteers and staff collected water quality data from seven sites on a weekly basis, in areas downstream of Marsh Creek reservoir. The focus of the monitoring is areas where fish kills have been observed. A case narrative describing the history of fish kills and associated monitoring results and observations was provided by FOMC to CCCWP (FOMCW, 2016).

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

2. CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND MANAGEMENT HYPOTHESES A conceptual model helps organize available information to define how relevant factors affect the problem at hand and identifies the most significant data gaps to be addressed through monitoring. The conceptual model for fish kills in Marsh Creek begins with the assumption that the most common cause of fish kills is hypoxia – the fish do not have enough oxygen to survive. Development of this simple conceptual model proceeds by addressing two basic questions:

• Is there evidence for low dissolved oxygen in Marsh Creek? • Is there evidence that other factors, in addition to or instead of low dissolved oxygen, may be contributing to fish kills?

The following subsections present evidence and information gaps related to dissolved oxygen, pesticides, and other potential causes of fish kills.

2.1 Low Dissolved Oxygen as a Potential Cause The FOMCW reported low dissolved oxygen in Marsh Creek years ago based on a decade worth of volunteer monitoring sponsored by CCCWP (FOMCW, 2011). Their data (Figure 4) showed average dissolved oxygen was lower just upstream of the WTP compared to downstream, and dissolved oxygen was much more variable upstream of the WTP in the reaches designated as “intermittent flow” (see Figure 1). At the time, Tom Lindemuth of FOMCW hypothesized that excessive algal blooms in the stream affected dissolved oxygen levels.

Figure 4. Dissolved Oxygen in Marsh Creek, 2001-2011

Downstream Upstream WTP

Source: Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed (2011)

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Other CCCWP monitoring data confirm prior findings of low dissolved oxygen upstream of the WTP and provide comparative evidence between creeks supporting the hypothesis that excessive algal blooms in Marsh Creek affect the magnitude of daily dissolved oxygen shifts (Figure 5). Dissolved oxygen was monitored at three other creeks, in addition to Marsh Creek. The magnitude of daily dissolved oxygen swings is clearly higher at Marsh Creek compared to Walnut Creek, San Pablo Creek, and Pinole Creek. The ash free dry weight (AFDW) content of the benthic substrate is also highest at Marsh Creek. AFDW provides a quantitative measure of the amount of organic carbon per unit of surface area in a creek bed. The creek with the highest organic content concentration on the substrate (Marsh Creek) also has the greatest magnitude of daily dissolved oxygen swings, consistent with algal blooms causing the daily dissolved oxygen swings in Marsh Creek.

The daily cycling of dissolved oxygen is likely driven by photosynthesis, as evidenced by the associated cycling of pH with dissolved oxygen (Figure 6). The looping shape in Figure 6 results from photosynthetic release of dissolved oxygen concurrent with uptake of CO2 from creek water (which raises pH by decreasing carbonic acid). This is a known process in eutrophic lakes (Talling, 1976). In the late afternoon, when algae and aquatic macrophytes shift from photosynthesis to metabolism, dissolved oxygen is consumed, and CO2 is released, driving down pH concurrently with dissolved oxygen concentrations.

The excessive algal blooms appear to be most prevalent in the reaches upstream of the WTP, where flows are more intermittent compared to downstream. The small area represented in the close-up view of the outfall in Figure 7 is consistent with upstream and downstream trends. Upstream of the WTP, in the reaches of intermittent flow, dense algal blooms between check dams are visible all the way to the reservoir. Upstream of the reservoir, the reaches of Marsh Creek which can be seen from Google Earth (there is more tree cover upstream of the reservoir) do not exhibit visible algae mats, and the AFDW ranged from 4,400 to 5,300 mg/m3, much less than the 17,000 to 40,000 mg/m3 observed in the algae- impacted reaches of intermittent flow between the reservoir and the WTP. Downstream of the WTP, satellite views show no signs of visible algae all the way to the mouth of Marsh Creek at Big Break.

In summary, low dissolved oxygen is known to occur upstream of the WTP. The daily swings of dissolved oxygen reach a low point in the pre-dawn hours due to the cycle of photosynthesis and metabolism in waters dense with algae. Dissolved oxygen levels did not reach lethally low levels during the comparatively brief periods that CCCWP performed continuous stormwater monitoring in Marsh Creek upstream of the WTP. The main data gap linking these observations to fish kills is a longer record of continuous monitoring of water levels, dissolved oxygen, and other continuous water quality parameters to show dissolved oxygen levels in the pre-dawn hours should a fish kill event occur during the study. Demonstrating a link, should one exist, between a fish kill event and flows of stagnant water having high BOD and consequent lethally low dissolved oxygen would essentially conclude this aspect of the investigation.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 5. Comparison of the Magnitude of Dissolved Oxygen Cycles and Ash Free Dry Weight (AFDW) Among Four Contra Costa County Creeks

Marsh Creek , 2012 Marsh Creek 2012 AFDW (mg/m3) 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12

DO 10 DO 10 (mg/L) 8 (mg/L) 8 17,000 – 40,000 6 6 4 4 2 2 0 0 5/7 5/9 5/11 5/13 5/15 5/17 5/19 7/30 8/4 8/9 8/14

Walnut Creek 2012 Walnut Creek 2012 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12

DO 10 DO 10 (mg/L) 8 (mg/L) 8 1,400 – 7,300 6 6 4 4 2 2 0 0 5/21 5/26 5/31 6/5 6/10 7/30 8/4 8/9 8/14 8/19

San Pablo Creek 2014 San Pablo Creek 2014 18 18 16 16 14 14 12 12

DO 10 DO 10 (mg/L) 8 (mg/L) 8 5,200 6 6 4 4 2 2 0 0 4/29 5/1 5/3 5/5 5/7 5/9 5/11 8/3 8/8 8/13 8/18 8/23

Pinole Creek 2013 18 16 14 12

DO 10 (mg/L) 8 13,000 6 4 2 0 4/28 4/30 5/2 5/4 5/6 5/8 5/10 5/12

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 6. Cycling of Dissolved Oxygen and pH in Marsh Creek, May and August 2012

Day Night Day Night 20 16 18 14 16 12 14 12 10

DO (mg/L) 10 DO (mg/L) 8 8 6 6 4 4 2 2

0 0 7.8 8.0 8.2 8.4 8.6 8.8 9.0 9.2 9.4 7.8 8.0 8.2 8.4 8.6 8.8 9.0 9.2 9.4 pH pH May August

Figure 7. Visible Unattached Algae in Marsh Creek as Seen from the Ground and Above

No visible algae downstream

WTP Outfall

Excessive visible algae upstream

2.2 Episodic Non-stormwater Flow as a Potential Cause During CCCWP monitoring in the Marsh Creek watershed in the 2011-2014 time-frame, contractors observed a pattern of episodic non-stormwater flows in Marsh Creek. An example of this pattern, using data from the continuous monitoring gauge upstream of the WTP, is shown in Figure 8. In the data shown below, and consistent with CCCWP monitoring results from 2011 to 2014, a spike in flow occurs about once every two weeks. The flow spikes observed by CCCWP were measured upstream of the WTP and therefore could not have been caused by variable flow from the WTP.

Review of rainfall data shows precipitation does not explain the episodic flow spikes. From the typical summertime pattern shown in Figure 8, there appears to be either some storage that is filled and released, or an intermittent activity such as irrigation or flushing of groundwater wells or other water supply assets. The releases appear to occur in diminishing amounts as the summer season ensues. In the

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan context of excessive algae, eutrophication, and low dissolved oxygen, dry weather discharges to the reach of intermittent flow may be contributing to the problem by creating stagnant pools between check dams where algae can bloom.

Figure 8. Flow in Marsh Creek Upstream of the WTP Prior to the July 6, 2016 Fish Kill

3.5 July 6. 2016 3 Fish Kill 2.5

Marsh Creek 2 Stage (ft) 1.5 1 0.5 0 5/6/2016 5/20/2016 6/3/2016 6/17/2016 7/1/2016

In addition to creating ponded stagnant water, episodic non-stormwater flows can potentially contribute to either direct or indirect causes of fish kills. An example of a direct effect would be if discharges themselves were from a stagnant water source (as opposed to stagnating in-channel), releasing sulfides, ammonia, and BOD. Another example of a direct effect would be discharges of water having unhealthy concentrations of pollutants, such as pesticides.

Indirect effects of flows could be either physical or chemical in nature. As an example of an indirect physical effect, episodic flows can cause fish kills due to stranding. There is constant flow downstream of the WTP outfall, and the flow is dominated by high quality treated water of relatively constant composition. In contrast, upstream of the WTP, flows are more erratic and result from non-stormwater urban runoff, groundwater seepage due to irrigation, and direct runoff from agricultural and golf course irrigation. A sudden, temporary increase in flow from upstream of the WTP could create fish passage, which lures fish upstream in search of new habitats, followed by stranding in less favorable habitats as the flow drops off again.

A fish ladder was installed in 2010 just upstream of the Brentwood WTP outfall. Volunteer monitors previously observed salmon in Marsh Creek upstream of this fish ladder (FOMCW, 2015). CCCWP

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan monitoring crews observed individual stranded fish near the stormwater monitoring station, which is just upstream of the fish ladder (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Adult Chinook Salmon Stranded Between Check Dams in Marsh Creek at the POC Loads Monitoring Station, December 6, 2011

Another potential indirect effect is the increase of turbidity during episodic non-stormwater flow spikes. Increased turbidity can be a problem by itself due to gill clogging by sediments and can also be a potential exposure route for pollutants, such as pesticides. Pyrethroid pesticides are extremely hydrophobic and are typically bound to particulates in natural waters, which tend to accumulate in sediments. Rather than the direct effect of discharge containing high levels of pesticides, an indirect effect could occur if the episodic flow spikes resuspend toxic sediments already present in the creek, increasing exposure from pesticides to fish and other aquatic organisms. Evidence for pesticides as a cause is discussed in the next subsection.

In summary, episodic non-stormwater flow spikes are known to occur in Marsh Creek. A key data gap is identifying the origins of the non-stormwater flow spikes. Another key gap is the composition of the presumed discharge leading to the flow spikes. A third gap is understanding the significance of pollutants in the presumed discharge vs. resuspension of in-stream pollutants.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

A careful review of historic monitoring data available through CCCWP, the County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and the California Department of Water Resources’ California Data Exchange Network (CEDEN) will be performed as part of this study to better define the historic patterns. Additionally, water level sensors will be deployed to attempt to pinpoint the origins of dry weather discharges. Water level monitoring will be augmented with visual inspections by contracted field staff, and a review of storm drain assets using county geographic information systems (GIS) layers, culminating in a map and inventory of stormwater outfalls and documented sources of flow.

2.3 Pesticide Toxicity as a Potential Cause CCCWP has been assessing sources and causes of frequently observed toxicity to the amphipod Hyalella azteca in Marsh Creek and its tributaries (Table 2) over several years. The weight of evidence suggests toxicity to H. azteca in the investigated waterbodies is caused by pyrethroid pesticides (CCCWP, 2015). Concurrent testing did not show toxic effects on fathead minnows, so there is not a clear line of evidence linking pesticide toxicity to fish kills from any of the CCCWP investigations.

Table 2. Summary of Toxicity Test Results from Marsh Creek and its Tributaries

Percent Survival Percent Survival Fathead Sample Date Station Creek Matrix Sample Type Hyalella azteca Minnow 03/15/12 544R00025 Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 0% 100% 544R00025 Dry Creek* water Dry Season 98% 95% 07/25/12 544R00025 Dry Creek* sediment Dry Season 60% N/A 544R00025 Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 20% N/A 04/04/13 544R00281 Marsh water Wet Weather 0% 95% 544R00281 Marsh water Dry Season 98% 98% 07/09/13 544R00281 Marsh sediment Dry Season 54% N/A 544R00025DS Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 12% N/A 02/06/14 544R00025US Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 18% N/A 544R00025DS Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 6% N/A 02/27/14 544R00025US Dry Creek* water Wet Weather 18% N/A 544R00025DS Dry Creek* sediment Dry Season 49% N/A 07/22/14 544R00025US Dry Creek* sediment Dry Season 4% N/A

* Tributary to Marsh Creek Red ”Percent Survival” indicates toxicity

The possibility that pesticides may cause fish kills in Marsh Creek was raised by the FOMCW in their narrative history of fish kills (FOMCW, 2016), as well as by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in their investigation of the July 6, 2016 fish kill (CDFW, 2016). Much of the evidence presented is based on pesticide use in adjacent lands (i.e., the timing of algaecide applications in a nearby canal). After the July 6, 2016 fish kill, the CDFW found that composite samples of largemouth bass gill and liver tissue collected from Marsh Creek contained bifenthrin concentrations of 4 and 3 ppb, respectively. Bifenthrin

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan is a commonly used pyrethroid pesticide. No other pyrethroid pesticides were detected in those tissue samples.

During the May 2018 bioassessment season, as this work plan was being prepared, CCCWP contractors conducting bioassessments noted dead crayfish in isolated pools in the reaches of intermittent flow, as well as a few individual dead fish. These observations were independently corroborated by FOMCW volunteer monitors conducting their own bioassessment work in the same period. The fish were thought to have died as a result of stranding in isolated pools. The crayfish deaths were more puzzling, as crayfish are better adapted to oxygen-limited environments and can burrow to survive in isolated pools (Grow and Merchant, 1980). Low dissolved oxygen is not ruled out as a potential cause of crayfish death, because they do need oxygen to survive; however, because crayfish are more closely connected to sediment food chains than larger swimming fish, it is possible that sediment-associated pesticides which affect Hyalella azteca could also affect crayfish.

The relative toxicity of one example pesticide, permethrin, to larger fish, crayfish, and highly sensitive amphipods puts the question of pesticide toxicity to crayfish into context (Table 3). The toxicity of permethrin to larger fish is about an order of magnitude less than the toxicity to crayfish. Permethrin toxicity to crayfish, in turn, is approximately an order of magnitude less compared to amphipods. Thus, while we have evidence that pyrethroids such as permethrin are present in Marsh Creek water and sediments at levels lethal to amphipods, crayfish are more tolerant by about thirty-fold (based on permethrin toxicity), and so the evidence that pesticides could explain crayfish mortality is less clear-cut – it cannot be ruled out at this point, but neither is there strong evidence in support of pesticides causing crayfish mortality.

Table 3. Toxicity of Permethrin to Larger Fish, Crayfish and Amphipods

LC-50 Species (µg/L) Larger Fish (e.g., Lahontan cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi; rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus 1.6-9.4 mykiss; fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas) Crayfish, Orconectes immunis 0.21 Amphipods, Hyalella azteca 0.007

Reference: Fojut et al., 2015

A significant information gap is the direct link between fish tissue pesticide concentrations and toxic effects in larger aquatic organisms, such as crayfish and large-mouth bass. For example, tissue effect level information is needed to interpret the tissue bifenthrin concentrations reported by CDFW following the July 6, 2016 fish kill. Information on tissue concentrations of pesticides found in fish tissues from more pristine waterbodies would also help explain whether the reported values indicate a potential link between pesticides and fish kills. This type of information will initially be developed through literature review and coordination with wildlife resource agencies. If fish kills occur during this study, opportunistic fish and/or crayfish samples may be provided to CDFW for tissue analysis of pesticides, if CDFW is willing to partner by providing laboratory analysis of tissues. Any other planned

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan collection of fish samples and analysis of tissues to Marsh Creek would be deferred to potential future studies.

Source identification of potential pollutants is another information gap. If specific pesticides (i.e., bifenthrin) are implicated as likely causes of fish kills, then corrective measures would rely on source identification. Known usage is one existing approach to source identification. CCCWP prepared a summary of recent pesticide usage as part of the pesticide toxicity SSID study conducted under MRP 1.0 (CCCWP, 2015). This report will be referred to in preparation of the Year 1 report and updated in the future if new pesticide uses are indicated by monitoring data or new information from the Contra Costa County Agricultural Commission.

Monitoring can potentially refine the source identification by evaluating which catchments or discharge points contribute water or sediments with elevated concentrations of pesticides. CCCWP is monitoring during WY 2018 for toxicity and pesticides in Marsh Creek and the West Branch of Alamo Creek in compliance with Provision C.8.g of the MRP. This work includes wet weather water sampling and dry weather water and sediment sampling, as well as follow-up testing if toxicity is detected. Per requirements of the MRP, the analyte list includes a new pesticide, imidacloprid. Results from this separate requirement of Provision C.8.g of the MRP will be included in the Year 1 report of the SSID study of Marsh Creek fish kills.

In addition to the pesticide and toxicity monitoring separately required under Provision C.8.g of the MRP, the SSID study will add three dry weather samples for pesticides and other constituents (e.g., BOD, sulfides, ammonia). Two of those dry weather samples will opportunistically target flowing outfalls which contribute significant amounts of dry weather flow. The third will be held in reserve, to sample the creek water for pesticides in the event of a fish kill.

2.4 Swings in pH as a Potential Cause The data presented in Section 1.6.1 also implicate pH swings as another potential cause of fish kills. The main effect of pH on larger organisms would likely be an indirect effect by increasing the toxicity of constituents present in water. For example, ammonia toxicity is highly dependent on both temperature and pH. At 25 °C, a pH swing from 8 to 9 can cause the water quality criteria for ammonia to decrease approximately six-fold (USEPA, 2016; Table 2).

Table 4. Variation of Acute and Chronic Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia with pH

Acute (1-hour) Criterion Chronic (30-day average) Criterion pH (mg/L) (mg/L) pH = 8.0 2.6 0.56 pH = 9.0 0.41 0.11

As with dissolved oxygen, spatial and temporal data gaps for pH are best addressed through continuous monitoring upstream and downstream of the WTP. Additionally, measurements of constituents which

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan vary in toxicity depending on pH is important to this aspect of the work plan. Ammonia monitoring is the most important parameter for assessing the potential impact of pH swings. Dissolved metal monitoring could also be considered; however, the most sensitive organisms to acute metals toxicity are generally smaller, one-celled organisms. A literature review of metals toxicity to fish as affected by pH and comparison to existing monitoring data will likely be sufficient to resolve metals as a data gap.

2.5 Temperature as a Potential Cause Marsh Creek was the warmest creek of the four major creeks monitored by CCCWP for temperature in the summer of 2012 (Figure 10). Thus, temperature is also a potential cause of fish kills. The effect of temperature can be direct or indirect. Indirect effects would generally manifest as making fish sluggish and lethargic, and therefore less able to swim away to seek refuge from low dissolved oxygen. Temperature also affects the in-stream availability of dissolved oxygen, as DO is less soluble at higher temperatures.

As with dissolved oxygen and pH, the data gaps for temperature are both spatial and temporal, and are best addressed through deployment of continuous monitoring devices upstream and downstream of the WTP outfall. The monitoring devices will also address spatial gaps in the understanding of temperature. The relatively high Marsh Creek temperatures (see Figure 10) result in part from the fact that temperature sensors were placed in isolated pools located upstream of the WTP that have very slow, intermittent replenishment rates. Temperature profiles downstream of the WTP in the reach with more constant flow may reveal healthier temperatures in that section of Marsh Creek.

Figure 10. Seven-Day Average Maximum Daily Water Temperature (MWAT) Data Collected Using HOBOs® at Four Sites in Marsh, Walnut, Alhambra, and Wildcat Creeks

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

2.6 Conceptual Model Summary and Management Hypotheses Management hypotheses help translate the conceptual model and data gaps into monitoring scope. A summary of the conceptual model helps frame the hypotheses listed in Table 5. The conceptual model includes the assumption that low dissolved oxygen is the most common cause of fish kills, but there are other potential causative factors in Marsh Creek which are not exclusive of low dissolved oxygen.

Daily oscillations of dissolved oxygen and pH are known to occur upstream of the WTP discharge. Swings in pH could also play a role in fish kills by causing an increase in the toxicity of ambient ammonia levels. Temperature is another variable water quality factor which may play a role in fish kills. The daily variation of water quality both upstream and downstream of the WTP represent data gaps that will be addressed through monitoring in this study.

Pesticides are known to affect the viability of amphipods (Hyalella azteca) in the Marsh creek watershed. Toxicity tests on fish, on the other hand, have not shown toxicity to date. The causes of mortality to crayfish recently observed are unknown – potential causes include low dissolved oxygen, pesticides in sediments, temperature, or some yet unidentified cause. Although crayfish mortality is technically outside the scope of this study, crayfish are indicator organisms for conditions which are also potentially unhealthy to fish, and therefore will be considered, as feasible, in this study.

The management hypotheses presented in Table 5 are organized in order of priority for investigation. In Phase I of this study (spring of 2018 through spring of 2019), the work will focus on 1) evaluating the link between low dissolved oxygen and fish mortality; 2) further investigation of the role of algal blooms and dry weather discharges in creating and transporting sources of BOD downstream; 3) identifying sources of dry weather flow; and 4) further investigation of pesticides concentrations and effects in conjunction with monitoring required in Provision C.8.g of the MRP. Dry weather flow investigations also set the stage for focused pesticide source investigation.

The top two most significant sources of dry weather flow will be opportunistically sampled for chemical constituents, including pesticides, during the summer of 2018. To the extent practicable, water will be sampled for pesticides immediately following a fish kill event, should one occur during this study. In addition to opportunistic sampling of dry weather flows, CCCWP will continue to monitor toxicity and pesticides during wet weather and dry weather, following the requirements of Provision C.8.g of the MRP. Monitoring for pesticides and pesticide-caused toxicity is a countywide priority, and so CCCWP will shift monitoring for pesticides and toxicity away from Marsh Creek once the watershed has been sufficiently investigated.

As a third action to address pesticides, CCCWP will coordinate with CDFW and FOMCW to determine whether the two parties are interested in evaluating pesticide concentrations in fish and crayfish tissues. CCCWP would not perform this work directly, but rather encourage FOMCW volunteers to partner with CDFW to opportunistically collect and submit dead fish and crayfish for analysis by CDFW following an incident. CCCWP would encourage both parties to concurrently seek reference biological samples of fish or cray fish that have not perished and/or come from other, less developed watersheds. Should the CDFW and FOMCW choose to pursue such an investigation, CCCWP would consider including results in

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan the Year 1 report if they result from thoughtful monitoring design and are technically reviewed for accuracy and relevance to the study. Preliminary discussions with CDFW and FOMCW indicate an interest in such a collaborative approach.

Table 5. Management Hypotheses and Associated Monitoring Approaches for Actions to be Initiated During Work Plan Development, Beginning February 2018

Hypotheses Evaluation Approach Schedule or Status Low dissolved oxygen causes Compile historic WTP effluent and receiving water Completed during work plan development fish kills monitoring Review and summarize time of day and antecedent weather for historic fish kills Perform continuous monitoring of dissolved oxygen, Two of three sensors installed as of April 2018. pH, conductivity, turbidity, and temperature at three Third sensor to be installed July 2018. locations upstream and downstream of the WTP Low dissolved oxygen upstream of Compare algal abundance, ash free dry weight, and Completed during work plan development the WTP is caused by excessive magnitude of dissolved oxygen swings among Contra algal blooms Costa County creeks Episodic non-stormwater flows are Perform continuous monitoring of water levels at Water level sensors installed as of April 2018 the result of agricultural irrigation, several locations within the watershed using sondes golf course irrigation, residential and HOBOs (Figure 1) irrigation, or maintenance flushing Issue email alerts when non-stormwater flows Email alerts are being sent as of April 2018 of potable water systems. increase in the creek commence Develop a map and inventory of storm drain outfalls Opportunistically dispatch inspectors to identify and To commence July, 2018 potentially sample sources of flow Stagnant water is flushed from Collect water samples for BOD, sulfides, total organic upstream of the WTP to the lower carbon, and total suspended solids during dry To commence July, 2018 creek during episodic dry weather weather base flow conditions, during dry weather flow flow spikes and first flush rain surges, and during first flush storm events. events Flushing of stagnant water from Develop a simple WASP-8 water quality model to To commence July, 2018 upstream of the WTP can cause determine BOD loads needed to explain observed lethally low dissolved oxygen sags in dissolved oxygen. Compared modeled BOD downstream loads to monitored loads. Non-stormwater discharges Opportunistically dispatch inspectors to sample To commence July, 2018 contain elevated levels of BOD and sources of flow / or pesticides Continue to monitor toxicity and pesticides in Marsh Commenced January 2018 Creek in compliance with Provision C.8.g Pesticides cause fish kills Collect an opportunistic sample for pesticides and To commence July, 2018 toxicity as soon as practicably possible immediately following a fish kill event Coordinate with CDFW to find out if they would partner Begin discussion with CDFW in July, 2018 to provide analysis of pesticides in fish and crayfish Pesticides cause crayfish kills tissues Daily pH peaks cause ammonia Review data on ammonia toxicity vs. pH for affected To commence July, 2018 toxicity to increase, causing or species, compare to ambient conditions contributing to mortality Daily temperature peaks in Continuous monitoring of temperature, comparison of To commence July, 2018 isolated pools cause or contribute conditions at the time of a mortality event to stressful to fish and/or crayfish mortality and lethal thresholds

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

3. PHASE I IMPLEMENTATION (FEBRUARY 2018-JUNE 2019) Phase I implementation began in February of 2018 with the procurement of equipment necessary to establish continuous water quality monitoring stations on Marsh Creek. Monitoring stations were installed in April and May 2018 and consisted of two types: multiparameter sonde stations and water level/temperature stations. As low dissolved oxygen is strongly suspected as a cause of fish kills, the multiparameter sonde monitoring stations continuously measure and record dissolved oxygen concentration (every two minutes). Additionally, other water quality parameters which may be associated with low dissolved oxygen are measured and recorded continuously, including temperature and pH. Because non-stormwater flows are implicated as a possible cause or contributing factor of fish kills, continuous water level monitoring is included at all stream stations. The locations, characteristics and operational details of the monitoring stations are described in the subsections below.

Pesticides and toxicity monitoring continues during WY 2018 at selected sites in the Marsh Creek watershed, in accordance with Provision C.8.g of the MRP.

3.1 Establishment of Monitoring Stations on Marsh Creek Phase I implementation consists of the establishment of seven monitoring stations along Marsh Creek (Figure 11). Three of the stations are instrumented with multi-parameter sondes and are capable of automatic and remote-operated water sample collection. Two of these stations are in Brentwood, just above and below the WTP, and the third station is in Oakley near observed fish kills. The remaining four stations are instrumented with water level and temperature recorders and are located below the Marsh Creek Reservoir and immediately below the confluences of Sand Creek, Deer Creek, and Dry Creek. Encroachment permits were obtained from the East Bay Regional Park District prior to installation of each monitoring station.

Table 6 provides a summary of continuous monitoring station locations, water quality measurement parameters and equipment installed onsite.

The primary purpose of establishing these monitoring stations is to collect continuous time-series data which may help to identify potential stressors to fish (e.g., low dissolved oxygen), and to help determine the source(s) of non-storm increases in flow rate which have been documented within portions of Marsh Creek in the recent past. Additionally, two of the monitoring stations (544R04613 and M2) are equipped with autosamplers and can be used to automatically collect water samples for laboratory analysis of BOD, pesticides, and other constituents during storm and non-storm flow events.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

Figure 11. Continuous Water Quality Monitoring Station Locations on Marsh Creek

Table 6. Station Designation, Location, and Installed Equipment/Measurement Parameters

Installed Equipment/Measurement Parameters

Station ID Latitude Longitude

WaterDepth Water Temperature Conductivity pH Dissolved Oxygen Turbidity Gauge Rain Sampler Auto Telemetry 544R04613 37° 59.420’ -121° 41.751’ X X X X X X X X M1 37° 57.837’ -121° 41.017’ X X X X X X X M2 37° 57.754’ -121° 41.275’ X X X X X X X X X 544R04189 37° 56.323’ -121° 42.414’ X X M4-A 37° 56.202’ -121° 42.523’ X X 544R05505 37° 55.400’ -121° 42.728’ X X 544XMCACA 37° 54.093’ -121° 43.104’ X X

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

3.2 Multi-Parameter Sonde Monitoring Stations with Telemetry Three multi-parameter monitoring stations (544R04613, M1 and M2) are instrumented with YSI EXO3™ sondes, telemetry hardware and other equipment (see Table 6). Each of these stations consists of a steel security enclosure to house the above-water electronics (datalogger, cellular modem/antennae, battery, and solar charging unit). Each enclosure is securely mounted to a small concrete pad. PVC conduit protects the power/data cables and sampler intake tubing from the top of the bank to the sonde unit, pressure transducer and sampler intake points in the stream. Within its dynamically buoyant spar housing, the sonde and sampler intake tubing are double anchored to the stream bed. Figure 12 depicts the typical monitoring station configuration.

Figure 12. Typical Configuration of Multiparameter Sonde Monitoring Station

Equipment control, sensor interrogation, and data storage is managed by an onsite programmable logic controller/datalogger. These units are tasked with automatic data interrogation, data pushing to an offsite server, and instantaneous alarm notifications (via text and e-mail) when water depth or water quality triggers are met. Alarm notifications are currently set for dissolved oxygen values below 4.0 mg/L, turbidity values above 75 NTUs, and sudden increases in water level relative to a preceding three- hour average.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

The sonde stations operate autonomously but require periodic sensor calibration and servicing. Although the sondes have an automatic wiper mechanism which activates every four hours to keep the sensors free of biological growth, the units are cleaned, calibrated, and serviced approximately every 60 days. Servicing and calibration includes the following:

• Independent measurements of water properties with a portable sonde unit to assist in data correction due to sensor drift, if needed • Inspection of the anchor system, conduit, and buoyant housing, with repairs made as necessary • Field calibration of sensors, per manufacturer’s specifications • Removal of biological growth from all in-stream components • Inspection of electronic equipment in the security enclosure, refreshment of desiccant, and replacement of batteries, as necessary

In the event daily scheduled downloads from a sonde cease unexpectedly or downloaded data indicate a pressing need for servicing (e.g., unexpected sensor drift or failure), as-needed maintenance may become necessary. Whenever practicable, maintenance activities will be deferred until the next scheduled site visit to reduce the need for unscheduled maintenance visits. Sonde data will be automatically downloaded to a database on a daily schedule. Simple plots of sensor output will be viewed regularly to look for sensor drift/failure, which might trigger a maintenance visit.

Table 7 lists the sensor specification of the YSI EXO3 sonde.

Table 7. YSI EXO3™ Sonde Sensor Specifications

Sensor Sensor Type Units Accuracy Resolution Temperature Thermistor °Celsius ±0.01 °C 0.001 °C Conductivity 4-electrode nickel cell micro Siemens/cm ±0.001mS/cm 0.0001 to 0.01 mS/cm pH Glass combination electrode pH units ±0.1 pH units 0.01 pH units Dissolved Oxygen Optical mg/L ±0.1 mg/L 0.01 mg/L Turbidity Optical, 90° side scatter Formazan nephelometric units ±0.3 FNU 0.01 FNU

3.3 Water Level and Temperature Monitoring Stations Four water level and temperature monitoring stations (544R04189, M4-A, 544R05505 and 544XMCACA) are instrumented with Onset HOBO™ U20 water level data loggers. These monitoring stations are installed on Marsh Creek upstream of the sonde stations and at locations which may help identify the source(s) of non-storm flow event documented in the recent past. A HOBO™ U20 is a small, internally powered, internally recording water level and temperature probe. There is no surface component to the HOBO™ U20 station; the entire installation is underwater. Each HOBO™ U20 is housed in a short piece of PVC pipe and is anchored to the stream bed with stout metal rods.

The HOBO™ U20 water level and temperature recorders have internal data storage and power; therefore, they must be serviced periodically to download data and replace batteries. The stations will

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan be serviced on the same schedule as the sonde stations (i.e., once every 60 days). As with the sondes, the HOBO™ U20 sensors, housings and anchors will be inspected, cleaned, and repaired or replaced as necessary.

As water level data are collected and more is learned about where non-storm flow are found, the monitoring stations may be relocated to focus areas within Marsh Creek and/or its tributaries to better assess flow sources. Amendments to CCCWP’s encroachment permits may be necessary prior to the relocation of any monitoring station.

3.4 Development of a Flow Rating Curve Concurrent with station installation and maintenance activities, wadable stream ratings will be performed by field crews. Over time, these data should provide a rough relationship between water depth and flow rate at each monitoring station. To establish a flow rating curve, a wide range of flows should be measured in a stream section not subject to changing channel geometry or upstream or downstream blockages of flow. Marsh Creek is generally not affected by flow blockages or changing channel geometry; therefore, no obvious impediments exist to the development of flow rating curves over time.

Stream flow measurements will be made with a handheld stream stadia rod and a Marsh McBirney Flo-Mate™ handheld flow meter, per USGS-approved methods (USGS, 2010). The flow rating curves will be used to compute and add flow estimates to the time series data sets for each of the monitoring stations.

3.5 Develop Outfall Map and Inventory Outfalls discharging to Marsh Creek between the reservoir and the most downstream station (544R04613) will be inventoried and mapped. The process will begin with searching Contra Costa County GIS layers for known storm drain asset locations, sizes, and drainages. A visual inspection will be conducted by walking the creek with a hand-held GPS to confirm locations and condition of outfalls. The inventory will be used, along with flow and water level measurements along the length of the creek, to document which outfalls or tributaries appear to contribute the most to dry weather discharges. This process will be used to prioritize the locations for opportunistic sampling.

3.6 Water and Sediment Sampling Water and sediment sampling will include work performed under Provision C.8.g. of the MRP, as well as additional water and/or sediment quality monitoring, to address specific needs of this SSID study. Each component is described separately below.

3.6.1 Pesticide and Toxicity Sampling Conducted under Provision C.8.g Water samples for chemistry and toxicity will be collected once in wet weather and once in dry weather, and sediment samples will be collected once in dry weather. The test methods for water toxicity are

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan listed in Table 8. Test methods for water and sediment chemistry are listed in Table 9. Sediment toxicity will be tested for Hyalella azteca and Chironomus dilutes following EPA Method EPA-600/R-99-064. Follow-up testing and responsive actions will be initiated, fulfilling the requirements of Provision C.8.g.iv of the MRP.

Table 8. Analytical Tests, Methods, Reporting Limits and Holding Times for Water Toxicity Testing

Test Species Test Endpoint(s) Units U.S. EPA Method Pimephales promelas Larval survival and growth Pass or Fail using TST, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-01334 (Fathead Minnow) EPA 833-R-10-00335 Ceriodaphnia dubia Survival Pass or Fail, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-013 (Freshwater Crustacean) <25% Passes, >25% Fails EPA 833-R-10-003 Ceriodaphnia dubia Reproduction Pass or Fail using TST, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-013 (Freshwater Crustacean) EPA 833-R-10-003 Selenastrum capricornutum Growth Pass or Fail using TST, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-013 (Green Algae) EPA 833-R-10-003 Hyalella azteca Survival Pass or Fail using TST, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-01236 (Freshwater Amphipod) EPA 833-R-10-003 Chironomus dilutus Survival Pass or Fail using TST, % Effect EPA-821-R-02-012 (Midge) EPA 833-R-10-003

Table 9. Analytical Tests, Methods, Reporting Limits and Holding Times for Water and Sediment Chemistry Testing

Analyte Matrix Test Method Reporting Limit Holding Time Suspended Sediment Concentration Water ASTM D3977-97B 3 mg/L 7 days Pesticides1 Water EPA 8270M 1.5 ng/L to 2 µg/L 7 days Ammonia Water SM 4500 NH3 C 0.1 mg/L 28 days Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5-Day Water SM 5210B 2 mg/L 48 hours Total Sulfides Water SM 4500-S2 0.1 mg/L 7 days Total Organic Carbon Water SM 5310 B-00/-11 ±0.1 % 28 days Dissolved Organic Carbon Water SM 5310 B-00/-11 0.50 mg/L Filter 48 hours, 28 days Particle Size Distribution Sediment Plumb, 1991 ±0.1 % 1 year Pesticides1 Sediment EPA 8270M 0.33 ng/g 14 days Total Sulfides Sediment SM 4500-S2 2 mg/kg 7 days Total Organic Carbon Sediment SM 5310 B ±0.1 % 28 days

1 Pyrethroids, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, fipronil and degradates BOD = biochemical oxygen demand

3.6.2 Additional Water Monitoring Addressing this Study Three opportunistic water sampling events are planned, in addition to the regular toxicity and pesticide monitoring carried out in compliance with Provision C.8.g of the MRP. Two opportunistic monitoring

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan events will target the most significant sources of dry weather flow to Marsh Creek. The third opportunistic monitoring event will be carried out in response to a fish kill, as soon as practicably possible after the fish kill is discovered. Chemical constituents to be monitored for the three opportunistic sampling events are listed in Table 10. In addition to the constituents in Table 10, a water sample will also be collected for fish toxicity testing (Pimephales promelas) following a fish kill event.

Table 10. Analytical Tests for Additional Opportunistic Water Sampling

Fish Kill Outfall Event Flow Spike Base Flow Total Analyte Matrix Test Method Samples Samples Samples Samples Samples Suspended Sediment Concentration Water ASTM D3977-97B 2 1 3 3 9 Pesticides Water EPA 8270M 2 1 0 0 3 Ammonia (low level) Water SM 4500 NH3 C 2 1 0 0 3 Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5-Day Water SM 5210B 2 1 3 3 9 Total Sulfides Water SM 4500-S2 2 1 0 0 3 Total Organic Carbon Water SM 5310 B-00/-11 2 1 0 0 3 Dissolved Organic Carbon Water SM 5310 B-00/-11 2 1 0 0 3

In addition to the three opportunistic outfall/fish kill sampling events described in section 3.6.2, grab sampling will be performed to characterize suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and BOD under base flow conditions and during dry weather flow spike events. Up to three additional grab samples will be collected from location M1 and analyzed for SSC and BOD. Similarly, during events where dry weather flows increase suddenly during the summer and late fall, the autosampler at M2 will be triggered up to three additional times to collect a water sample from upstream of the WTP and characterize SSC and BOD. The base flow and flow spike monitoring data will provide inputs to a water quality model used to evaluate whether BOD loads from upstream of the WTP could cause lethally low dissolved oxygen conditions.

3.7 Water Quality Modeling A simple water quality model will be developed using the Eutrophication Module of EPA’s WASP-7 water quality model. The model will evaluate conditions at M1 to determine which upstream BOD loads would cause lethally low dissolved oxygen. The modeled BOD loads will be compared to conditions characterized by grab sampling to determine if transport of BOD from the eutrophic areas upstream of the WTP could cause dissolved oxygen levels low enough to cause a fish kill.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

4. PHASE II IMPLEMENTATION (JULY 2019-JUNE 2020) The direction of Phase II implementation will depend on the findings of Phase I. This work plan will be updated following the publication of the urban creeks monitoring report in March of 2019. The general approach depending on outcomes of Phase I is briefly outlined below.

If Phase I implementation yields conclusive findings an observed fish kill event was caused by lethally low dissolved oxygen associated with the creation and release of BOD from eutrophic areas upstream of the WTP, Phase II implementation of the study would continue with dissolved oxygen monitoring and could expand the investigation and documentation of dry weather flow sources. This work would be in preparation to conclude the study and turn over responsibility for longer term dissolved oxygen monitoring and identification of solutions to dry weather discharges and eutrophic conditions to the appropriate Permittees (Brentwood, Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and Unincorporated Contra Costa County).

Phase I implementation could also yield inconclusive findings regarding dissolved oxygen, such as no fish kill observed, or a fish kill observed but measured dissolved oxygen does not explain the event. In that case, Phase II implementation would continue with continuous water monitoring, and could expand the pesticide aspect of the investigation. Pesticide investigations would focus on outfall monitoring to specifically identify which catchments are the most significant pesticide sources. This source investigation would also be in preparation to conclude the investigation portion of this SSID study and prepare for appropriate implementation actions following Provision C.9 of the MRP, either by CCCWP or specific Permittees, as appropriate.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

5. QUALITY ASSURANCE / QUALITY CONTROL All data collected for this study, including field measurements, time-series records, and analytical chemical results, will conform to the latest version of the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) protocols. In all cases, measurement quality objectives will conform to SWAMP quality control and sample handing guidelines. The following subsections summarize the quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures for the various phases of this study.

5.1 Instrument Testing, Maintenance and Calibration Prior to the deployment of field equipment, thorough bench testing will be conducted to identify any repair or maintenance needs.

To minimize or avoid downtime of instrumentation and the resulting data loss, all field monitoring equipment will be maintained in good working order and spare equipment or common spare parts (e.g., batteries and pH probes) will be available for quick repair or replacement. Field equipment with manufacturer recommended schedules of maintenance will receive preventive servicing. After use in the field, all instrumentation will be checked for needed maintenance.

Problems that occur with field instruments will be addressed by the field activities leader and, if needed, the manufacturer. This may include cleaning, re-calibration, probe replacement and sending equipment to the manufacturer for repairs. If equipment is being repaired and a different instrument is used in the interim, this will be documented in field data sheets.

An instrument or device used in this study must be calibrated through the measurement of a standard. Instrument calibrations will be performed every two months. Calibration logs will be kept to record dates of calibration and any equipment errors or failures, battery changes, and repair notes. The logs will also contain calibration methods, schedule of inspections and calibrations, and a list of needed supplies and equipment. When a change in equipment occurs, overlapping measurements will be made using both the old and new equipment to document precision and accuracy.

5.2 Field Measurement QA/QC For those parameters that are continuously monitored, site visit measurements will be made every two months to document instrument precision and to compare with continuous data for data quality assessment. Comparisons will include water quality field measurements using calibrated, hand-held devices compared to continuous data recorded by field sondes.

5.3 Laboratory Data QA/QC For water and sediment subject to chemical analysis, this project will use a data quality objective process that is implemented through a QA/QC program. The elements of the QA/QC program, including required levels of precision and accuracy and tolerable levels of error, are presented in detail in the Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (CCCWP, 2016).

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

5.4 Time Series Data Review and Validation All the time series data will undergo examination and will initially be reviewed for outliers – unexpected values that differ from local in-time mean values. If a data outlier is identified using standard techniques, other conditions will be reviewed from field logs and calibration logs to determine any possible significance.

Otherwise, in-situ calibration tests and comparison with calibrated hand-held devices will be used to determine if any adjustments need to be made to recorded time series data, such as offsets.

5.5 Analytical Data Verification and Validation Data reports from the analytical laboratory will be verified immediately upon receipt to ensure the following:

• All samples were tested for the appropriate analytes, and only the appropriate analytes • Holding times were met • Testing methods were consistent with chain of custody documentation • Method reporting limits were achieved • Sample IDs are consistent with the chain of custody documents

Following verification, data will undergo a comprehensive validation process which assures that laboratory narrative reporting and data qualifiers comport with laboratory QC test results including:

• Matrix spike and matrix spike duplicate recoveries • Surrogate spike recoveries • Certified reference material or laboratory control spike recoveries • Method blanks results • Laboratory split sample (duplicate) relative percent differences • Occurrences of matrix interference • Required dilutions

Additionally, each signed laboratory report will be compared to its corresponding electronic data deliverable (EDD) to ensure that the two documents are congruent with each other. Should any discrepancies be found during the data verification or validation process, it may become necessary to request a revised laboratory report.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

6. DATA MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING All results of analyses, as well as field notes, will be entered into Microsoft Office software (primarily Excel) and, where appropriate, Adobe Acrobat .pdf files. Electronic and handwritten data will be managed using standard techniques such as computers, external hard drives, and file servers. Data will be managed and backed-up at a minimum of three locations: the consultant’s office, the consultant’s cloud-based server, and submitted to CCCWP. Hand-written data such as field sheets and logs will be filed at the consultant’s office. Field data, including data from loggers, will be maintained in original form (raw data) throughout the duration of the project. Data will be entered or transferred to Excel spreadsheets in appropriate SWAMP data templates. All files will be backed up nightly to the consultant’s server. At appropriate intervals, finalized data will be submitted to CCCWP.

6.1 Field Data Management Field data and observations gathered for this monitoring program will be recorded on field data sheets which include metadata. Field-collected data will be managed using the following process:

• Data will be validated; missing and questionable data will be identified, reviewed, and corrected if necessary. • Data sheets will be electronically scanned immediately after field measurements have been completed and saved as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. • For final storage, data will be entered into SWAMP-format field and habitat data templates and submitted based on direction from CCCWP.

6.2 Water Quality Time Series Data Management Two types of remote sensor package devices are deployed along Marsh Creek for this study: Onset HOBO™ U20 water level data loggers and YSI EXO3™ sondes. The former device will record water depth and water temperature, while the second records the following parameters:

• Water temperature • Conductivity • Specific conductance • Hydrogen-ion concentration (pH) • Turbidity • Dissolved oxygen (concentration and percent saturation)

The sonde devices are each connected via cable interface to a Campbell Scientific CR-1000 series data logger. These loggers are additionally interfaced to a Campbell Scientific CS451 pressure sensor and, at site M2, a tipping rain bucket. With these sensors, the loggers will record the water quality parameters listed above for the sonde devices plus the following:

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

• Water depth • Water temperature • Rainfall (Station M2 only)

Continuous water quality measurements at the four monitoring locations equipped with Onset HOBOs™ will be downloaded onsite on a periodic basis using laptop computers (approximately every 60 days). Measurements recorded at the three stations with YSI EXO3s™ will be downloaded daily to an off-site server using wireless broadband data services over the internet or using an onsite laptop computer should the telemetry fail.

Stream flow measurements will be obtained under different flow conditions at Station M1, M2, and 544R04613 to generate flow versus stage rating curves. The rating curves will be used to compute flow from stream depth measurements. Flow measurements will be obtained in-situ using a handheld stream-stick and a Marsh McBirney Flo-Tote handheld flow meter. The flow rating curves will be used to compute and add flow estimates to the time series data sets for each of the three stations.

Once compiled, the time series data will be copied into time series data templates provided by the Marine Pollution Study Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory. At this point, the files are considered to be EDDs. Both original data files and final qualified EDDs will be archived and submitted to CCCWP based upon direction.

6.3 Physical and Chemical Data Management Water quality sampling will be performed at two sites (M2 and 544R04613) during dry weather, wet weather and immediately following any occurrence of fish kill. Time-based sampling can be initiated remotely and automatically using onsite ISCO 6712 portable samplers. Water sampling may take place at other locations within Marsh Creek, its tributaries and/or outfalls which drain to Marsh Creek.

Analytical constituents for water quality samples include:

• Field parameters (temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen) • Suspended sediment concentration • Pyrethroid pesticides • Chlorpyrifos and diazinon • Fipronil and degradates • Ammonia • Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5-day) • Total sulfides • Total organic carbon • Dissolved organic carbon

Bedded sediment sampling may take place at locations of interest within Marsh Creek and its tributaries. Analytical constituents for sediment quality sampling include:

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

• Particle size distribution • Pyrethroid pesticides • Fipronil and degradates • Carbaryl • Total sulfides • Total organic carbon

Opportunistic fish tissue analysis may take place in the event of a fish kill event. Analytical constituents for fish tissue sampling include:

• Pyrethroid pesticides • Chlorpyrifos and diazinon • Fipronil and degradates

Project laboratories are required to supply the chemistry data in SWAMP water and sediment chemistry data templates. All project data in these files will undergo complete verification and validation with subsequent qualification. Each data file will have a demonstrated ability to be submitted successfully to the SWAMP data checker, except for lookup list errors. At this point these files will be considered to be EDDs. Both original data files and final qualified EDDs will be archived and submitted to CCCWP based upon direction.

6.4 Reporting Per the requirements of Provision C.8.e.iii.(3)(c) of the MRP, annual status reporting of the SSID study will be submitted with the Urban Creeks Monitoring Report in March of each year. The SSID study report will detail the actions taken, problem definition, and a schedule for the study’s continuation and completion. As data is acquired, the status report will describe findings and results of monitoring and outline steps for the upcoming year.

As data are received, summary results will be compiled, and analysis/interpretation will be performed. The main questions the status report will attempt to address are:

• Is there evidence for low dissolved oxygen in Marsh Creek (at levels which cause mortality to fish)? • Is there evidence other factors, in addition to or instead of low dissolved oxygen, may be contributing to fish kills?

To address these questions, the status report will include results of the following data analysis tasks:

• Evaluate and summarize water quality time series data focusing on events which may be linked to fish kills (e.g., periods of low dissolved oxygen, occurrences of discharge events from sources yet to be determined).

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

• Compile physical and chemical analytical results of water and sediment sampling together with prior data for evaluation of spatial and temporal differences and patterns; present results of these comparisons graphically. • Evaluate and summarize fish kill tissue analytical results (if tested).

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

7. REFERENCES CCCWP. 2014. Contra Costa Clean Water Program. Integrated Monitoring Report, Water Years 2012 and 2013: Part A. March 2014.

CCCWP. 2015. Contra Costa Clean Water Program. Report of Stressor/Source Identification Studies in Dry Creek and Grayson Creek Part B. Revised Draft. December 4, 2015.

CCCWP. 2016. Contra Costa Clean Water Program. Quality Assurance Project Plan, Pollutants of Concern Monitoring; Pesticides and Toxicity Monitoring: MRP 2 Provisions C.8.f and C.8.g Draft. Prepared by ADH Environmental and Applied Marine Sciences. April 5, 2016.

CDFW. 2016. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Results of Examination, Report on Fish Kill in Marsh Creek. Lab Report Number P-3122, Necropsy Z16-749, WPCL L-393-16. October 7, 2016.

Contra Costa County Community Development Department. 2003. Contra Costa County Watershed Atlas. November 2003. http://cocowaterweb.org/wp-content/uploads/Watershed-Atlas.pdf, last accessed July 10, 2018.

CVRWQCB. 2016. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region. The Water Quality Control Plan (Basin Plan) for the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region. The Sacramento River Basin and The San Joaquin River Basin. Fourth Edition (rev. July 2016).

CVRWQCB. 2017. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region. Water Code Section 13267 Order for Technical and Monitoring Reports. City of Brentwood Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System. Contra Costa County. November 9, 2017.

FOMCW. 2010. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. Salmon Monitoring Training Manual. Sarah Puckett, Natural Heritage Institute. November 2010.

FOMCW. 2011. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. State of the Marsh Creek Watershed: Summary of Data Collected 2001-2011.

FOMCW. 2015. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. 2015 State of the Creek Report. Downloaded from www.fomcw.org Accessed April 18, 2018.

FOMCW. 2016. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. Fish Kills in Marsh Creek. Informal summary of press releases and volunteer observations provided to CCCWP staff by Sarah Puckett via email on November 14, 2016.

FOMCW. 2018. Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed. Mission statement. www.fomcw.org. Accessed July 11, 2018.

Grow, L., and H. Merchant. 1980. The burrow habitat of the crayfish, Cambarus diogenes (Girard). American Midland Naturalist. vol. 103, no. 2, pp. 231-237. doi:10.2307/2424621. April 1980.

Contra Costa Clean Water Program July 2018 Marsh Creek Stressor and Source Identification Study – Work Plan

SFRWQCB. 2009. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Region. Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit, Order R2-2009-0074, NPDES Permit No. CAS612008. October 14, 2009.

SFRWQCB. 2015. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Region. Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit, Order No. R2-2015-0049, NPDES Permit No. CAS612008. November 19, 2015.

Talling, J. F. 1976. The Depletion of Carbon Dioxide from Lake Water by Phytoplankton. Journal of Ecology. vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 79-121. doi:10.2307/2258685. March 1976.

USGS. 2010. U.S. Geological Survey. Discharge measurements at gaging stations: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 3-A8, 87 p. September 2010.

Date: July 18, 2018

To: Management Committee

From: Courtney Riddle, Program Manager

Subject: Staff Report A - Update on the Recruitment for the Administrative Analyst

Recommendation

Receive an update on the recruitment for the Administrative Analyst Position.

Discussion

On July 12, 2018 Program Manager and Contra Costa County Human Resource staff conducted interviews of ten candidates for the vacant Administrative Analyst position. Program manager will provide an update on the recruitment process and discuss next steps at the Management Committee meeting.

Fiscal Impact:

Unknown at this time

Attachment(s):

None

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G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Courtney\2018-07\Report A - Update on Admin Analyst Recruitment.docx

Date: July 18, 2018

To: Management Committee

From: Courtney Riddle, Program Manager

Subject: Staff Report B – Update on Municipal Regional Permit Amendment for East County Permittees

Recommendation:

Receive report.

Background:

On June 26, 2018 Program Staff (Courtney Riddle, Program Manager and Lucile Paquette, Watershed Planning Specialist) along with East County Permittees attended a meeting with San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board staff in Oakland to discuss the East County Permit Amendment. Program staff will provide an update on this meeting at the July 18th Management Committee meeting.

Fiscal Impact:

None.

Attachments:

1. PowerPoint – East County Permit Update: Timeline Extensions and Timeline for Adoption

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G:\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\18 19\Shells\Courtney\2018-07\Report B -East County Permit Amendment.docx

MUNICIPAL REGIONAL PERMIT AMENDMENT EAST CONTRA COSTA COUNTY PERMITTEES

CCCWP Management Committee July 18, 2018 Timeline Extensions

• GI Framework – 12-31-19; • GI Plan – 12-31-20; • C.6 Hillside Construction: R5 wants erosion and sediment control BMPs to address MeHg; Reports AND Inspections must START in FY 19/20 with reporting due in annual report cycle; • C.10 Trash- Final Baseline Maps due 12-31-2029; Coincide with 1 year permit adoption (goal); • 70% Capture – 12-31-19 • 80% Capture – 12-31-21* This is outside of the MRP 2.0 cycle and may be superseded by MRP 3.0 requirements; • Report due dates out of sync with annual reports; Simplified reporting with electronic submittal and e-signed suggested by Dale Boyer • Mapping Private Lands (<10,000 sq.ft) 12-31-2020; • C.11/C.12f – Request for extension by FY 18-19 Annual report; Per Jan O’hara the idea was to give Permittees 3 years to develop programs and adopt ordinances

Timeline for Adoption

• Admin Draft – Late August/Early September; Document is expected by be 10-20 pages max; • Fact Sheet/Findings will come later; • Permittees will have 7-10 days to review/comment on draft; • 30 Day public comment period; • To RWQCB Board for approval Nov/December 2018 • Effective January 2019

Oakland to spend millions to curb homelessness, illegal dumping

A “No Dumping” sign sits near the corner of G Street and 88th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., a few feet from a pile of illegally dumped trash on Monday, June 4, 2018. Oakland city officials allocated millions towards combating illegal dumping through mid-cycle budget revisions to the 2017-2016 budget. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

By ALI TADAYON | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: June 22, 2018

OAKLAND — Oakland will spend millions more dollars to fight homelessness and illegal dumping, along with providing money to renovate playgrounds, pools and sports facilities.

The City Council unanimously allocated the funds this week as part of Oakland’s midcycle budget adjustments.

The money is in addition to proposals by the city administration, which directed millions toward affordable housing and homeless service programs, additional illegal dumping pickup crews, two Animal Services workers, six Planning and Building Department employees, the fire department’s academy and other programs.

“I applaud the City Council’s mid-cycle budget adjustment to address two of Oakland’s most urgent priorities – homelessness and dumping,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said in an email Thursday. “The consensus from the six council members who voted showed a shared commitment to make Oakland more equitable for all residents. The budget adjustments responded to the voice of our community. I also want to thank the chair of the finance committee, Councilmember Abel Guillen, for his leadership.”

Council members Larry Reid and Desley Brooks did not vote on the budget amendments. Reid was not at the meeting, and Brooks had left by the time the item was discussed after midnight. In addition to what the city was already spending on services for homeless people, the City Council also allocated $8.6 million in state grants to address the city’s homelessness crisis, according to a news release issued by Guillen. About $1 million of that will go toward sanitation, health and hygiene services, and the rest for a homelessness response strategy in coordination with Alameda County. The city is also using $85,000 for a pilot program in which homeless people are paid to pick up trash and clean up parts of the city.

The state grant funds will be available as soon as the city and county develop their strategy for the program, which is in the works, said Sarah Ting, Guillen’s chief of staff.

The administration’s budget includes $60,000 for a biennial homeless count and $500,000 to add a new transitional housing center and expand winter shelters. It allocates $10.8 million for affordable housing and a first-time home buyer program, and $16.7 million for housing at the Brooklyn Basin development.

More than $1.4 million will be spent on efforts to combat illegal dumping. Those include expanding a zone-based illegal dumping pickup pilot program. The current program is based on complaints and has been criticized by both community groups and city officials for disproportionately servicing wealthier neighborhoods, where more complaints are lodged but the issue is less widespread. Under the zone-based program, pick-up crews would patrol their assigned zones and pick up dumped items where they see them.

The city also will add an additional four-person illegal dumping pickup crew and two litter- enforcement officers to go through dumped trash piles to find and fine the culprits. Those will be in addition to the three-person illegal dumping pickup crew and three litter-enforcement officers funded through the administration’s budget.

The city also will spend $4.4 million to improve some playgrounds, pools and sports facilities, the news release said. That money is coming from the city’s tax on soda and other sugar- sweetened beverages voters approved in 2016, and matches funds provided to the city from the state Proposition 68 parks and conservation bond.

The city is spending $725,000 for job training and placement programs.

The budget was also adjusted to provide $75,000 from Measure Z funds to pay for programs to assist sex-trafficking victims and prevent sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. Measure Z, passed in 2014, placed a $99.77 parcel tax on parcels with houses and a $68.15- per-unit parcel tax on multi-residential parcels.

About $150,000 was allocated to fund a gun crime analyst for the police department who will help in the crackdown of illegal guns in Oakland.

\\pw-data\grpdata\NPDES\Management Committee\Packet\17 18\Shells\Erica\East Bay Time's Article Oakland to Spend Millions to Curb Homelessness, Illegal Dumping.docx

Stormwater's new look Innovative projects beautify large areas while mitigating stormwater damage and educating the public Jun 27, 2018Jason Axelrod | American City and County

Dubuque, Iowa's creek restoration project has reduced flash flooding while giving residents adjacent multi-use trails, a public orchard and more.

Flash flooding is such an issue in Dubuque, Iowa that it caused $70 million in damage and led to six presidential disaster declarations between 1999 and 2011. Over half of Dubuque’s population lives or works in its historic Bee Branch Watershed area, where stormwater runoff consistently flooded streets and homes on its way into the adjacent Mississippi River, according to city documents.

Across the country, Tavares, Fla., sits on Lake Dora, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified as impaired waters. That status is partly due to the city’s old stormwater system, which would discharge runoff directly into the lake while causing local flooding issues, according to Tavares Utility Director Brad Hayes. As part of a citywide rebranding and economic development effort starting around 2007, Hayes sought to rehabilitate and improve the city’s stormwater and wastewater infrastructure.

Over the past three years, both cities used green infrastructure to solve their stormwater problems. However, these projects also created and beautified new greenspaces that invite the public to both enjoy these new areas and to learn how the new solutions manage stormwater.

Green infrastructure like that of Dubuque and Tavares offers several benefits over traditional gray stormwater infrastructure. Gray stormwater pipes and water treatment systems efficiently move stormwater away from the built environment, but offer little else, says Andrew Fox, an associate professor of landscape architecture at North Carolina State University whose focuses include low impact development (LID), urban design and green infrastructure.

Conversely, green stormwater infrastructure (bioswales, rain gardens, etc.) uses soil, vegetation and other natural elements built into the environment to treat and reduce stormwater at its source. Green infrastructure is highly efficient at capturing and conveying water, and it mimics natural systems and ecologies in decentralizing stormwater treatment, according to Fox. “To the untrained eye, it looks like just a piece of the landscape, it looks natural,” he says.

Green infrastructure provides auxiliary social and environmental benefits like carbon sequestration and promoting wildlife, and it also gives people better access to nature, which was a major motivator behind Tavares’ Ruby Street Stormwater project. There was a swampy wetland behind the Lake County Jail “that everybody had written off,” Hayes says; however, he secured an inter-local agreement that let the city use the wetlands for stormwater treatment.

Tavares officials eventually constructed an eight-acre walkable park named Tavares Ecological Park that contains five small cell ponds of different depths. Within these ponds are “bee mats,” or floating islands with plants that filter out pollutants. Stormwater swirls around the ponds and is filtered through the bee mats, ultimately discharging into the lake.

The city’s main thoroughfare, Ruby Street, runs on the edge of the park and has been prone to flooding in the past, Hayes says. As part of the project, Tavares officials replaced 80-year-old stormwater pipes underneath Ruby Street with a large transmission pipe, which transmits stormwater into the park’s ponds while preventing flooding in the city’s streets.

To prevent flooding in its area, Dubuque took an opposite approach to Tavares—officials excavated a storm sewer that had been buried in the early 1900s, and they converted it into an aboveground creek.

This creek, now dubbed the Bee Branch Creek Greenway, is what Dubuque Civil Engineer Deron Muehring calls “the key component” of the city’s larger Bee Branch Flood Mitigation project.

Upstream detention basins capture stormwater, while the creek carries that stormwater downstream into the Mississippi River in an unrushed manner to avoid flooding streets and houses. The creek also contains floating planter islands similar to Tavares’ bee mats that filter pollutants out of the stormwater stream. The creeks open into a pond that ultimately drains into the Mississippi River.

What’s more, restoring the creek was cheaper than what installing gray infrastructure would have cost. The project “wasn’t driven by this idea that we wanted to be green at the time. It was the other kind of green — we wanted to save green,” Muehring says with a chuckle. “That was the original reason why we were looking at the aboveground creek.”

Built between June 2015 and July 2017, the creek restoration has saved Dubuque green in another way. A storm that dropped 4.9 inches of rain on Dubuque in under 24 hours in 2002 caused $11.6 million in property damage, but during a similar storm that dropped 4.9 inches of rain in under 24 hours last summer, property damage was mostly avoided, city documents show.

In May, five inches of rain fell in Tavares within an hour, and the new stormwater system adequately sucked up rain and prevented flooding in the streets, Hayes says. While the system is currently functional, overall construction for Tavares’ Ruby Street Stormwater project is expected to conclude this July, two years after it started.

The bigger picture

Rendering of how Tavares, Fla.'s Ruby Street looked before its stormwater project commenced.

Appearance is essential to a green infrastructure project, as an attractive piece of infrastructure will likely yield more public appreciation and thus better sustainability in ensuring a longer lifecycle, Fox says.

“The appearance has to balance the technical requirements of the hydrology and the stormwater with those elements of appearance that are going to keep the nearby residents enjoying it and appreciating it and hopefully maybe even helping to maintain it,” he adds.

Renderings of how Tavares, Fla.'s Ruby Street will look after the project is finished around July

When Dubuque officials first gathered input from residents, they revealed that they didn’t just want an aboveground sewer in their area — they wanted a stormwater solution that they could access and experience.

To that end, the city built a multi-use trail system, small amphitheater, lighting, benches, a play area and bioswales around the creek, while planting a public orchard, community garden and numerous shrubs and trees around it as well, according to city documents. As Dubuque residents have footed part of the bill, Muehring says that officials wanted to build something that the entire community could enjoy.

The creek and its amenities haven’t just brought people — they’ve attracted a local beaver and frog population. Muehring says that work to increase conveyance underneath railroad tracks will help increase fish population in the stream, as well.

The bee mats present in Tavares Ecological Park’s ponds attract bees and other pollinators to boost the local wildlife population there, city documents show. To further attract people to Tavares Ecological Park, Tavares officials installed wooden bridges over the stormwater retention ponds while building walkable trails throughout the park.

“I did not want to build an area just to discharge all of the stormwater. I wanted something a little bit more,” says Hayes, who largely designed and spearheaded the creation of Tavares Ecological Park.

Being the city’s entertainment district, Ruby Street itself has also undergone a major transformation. After installing the new transmission pipe under the road, the city is conducting a major streetscaping project to bury power lines, install decorative lighting, plant more trees and repave the street with ruby-red bricks.

To truly appreciate the systems, both cities have made education a priority and have installed educational plaques throughout the areas to inform the public about the locales’ stormwater issues, green infrastructure’s functionality and why it all is so important. Dubuque has also built an outdoor classroom by its creek.

“We try to keep citizens engaged and informed about everything we’re doing. We try to be as transparent as we can,” Muehring says. “And that was just another way to add to that transparency.”

This necessary transparency extends to organizations, businesses and governmental agencies, as well, but this is easier said than done. Both Hayes and Muehring admit that the largest challenges with their respective projects occurred not in their construction, but in working with other entities throughout the process.

In Tavares, Hayes worked with local businesses along Ruby Street to keep them afloat during the construction process. Officials held weekly meetings with the businesses to help them plan accordingly. Ultimately, all businesses along Ruby Street remained open throughout construction, and temporary signage and walkways were installed to give people as much access as possible.

Dubuque officials encountered challenges even before designing the new creek. Being built in a low-income community, residents expressed angst at the potential for displacement, and officials had to work with over 100 property owners on the relocation process.

Due to the area’s historic designation, the city had to execute an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers and multiple Iowa agencies to outline their strategy. The city also encountered issues in the bidding process due to the multifaceted nature of the project.

The projects’ multifaceted approaches have attracted interest from organizations, universities and governments. Both Dubuque and Tavares have won awards for their projects, and the

Florida Department of Environmental Opportunity plans to use Tavares’ project as a model for other cities to construct as part of a grant funding program, Hayes says.

On May 30, Hayes retired from his position at Tavares. He voices pride in leaving a legacy behind with the Ruby Street Stormwater project and improving the city’s stormwater management, community development and public education.

“I’m going out on a high note with a project that will live for years and years to come,” Hayes says. “People will remember me for… helping to enhance the culture and the education for the City of Tavares.”

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Stormwater Trash Management Webinar Series #3 – Straws, Stormwater and Youth

Tuesday, July 31st, 2018 10 am – 11:30 am

Who should attend: Municipal stormwater and solid waste program coordinators, staff and individuals interested in trash and litter control efforts – especially in the San Francisco Bay Area

Webinar Agenda  The City of Alameda’s Foodware and Straw Ordinance Kerry Parker: City of Alameda, Public Works Department Alameda has taken foodware ordinances to the next level. Currently with the most far reaching ordinance in the Bay Area, Kerry will discuss how the City got there, the lessons learned so far and how the school district was involved in the process.

 Girl Scouts Take on Straws in Community Campaign in Palo Alto Karen Fitzpatrick: Troop Leader, Girl Scout Troop 60016 Girl Scouts care about the Earth and a troop in Palo Alto is showing what girls can do when they set their minds to it. The troop began “The Last Straw” campaign with the City, signing up over 30 local businesses to reduce straws and worked with the City to declare May as Straw Awareness Month.

 Sunnyvale High School Students Reducing Straw Pollution Abigail Shamelashvili & Shelby Jennett: Community Service Project Chairs, Homestead High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) What are high school students doing to fight plastic pollution such as straws? Two students share ideas and results from their award‐winning community service project for FBLA.

Register for the webinar by Friday, July 27th, 2018 at: https://stormwatertrashmanagementwebinar3.eventbrite.com Space is limited to 200 participants Questions? Call Peter at 510‐832‐2852 ext.128 (email: pschultze‐[email protected])

This webinar is brought to you by the Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative’s Zero Litter Initiative (www.scbwmi.org/zli) in collaboration with the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program (www.scvurppp.org)