Concept Proposals - Project Summaries Greater Monterey County IRWM Region 2018-2019 Project Proponent Project Title Description The Carr Lake Project will result in a new park that will address a pressing need for additional safe public open space in the City of Salinas and will provide multiple environmental benefits related to water quality improvements and stormwater management. The project area is located completely within a low-income community and will significantly increase park acreage for Salinas’s residents. Wetland and related restoration in the low-lying portions of the 73-acre project area will improve water quality and enhance the ecological function of a segment of Gabilan creek, which is currently listed as an impaired water way under the Regional Water Quality Control Board with water quality targets and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). Similar improvements will be made along a segment of Hospital Creek, an urban drainage into Carr Lake that merges with Gabilan Creek on the project site. BSLT’s Carr Lake project proposes to revitalize a floodplain that had been converted from a wetland to agricultural Big Sur Land Trust BSLT Carr Lake Project use, and will add native trees, riparian plants, and other flora to the project site. Constructed treatment wetlands are designed to remove pollutants from stormwater, wastewater, or agricultural runoff. Treatment wetlands consist of shallow channels or ponds that use native aquatic vegetation to filter water through physical, biological and chemical processes. Other benefits of treatment wetlands include providing aquatic wildlife habitat, aiding in erosion control and flood control, creating an aesthetically pleasing environment, and in urban settings they can provide recreational opportunities. The Blanco Drain is an ideal location for the construction of a linear treatment wetland. It provides a wide flood plain, farm roads on both sides of the drainage that can provide a buffer between drainage and farm operations, and slopes that will benefit from erosion control and weed management. The Blanco Drain drains approximately 6400 acres Central Coast Wetlands Blanco Drain Treatment of surrounding farmland and is classified as category 5 impaired water body listing pursuant to Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act for pesticides, Group Wetland Areas low dissolved oxygen, nitrates, turbidity, chlorpyrifos, and diazinon. The Salinas Valley/Gabilan Watershed drainage system was originally designed in 1906 as a stormwater flood control system that reclaimed land for farming and urban development, to the detriment of environmental considerations. Today this historical management strategy is in direct contradiction with environmental laws and policies leading to legal challenges and regulatory actions. We have developed an alternative vision for how the current Rec Ditch/ Gabilan Watershed drainage system is managed that will increase flow capacity while also enhancing wetland habitat Salinas to The Sea Storm and water quality by creating a linear restoration project along the Reclamation Ditch between the City of Salinas and Moss Landing Beach (Salinas Water Management, to the Sea). The project will help the County and farmers meet their water quality obligations in a cost-effective way. This enhanced drainage Central Coast Wetlands Community Development and system will support flood control and environmental goals while also providing a recreational opportunity to north Monterey County residents who Group Habitat Enhancement Project often feel isolated from their coast. Cost effective distributed restoration of the Acosta Plaza urban drainage. Every waterway to which the City of Salinas MS4 drains is listed on the EPA 303(d) list, including the Salinas Reclamation Canal to which Acosta Plaza drains. Acosta Plaza is a high-density low-income residential neighborhood that is 98% economically disadvantaged. There are 3 schools within the drainage. The use of the 2Nform monitoring and modelling indicates Acosta Plaza is a high priority opportunity within the City to reduce excess stormwater volumes, urban pollutant loads and trash delivery to the local receiving waters. The drainage restoration will integrate cost-effective structural and non-structural BMPs intensively at scale that include but not limited to: • More effective street sweeping with parking controls, efficient sweepers, coordination with waste recovery, community outreach and education, community litter clean ups, improved road pavement integrity and design and other elements to increase the effectiveness of City land maintenance efforts. • Neighborhood, businesses and school education, outreach and incentives to reduce local litter. Downtown Street Team litter clean-up sites. • Design implementation and maintenance of extensive distributed decentralized structural BMPs, green infrastructure, green streets and parcel runoff control structures and practices. Acosta Plaza Urban Drainage • Design implementation and maintenance of centralized structural BMPs. City of Salinas Restoration Field data will serve as data inputs to quantify the volume, pollutant and litter reduction progress achieved, among other multi-benefits. The primary objective of the Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water and Wastewater Improvement project is to assist DAC communities in addressing public health and safety issues related to water and wastewater system deficiencies. The Greater Monterey County IRWM DAC Involvement Team is currently completing a needs assessment that may add to the high priority list of communities with severe water and wastewater deficiencies. The proposed project would involve: 1. community outreach and organizational planning, including project sponsorship coordination; 2. water testing, project planning, engineering and other professional services, evaluation of technical, managerial and financial capacity, regionalization planning leading to selection of projects for Disadvantaged Community advancement to applications for funding and technical assistance and support to lead to project implementation; 3. Individual projects that are Drinking Water and close to construction readiness or that meet the criteria of an IRWM PSP would be assisted during the RWMG Project Solicitation process and Environmental Justice Wastewater Improvement thereafter, as needed, to complete construction, regionalization or other improvements to bring systems into compliance with regulatory Coalition for Water Projects requirements. The primary objective of the Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Point of Use/Point of Entry (POU/POE) and Domestic Well and Septic System Improvement project is to assist DAC communities and individuals who meet DAC eligibility criteria to address public health and safety issues related to water and wastewater system deficiencies. Monterey County, following adoption of regulations by the State of California, is in the process of considering an Ordinance that will allow State and Local Small Water Systems to install POU/POE treatment. Water systems that cannot achieve compliance with safe drinking water quality standards due to economic infeasibility would apply to the County for permits. As proposed, water system managers and DAC community members would be assisted through education, training, community engagement and technical assistance as they evaluate options, determine costs and develop a compliance plan. The Greater Monterey County DAC Involvement Team is currently completing a needs assessment that considers which systems may be best suited to a POU/POE approach. Resources have not been identified to adequately serve very small DAC communities with drinking water quality or septic system improvements. The Disadvantaged Community proposed project would involve: 1. Community outreach, engagement and coordination; 2. Water testing and septic system inspections; 3. Project Drinking Water and planning, engineering and other professional services, evaluation of technical, managerial and financial capacity, regionalization planning leading to Wastewater Point of selection of projects for advancement to applications for funding and technical assistance and support to project implementation; 4. The program Use/Point of Entry Treatment would be proposed for funding in Round 2 of the DAC Implementation grant. Individual projects that are close to construction readiness or that for State and Local Small meet the criteria of an IRWM PSP would be assisted during the RWMG Project Solicitation process and thereafter, as needed, to complete tasks Water Systems, Domestic resulting in installation of treatment systems, compliance planning and permitting, regionalization, training or other technical assistance. Another Environmental Justice Wells and Septic System component of the proposal would support improvements for domestic well and septic system owners to bring systems into compliance with Coalition for Water Improvements regulatory requirements. Monterey One Water’s (M1W) land/ocean outfall pipeline was constructed and put into service in 1984 to convey secondary treated effluent from its Treatment Plant 2.1 miles out into the Monterey Bay. The land outfall consists of a 60-inch reinforced concrete pipe and transitions to the ocean outfall at the junction structure (a drop manhole structure) located on the beach adjacent to the CEMEX sand mining operation. Due in part to the El Nino-driven wave action in 2015/2016, a portion of the land outfall pipeline at the junction structure