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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-03-22; Encina Joint Advisory Committee Ad Hoc; Minuteso ENCINA JOINT POWERS MINUTES OF THE JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1978 AT THE ENCINA WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY CONFERENCE ROOM Ed Stiles, Chairman Stanley Mahr, Vice Chairman 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Ed Stiles called the meeting to order at 9:05 A.M. ROLL CALL Present; County of San Diego Buena Sanitation District San Marcos County Water District Vista Sanitation District Leucadia County Water District Encinitas Sanitary District City of Carlsbad JAC Counsel Encina Joint Powers Chuck Oldsen, Jim Frandsen . . . Ed Stiles, Bill Dominguez Jim McKay, Stanley Mahr Joe Zapotocky, Don Todd Mark Schneider, Jack Filanc Richard Hanson, Stan Van Sickle Mary easier, A. J. Skotnicki., Roy H. Gann, Esq. Las Evans Absent: City of"Carlsbad Guests; Brown and Caldwell BPZA CM Engineering Associates Blade Tribune Encinitas Sanitary District Leucadia County Water Distrit Ron Beckman Graham Fraser, Lynn Hartford Fred Wilson John Murk, Jerry Frieling Jim Esterbrooks Jack Kubota Eric Elliott JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCft»22, 1978 ,**. 2. MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 22, 1978 Chairman Stiles asked for the approval of the February 22, 1978 minutes as submitted. Mr. Hanson questioned Item c. Clyde's Septage Service, 4th paragraph, second line on Page 6 of the minutes. He asked Mr. Kubota whether "physical" or "financial" integrity was the intent. Mr. Kubota said that it was meant to be "fiscal". All minutes should be changed to reflect this correction. Mr. Van Sickle noted that the League of Women Voters were listed in the Roll Call along with the JAC members. Mr. Evans said that they would be listed with the guests in the future. Mr. Zapotocky moved that the minutes be approved as amended. Seconded by Mr. Mahr, the motion carried. Chairman Stiles welcomed Mr. Jack Filanc from the Encinitas Sanitary District to the JAC Committee. Mr. Kubota will now be the alternate for Encinitas Sanitary District and bring donuts. INFORMATION 3. PHASE III PROJECT - CONCEPT APPROVAL LETTER Chairman Stiles called upon Mr. Evans to report. Mr. Evans stated that since we have our Coastal Permit, the State has given concept approval of our project. 4. PHASE III PROJECT - HEADWORKS CONSTRUCTION Chairman Stiles asked for a report from Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans stated that a response had been received to his letter to the State asking whether or not our project could be divided into a headworks portion and the remainder. The response was positive. However, they would like us to at least-proceed to the -16%- design stage -before we -*start> separating • out the headworks project. That would mean that an additional Step 3 grant would be awarded for the headworks project and a Step 3 grant for the remainder. We don't have to make a de- cision on that now. In fact, we can't do it until the 10% design phase anyway. Mr. Evans suggested that we keep in mind that the State has responded affirmatively in dividing the project up but no - 2 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEES MEETING MINUTES - MARC/»e2, 1978 action is necessary. Mr. Zapotocky asked whether the final adoption of the RAQS plan satisfied the condition of air quality imposed by the concept approval letter. Mr. Evans said that it would not. There is a plan, to be complete in October, 1978, called the Air Quality Maintenance Plan which is a refinement of the RAQS plan and will be sub- mitted to the EPA for approval. It will definitely be mean- ingful to us as far as meeting that condition. Mr. Zapotocky asked whether we could proceed with the Step 2 work with this plan pending. Mr. Evans answered to the af- firmative and added that we could do the design but could not proceed with construction until we satisfied the EPA that we are doing something about air quality. 5. PHASE III - TIME SCHEDULE Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the Time Schedule for Phase III. Mr. Evans stated that as of March 22, 1978, the Time Schedule was fairly realistic. Concept approval has been received but we have not received a grant offer. We expect to receive a Federal grant offer as soon as money is available and, accord- ing to the State, money should be available next month or so. We know there is no State money available and won't be unless the bond issue on the June ballot passes. Mr. Zapotocky asked if this could be retroactively applied to which Mr. Evans re- plied affirmatively. The Seventh Supplement states that Brown and Caldwell will per- form the Phase III design services. The JAC staff has met with Brown and Caldwell several times and have reached an understand- ing of how this design is going to be conducted and how it will be reviewed. Additionally, the JAC staff has recommended that the Value En- gineering process include the concepts presented in the project report so our value engineering process will be-more-in-depth— than most and will begin with an actual study of the February, 1975 project report to see if those design concepts are still valid. Before we can enter into a contract with Brown and Caldwell to perform the design, each agency must adopt a resolution approv- ing the project report, the Environmental Impact Report and the Financial Report. The is some question as to whether this has - 3 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: MEETING MINUTES - MARCli»22, 1978 been done. Mr. Evans requested that each agency forward him a copy of the resolution if they have adopted it and, if not adopted, he would supply the necessary format. Mr. Zapotocky stated that he believed everyone had adopted the resolution. Mr. Oldsen mentioned that it was sent out to everybody and was dated January 26, 1976 explaining the funding, the responsibilities each agency had for Step II and a projection of Step III. Everybody agreed to check their files. Mr. Evans stated that he had a copy of the January 26, 1976 packet and if anyone wanted the packet in an up-dated form, he would be happy to provide same. Mr. Evans asked whether or not some of the other JAC staff members would like to comment on the meeting held regarding Brown and Caldwell. Chairman Stiles asked for comments. Mr. McKay felt that Mr. Evans had covered the situation. Mr. Zapotocky added that he felt that the entire JAC should know that there were a lot of concerns expressed and the previous week's meeting was one where everyone laid all their cards on the table and that certain concerns regarding past design work and past performance were criticized and, even though there was a lot of rebuttal, he felt that the staff came to a meeting of the minds. There were committments made by Brown and Caldwell that would satisfy some of the concerns expressed in the course of the future design work. He felt that it was important that the JAC understand that it was a "no holds barred" situation and out of it has evolved the concept of a very intense program for value engineering that will basically monitor the design work throughout the per- formance of it. Mr. Schneider added that all six entities have engineers and they will also be involved. 6. AREAWIDE WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN (208) Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the Areawide Water Quality Management Plan. Mr. Evans stated that the public hearings on the 208 Plan, in its draft form, were set for Escondido on March 30 and San Diego on April 3. The CPO board will take action on the Plan on April 17. - 4 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCSa^.2, 1978 Mr. Zapotocky stated that the CPO was having a general assembly on Monday, March 27, where this plan will be discussed at great length. Mr. Evans stated that the reclamation aspect in the plan iden- tifies 4 projects in this Encina service area which the consul- tant recommends should be implemented immediately: a. Construction of a treatment plant in the Palomar Airport area. b. Construction of a treatment plant in the Callavera Hills area. c. Reactivation of the Leucadia plant. d. Construction of a treatment plant in the Palomar Airport area near the junction of the San Marcos and Buena inter- ceptors . A joint venture with the City of San Diego and County of San Diego is studying the consultant's recommendations under a Step 1 grant from the State and, within a year, we should have a project report for the actual construction of one or several of these projects. Agencies should take a good, hard look at these projects before they are put into that report, especially if there are some problems with them. Mr. Hanson stated that Leucadia is in the process of pursuing reclamation again very extensively and part and party to that will be the requirement that they utilize the Encina Ocean Out- fall as their fail safe system. He wanted to indicate to JAC that Leucadia was looking forward to discussions with and posi- tive attitudes emanating out of discussions with JAC and other regulatory agencies. This will be coming up in the next couple of months. Mr. Van Sickle stated that they could regulate the Ocean Outfall so that it would come in during periods such as between midnight and 6 A.M. where it wouldn't be taxing the Ocean Outfall. Mr. Evans said the information available on the Ocean Outfall capacity speaks of peak wet weather capacity, not ADWF. Ex- actly what the dry weather capacity at the outfall is diffi- cult to decide. We know that at highest recorded tide, we can get something like 39 mgd out that line but no more than that. Mr. Oldsen indicated than an effluent pumping station would be required to handle the fail safe systems planned as part of the satellite plants. - 5 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARGIN 2, 1978 Mr. Hanson proposed an elevated storage tank to equalize the flow. The elevated storage tank would effectively increase the capacity. Mr. Oldsen said that the effluent pump station is most prob- ably economical way to meet headon the hydraulic capacity needs. 7. REPORT ON MINIATURE DIGESTER STUDY - CM ENGINEERING Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the CM Engineering Project. Mr. Evans stated that 4 months ago, John Murk and Jerry Frieling of CM Engineering built some miniature digesters to study the foaming problem. After the 4 months, they have drawn some ten- tative conclusions including that they don't seem to be able to induce foaming in the miniature digesters by abusing them through over-loading or any other artificial means. What is causing the foaming seems to be something that is introduced from the outside. They have done some preliminary studies on what might be causing the foaming and a lot more needs to be done to identify the foam- ing agent. CM is, however, suggesting that the real digesters can be opera- ted with the foaming problem if we make some operational and de- sign changes. They are recommending introduction of mixing sys- tems of greater capacity into both the primary digesters which is in the budget and with which we are proceeding. The new mix- ing system, which will be in Digester No. 2, hopefully, will be in place by the first of July. CM is also suggesting that we lower the surface level in the primary digesters to accommodate the foaming and that we modify the floating cover on Digester No. 1 to a fixed cover. With these adjustments and continuing to pursue exactly what is caus- ing the foaming, CM feels that we can improve the performance of those digesters. Chairman Stiles asked what had happened to the proposal to hang the cover which the JAC discussed several months ago. Mr. Evans stated that the cover turned out to be too heavy to hang it the way they wanted. Mr. Evans said that in order to convert that digester to a fixed cover, they would probably have to drain the tank and build some kind of framework inside to support the cover. The cover is de- signed to rest at a point of about 8 ft. down from the top. - 6 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCH-22, 1978 Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Murk if he had any further comments. Mr. Murk stated that foam did occur at times in the miniature digesters but never to the point where it would rise up the gas line. Basically, what he is really worried about is foam rising up the gas line to contaminate the gas or seepage through the floating covers. He felt that the digesters can be operated so that they will not be a nuisance. He further stated the other thing is to identify what is caus- ing the foaming, which can be hopefully eliminated, and the suggested course of action in that area would be just to use the pilot digesters as a kind of control box. It's a lot easier to get a good sample out of those than it is the big digesters. If one of those would foam up, we could easily draw a sample because we could visually see it happening very early with the attention they have been getting and take the sample and have it analyzed. Hopefully, in time correlate the foaming with some compound in the sludge and go back and trace it. Chairman Stiles asked if it were possible, in CM's testing pro- cedure, to find out what chemical it might be that is creating the foam. Mr. Murk answered that, hopefully everytime it foams, run a certain series of analyses and then take a day when it does not foam and compare them for differences. Depending upon other constituents in the sludge, certain chemicals and certain agents would not react on certain days and on other days would react. The way to do it is by looking for the oddball situation and com- paring that to the norm and, after enough comparisons, some one or a combination of components will point to the culprit. Mr. Hanson asked if possibly zinc or chrome was causing the foaming. Mr. Murk answered that three analyses had come back and only one of these seemed to be questionable but from one sample, no conclusion can be made. With the digesters well mixed and properly heated, we think there is enough capacity in them even with the lower level. By lowering the level, basically, we cut down on the hydraulic detention time. In other words, sludge is not in as many days as it could be. Mr. Filanc asked whether the mixing and heating in the pilot digesters was similar to what is in the actual. Mr. Murk answered to the negative but added that the small digesters are theoretically completely mixed and the existing digesters are not in that state. - 7 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARO>*%2, 1978 _O>*% The purpose of setting up the miniature digesters is to develop a theoretical perfect condition and determine the extent of foaming. Mr. Murk stated that CM Engineering has submitted a design on a gas mixing system which would, hopefully, approach the ideal condition. Mr. Filanc asked about the heating and Mr. Murk said the present heating was very good but CM had also designed a heating system that will replace the present Venturi injectors. Chairman Stiles suggested that CM Engineering and Mr. Murk re- port to Mr. Evans and that, from time to time, the JAC receive progress reports. Mr. Evans stated that CM Engineering had been working for 4 months and, essentially, had done what they said they would. Because they are getting busy with other clients, the JAC is on their own. CM Engineering performed the study for us at no cost. Mr. Hanson wanted to know if CM didn't want to work for JAC any longer. Mr. Evans stated that if the JAC wanted him to work out some kind of contract for CM to continue, he would be glad to do so. Chairman Stiles and other members of the JAC agreed that more was accomplished during the past four months towards coming to some of the answers we've been looling for during the past eight years than ever before. Mr. Mahr moved that Mr. Evans work out some kind of contract with CM Engineering to continue the study and resolution of the digester foaming problems. Seconded by Mr. Zapotocky, the motion carried. Mr. Hanson asked if part of CM's work would be with regard to the design of the fixed cover. Mr. Hanson also referred to the last paragraph of CM Engineer- ing Associate's letter of March 15 regarding several avenues of approach which could be taken to strengthen our position in rerating the plant. Mr. Murk stated the goal would be not make the solids handling facility a limitation on rerating. He suggested that Digester No. 3 be converted to a primary digester to be used as sort of a shock absorber and also a basis for re-cycling feed sludge. The other thing, he would suggest, is the introduction of a temporary dewatering device until the expansion of the plant is complete. - 8 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MAROW2, 1978 Mr. Hanson asked about the time required to accomplish the above. Mr. Murk stated it would be 3 - 6 months. Mr. Hanson asked if Mr. Murk's suggestions were implemented that we might put ourselves in a position to demonstrate to Water Quality Control Board that we have the odor problem solved and that it need not be considered in regard to re- rating? Mr. Murk answered to the affirmative and felt that the Regional Board would probably look at it more deeply than the odor prob- lem. The odor from the sludge is simply poorly digested sludge. ROUTINE REPORTS 8. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for his comments on the Oper- ations and Maintenance Report. a. Mr. Evans stated that during the rainfalls there were some problems with the grit removal structure and Digester No. 1 is dead. He added that the odor we are getting from the centrifuge is from centrifuging undigested sludge and until the digester is well again, we will have the odor. The Regional Board is aware of it and understands the problem. b. Clyde's Septage Service Mr. Evans reported that Clyde's Septage Service's debt to Encina was $361 and asked for permisssion from the JAC to ask the City of Carlsbad to either write it off as a bad debt or uncollectible loss. Mr. Schneider moved that the City of Carlsbad do what was necessary to write off this bad debt. Seconded by Mr. Hanson, the motion carried. 9. FLOW REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for a report on the flows. Mr. Evans reported that the flows still did not make too much sense because of the heavy rainfall and, even this month, flows of 12 mgd were being averaged. It will be a while before we get back down to normal. The meter was tested last week and it tested 7.3% high. A 7% factor is still being used on all of the flows. — 9 — JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCH 22, 1978- - -- -^»- - * - — 10. SULFIDE REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for a report on the sulfide conditions. Mr. Evans reported that, because of the heavy rains and the high flows, the sulfides are negligible. 11. EXPENDITURE REPORTS Chairman Stiles asked for a report on the expenditures. Mr. Evans reported that the reports show that we are well within our budget and because we do not have the personnel budgeted for because of turnover, etc., we can expect to end the year con- siderably under budget. ACTION 12. CLEAN WATER ACT OF 1977 Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the Clean Water Act. Mr. Evans reported that the preliminary guidelines to apply for modification to secondary requirements have not been re- ceived. He recommended until the guidelines were received, no decision should be made on whether a modification should be pursued or a consultant hired to do some testing. He continued that we would have to apply by September 24. Mr. Hartford of Brown and Caldwell stated that he had talked with Liza Friedman of EPA in Washington and she stated that the concept paper, which is the first draft of their regula- tions, should be mailed out early this week. 13. BUDGET FOR EXTENDING THE CAPACITY AT THE EWPCF Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report. Mr. Evans said his intention was to get input from the JAC on what items to include in the budget. If we put in the items recommended by CM Engineering, Brown and Caldwell and the County, we get into some pretty high costs. He stated that he had gone through all the various rerating reports and included all the items that had been recommended and the cost came up to about $500 thousand. - 10 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCH^ft?, 1978 Mr. Evans asked whether the JAC wanted to see these items in a budget or whether they would prefer to take them up at a later time and perhaps deal with them on an individual basis. Mr. Hanson moved that it would not be out of order to put these items in a preliminary budget and that the committee would be meeting prior to completion of the final budget and make its recommendations to the JAC with regard to items which should be in the budget as a total, changed or as an addition. Mr. Zapotocky seconded the motion and it was carried. 14. REQUEST TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS FOR CLEANING DIGESTER NO. 2 Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to comment on cleaning of Di- gester No. 2. Mr. Evans stated that it was not intended to clean Digester No. 2. The mixing system was intended to be inserted without the necessity of cleaning but because of recent heavy rain- fall, the digester is clogged with grit. He felt that the digesters will have to be cleaned every other year instead of every five years until the grit chamber is enlarged. Mr. Evans felt that this would be a good time to clean the digester prior to installing the new mixing and heating sys- tems. Mr. Zapotocky asked about the money for this job. Mr. Evans replied that it was not in the budget but suggested that it be taken out of the Contingency Funds. Mr. Hanson moved that JAC use the Contingency Reserve of $25,000 for cleaning of Digester No. 2 and approve adver- tising for bids for the accomplishment of the cleaning. Mr. Zapotocky seconded the motion and it was carried. 15. PROPOSED RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR SEPTAGE HAULERS Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the progress of the proposed Rules and Regulations for Septage Haulers. Mr. Evans explained that in the new DRAFT of Rules and Regula- tions on Page 5, section 2, showed that a deposit of $500 would be required for a year at which time it would be refundable if the hauler had demonstrated financial integrity for that per- iod of time. He had forwarded a copy of this DRAFT to Mr. Gann and asked Mr. Gann to explain the problem with just having JAC approve these rather than having one of our agencies adopt - 11 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARO*, 1978 it in the form of an ordinance. Mr. Gann explained that inasmuch as the JAC is only an advisory body to the agencies which own the plant, to have force of law, the regulations should be incorporated in an ordinance. JAC does not have the authority to create rules and regulations that are enforceable as a law. Mr. Gann suggested that each of the agencies approve the new Rules and Regulations policy by resolution and then the City of Carlsbad, in its capacity as administrator, be asked to in- corporate the Rules and Regulations into an ordinance. Mr. Zapotocky moved that the City of Carlsbad be asked to in- corporate the Rules and Regulations into an ordinance in a format acceptable to their attorney and council. Seconded by Mr. Skotnicki, the motion carried. Mr. Dominguez stated that we still have the problem with il- legal dumps in the other service areas. He only brought this up because such an ordinance adopted by Carlsbad would only affect the jurisdictional boundaries of Carlsbad. Mr. Gann then suggested that each agency needed some ordinance or restriction or requirement for dumping into the system out- side the jurisdiction of Carlsbad. Mr. Oldsen asked whether Mr. Gann could prepare a resolution that the other five agencies could use to transmit on to their Boards of Directors for approval. Mr. Gann stated that he would prepare a short resolution. Chairman Stiles tabled the motion until Mr. Gann prepared a resolution for each of the agencies which would be incorpor- ated by Carlsbad's ordinance. 16. (SALVAGE) REQUEST TO SELL EXCESS EQUIPMENT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for a report on his request to sell excess equipment for salvage. Mr. Evans stated that, as a result ~6f the" "constructiionnthat' has been going on at some of the pump stations and the plant over the past 3 or 4 years, we have excess equipment which he felt should be sold or, if not saleable, scrapped in an effort to collect whatever money could be made. It was Mr. Evans1 understanding that the City of Carlsbad had a process for handling this annually (in June) by auction. - 12 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - MARCH 22, 1978 Mr. Evans asked the JAC's permission to make arrangements with the City of Carlsbad to sell the excess machinery and metal items salvaged from recent upgrading projects through appropriate open-bid procedures. Mr. Schneider moved to sell the excess machinery as recommended by Mr. Evans. Seconded by Mr. Zapotocky, the motion carried. OTHER BUSINESS Next Meeting Chairman Stiles announced that the next JAC meeting would be held on Wednesday, April 26, 1978 at 9:00 A.M. at the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility Conference Room. There being no further business, Chairman Stiles adjourned the meet- ing at 10:20 A.M. Respectfully submitted, M. Gunn Taylor Recording Secretary - 13 -