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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-06-28; Encina Joint Advisory Committee Ad Hoc; MinutesENCINA JOINT POWERS MINUTES OP THE JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 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: Vista Sanitation District Joe Zapotocky, Dan Carr City of Carlsbad Mary easier, A. J. Skotnicki Buena Sanitation District Ed Stiles, Bill Dominguez Leucadia County Water District Dick Hanson, Stan Van Sickle Encinitas Sanitary District Mark Schneider, Jack Filanc County of San Diego Joe Lopez JAC Administrator Ron Beckman JAC Counsel Roy H. Gann, Esq. Encina Joint Powers Les Evans, Mary Taylor Absent: San Marcos County Water District Jim McKay, Stanley Mahr Guests: Blade Tribune Jim Esterbrooks Brown and Caldwell Graham Fraser C M Engineering Associates John Murk League of Women Voters Jane Skotnicki, Ruth Honnold Leucadia County Water District Eric Elliott JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE 28, 1978 2. MINUTES OF MAY 24, 1978 MEETING Chairman Stiles asked for the approval of the May 24, 1978 meet- ing minutes as submitted. Mr. Zapotocky moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Second- ed by Ms. Casler, the motion unanimously carried. 3. MINUTES OF SPECIAL JAC MEETING OF JUNE 21, 1978 Chairman Stiles asked for the approval of the June 21, 1978 Spe- cial JAC meeting minutes as submitted. Mr. Zapotocky moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Second- ed by Ms. Casler, the motion unanimously carried. INFORMATION 4. EPA CLEAN WATER GRANT OFFER 5. SWRCB CLEAN WATER GRANT OFFER Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the EPA Clean Water Grant Offer. Mr. Evans stated that this Grant Offer was something that had been expected since 1975 and that the Environmental Protection Agency has offered a little over $1 million. He continued that the State (Item 5) had offered 12.5% or $175,250 for a total of $1.225 million from the EPA and State for the design of our project. He stated that Mr. Zapotocky had Case Houson, Department of Sanita- tion and Flood, accept these grant offers which had to be accept- ed by June 28, 1978. Mr. Zapotocky said that his concern was that the offers might need VSD Board action but Mr. Houson assured him that Board action was not necessary and that he had full authority to sign and he would do so. 6. REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD COMPLIANCE REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans to report on the RWQCB Compliance Report. Mr. Evans stated that Encina had been going down to the RWQCB reg- ularly since October and that they have been doing regular reports - 2 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES- JUPs28, 1978 on us dealing with the odor problems. Mr. Evans said that Encina had gone down in October, December, (the meeting in March was cancelled), April and on Monday, June 26. The staff report stated "that the frequency and intensity from the Encina facility have increased during the time that efforts have been made to upgrade the sludge digester facilities". He stated that we had problems with the digesters, which are dead, and we are centrifuging partly digested sludge. The odors now are worse than ever because, in attempting to bring back the digesters, the temperatures and mixing had to be upped. Digester No. 1 is foaming 3 feet deep. We have a program for correcting the problems. The contracts have been let for cleaning Digester No. 2 and for the installation of a new heating/mixing system for Digester No. 2. The design has been authorized and the contract has been let and we're underway with design for converting Digester No. 1 to a fixed cover digester with new heating and mixing systems as well as cleaning it. Mr. Carr asked how far away it was from converting Digester No. 1. Mr. Evans estimated that it would be the first of the year. He said that the time schedule, at present, is that the delivery on the equipment for putting a new heating and mixing system on Di- gester No. 2 supposedly will be 6-8 weeks and we're down to 5-7 weeks. However, equipment manufacturers are notorious for not de- livering on time and he didn't know if we could depend on the 5-7 weeks. Once the equipment is installed, Digester No. 2 will be taken care of but we want to make sure that it is operating well before we tear down Digester No. 1. Assuming that Digester No. 2 is back in operation by October 1, we want to move to Digester No. 1. By the time Digester No. 1 is torn down and converted to a fixed cover digester and back on the line, it will be the first of the year. The Regional Board recognizes what we are doing, they think it's wonderful that we have our own time schedule, they could offer no suggestions on how we could do it better or how we could control our problems in the interim BUT they also said that they didn't know how they could let this problem continue without taking some sort of action. Therefore, a Public Hearing has been set for July 24 to consider an enforcement action. Mr. Evans felt that the enforcement action will be the formal adoption of our time schedule and that, if we failed to meet the time schedule, stronger action would be taken. - 3 - JOINT ADVISORY COMjPWTTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE 28^978 However, on the pessimistic side, the most extreme thing they conl- do is the same thing they've done with the City of Escondido and the City of Oceanside which is to issue a "Cease and Desist with a connection prohibition". This would deny the three agencies, which don't have moratoriums, the opportunity to continue issuing permits - Mr. Evans said that the above was a very straight forward statement of what he felt could happen. Mr. Zapotocky asked if, as a point of verification, we did author- ize emptying that one digester and starting it up again. Mr. Evans answered to the affirmative. Mr. Zapotocky asked when this would happen. Mr. Evans answered in about 5-7 weeks because there was no sense in emptying the digester until we have the equipment to install since we would only have to re-empty it. Mr. Zapotocky asked how long it would be to get the bacteria started. Mr. Evans said it was very difficult to estimate and asked Mr. Waters to comment. Mr. Waters said that if Digester No. 1 is operating full time, it would take about 1-2 weeks. However, if Digester No. 1 is stuck be- cause of the overload while Digester No. 2 is down for cleaning, seed sludge will have to be hauled from San Elijo and it may take 2 or 3 months to get it operating. Mr. Carr asked Mr. Evans if he thought there was a chance of getting a "cease and desist" on the 24th. Mr. Evans answered to the affir- mative but didn't think that it would happen although it was some- thing which should be considered. Mr. Evans stated that he would like to see as many of the Board Mem- bers attend as possible. He continued that the Regional Quality Control Board likes to see interest by elected officials. He felt that he couldn't stress enough how important it was the the Board Members attend the meeting on July 24th at the State Building base- ment at 1350 Front Street. Mr. Zapotocky said that the last time we went down we were not given a chance to speak. Mr. Evans said that this was a Public Hearing and we would be given a chance to speak. Mr. Evans continued that the Regional Board had criticized the City of Oceanside because neither the Mayor nor the elected offi- cials had taken part in any of the proceedings until the "cease and desist" had been issued. He felt that he did not want this to happen to us and asked if any of the JAC Board Members could possibly make the time, it would be much to our advantage to have - 4 - JOINT ADVISOR^COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNO8' I978 the Regional Board aware that all of us, including our elected officials, are very much concerned about what is going on, know the program for correcting the problem and that we're vitally interested in it it's very important! Mr. Gann addressed Mr. Evans and asked if he had a complete record to submit to the Regional Board as to what efforts had been made. Mr. Evans answered to the affirmative, adding that C M Engineering has been working on a program with us and that we will have a pre- sentation which explains exactly what we have done and exactly what we will do. Mr. Gann asked Mr. Evans if he was going to submit this in writing in advance of the hearing. Mr. Evans said it would be submitted just as soon as we were sure that the Public Hearing was definitely set for July 24. Mr. Schneider asked if we would not have a staff recommendation by that time as to what they are going to propose. Mr. Evans said that normally we would have a staff recommendation by that time but he wasn't sure that they could really pull it to- gether by that time. He had an idea that it may be delayed because they have done this to us before but the July 24th date is the date that the Regional Board has tentatively set. Mr. Skotnicki asked if Digester No. 1 was sick and Digester No. 2 would be empty, would Digester No. 3 be able to work or is that one dead too? Mr. Evans replied that normally if Digester No. 2 is dead, then No. 3 would also be dead because No. 2 just automatically dumps into No. 3. It's not designed to by-pass No. 3. Mr. Carr asked if when No. 2 was down, was the whole plant just operating on one digester. Mr. Evans agreed because when No. 2 was down, it would definitely overload the rest of the system. If we can do it quickly and were lucky, we can keep No. 1 alive and we'll be able to re-seed No. 2 and come right back. If we're not lucky and No. 1 dies, while we have No. 2 down and we have problems with No. 2 and it's down longer than we had hoped, then we're going to be in a mess again. We're going to have a string of dead digesters out here and it's very difficult to bring back these digesters once they're dead. Mr. Filanc mentioned that Encinitas had experienced problems when they were operating a treatment plant and the source of the prob- lem was determined to be industrial waste. - 5 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUN*8, 1978 Mr. Evans stated that, up until December, the digesters had been operated for many years without being killed although they did foam. He did not feel that industrial waste was the problem since Digester No. 1 is now coming back. It's to the point where it's an active digester again even though it's foaming like crazy but it is becoming a normal, active digester again. Mr. Carr asked if we had our priorities in the right order and wouldn't it seem that we should correct Digester No. 1 and get it functioning properly so there's less chance of it breaking down when Digester No. 2 is down for cleaning and re-equiping and, con- sequently, knocking out No. 3 during that period of time? Mr. Evans answered that we weren't having the problems, that we're having at present, when the decisions were made as to priorities. Mr. Carr stated that maybe we should think about changing the pri- orities. Mr. Evans said that the contracts have been let and to change the priorities at this time would set us back at least 3 or 4 months. We would have to let new contracts and start over on ordering equipment again. Mr. Schneider asked about the down time estimated for cleaning in- cluding equipment installation. Mr. Evans answered that 2 to 3 weeks would be an optimistic guess. Mr. Skotnicki said that, if we have no digester that was doing its job, you may cease all connections but that doesn't stop the flow. What do you do? Mr. Evans said that we would continue to operate the plant. We just wouldn't have any digestion here. We would continue to cen- trifuge undigested sludge which would continue the same odor prob- lem we're having now. Essentially, what would happen is exactly what is happening now. The odors would be incredibly bad. Mr. Skotnicki asked if the dewatering system was working properly now? Mr. Evans said that it's still being overworked although during late July or early August, we'll have a second centrifuge out here. This is part of the dewatering study that the JAC authorized sev- eral months ago and John Murk, C M Engineering, has made arrange- ments for a Bird centrifuge unit. Mr. Murk said that it was a full scale unit but that it was a loaner and was a little larger that what we had at present. - 6 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUN/*»<28, 1978 o Mr. Evans said that, during the time we have this centrifuge on site and we're using it, we'll take the opportunity to do every- thing we can on our centrifuge. Mr. Zapotocky asked if the miniature digesters died at the same time as Digester No. 2. Mr. Evans replied to the affirmative and added that all six digesters died. Mr. Murk said that, when all the digesters died in December, we did revive one of the small ones and it continued working until there were some mechanical problems back in April. Poisoning, per se, was not a problem from December to some time in April when we shut down the little ones for overhaul to get them ready to work again. It was a one-time episode that killed them. There were two separate problems; one was poisoning and one was foaming. Chairman Stiles asked if there was any way that we could by-pass Digester No. 2 and use Digester No. 3. Mr. Evans stated that when Digester No. 2 was down for cleaning, No. 1 and No. 3 could be operated but No. 2 and No. 3 have to be operated together. The overflows are automatic. No. 2 and No. 3 are not independent of each other. No. 1 and No. 3 are indepen- dent and it's probably to our advantage that No. 1 is by far the most flexible digester and, hopefully, we'll be able to keep that alive and run No. 1 and No. 3 when No. 2 is down. Mr. Dominguez said that one of the requirement of the RQWCB for Oceanside included full round-the-clock operation. He asked what our hours were. Mr. Evans stated that we have someone here physically at the plant from 6:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. 7. REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF TIME FOR ACHIEVING SECONDARY TREATMENT Mr. Evans stated that the letter to Mr. Burtman was just for infor- mation and that everyone was aware that the 1977 Clean Water Acts allowed sewering agencies, which did not already have secondary treatment, to apply for an extension of time to July 1, 1983 to comply with the secondary discharge requirements. It is not clear at all and even the Regional Board is not clear whether agencies, as we are, which have written into the NPDES a time schedule which allows us to be outside the time requirements of Public Law 92500. It's not clear whether that time schedule needs to be officially recognized under the new 1977 Clean Water Acts or whether, since it was in effect prior to the new Clean - 7 - f COM1<xJOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNECJ, 1978 Water Act, it's O.K. In effect, all Mr. Evans has done is write the letter to get us on record saying that whatever needs to be done, we want to do it. Essentially, he has asked for an extension of time to July 1, 1983 to comply with Public Law 92500. ROUTINE REPORTS 8. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for his comments on this report. Mr. Evans reported that under "Laboratory and Industrial Wastes", we have been having some problems meeting our suspended solids re- quirements because, essentially, since we're getting no digestion out of Digester No. 2, we're supernating. Everything that doesn't go to the centrifuge is supernated from Digester No. 2 and since there is no digestion in that tank, we're getting very bad super- natant which is returning directly into Sedimentation Tanks No. 4 and No. 5. Because of that, Sedimentation Tank No. 5, which takes the brunt of it, was overloaded and caused us to violate our suspended solids requirements which put us in violation of our NPDES permit. We have replumbed the system now and don't expect to have that prob- lem as often. However, as long as those digesters are not func- tioning, we can anticipate that once in a while we are going to violate our suspended solids requirements which is not going to help us out at all at our Public Hearing in July. Mr. Skotnicki asked how badly we were exceeding our requirements. Mr. Evans said that our absolute maximum requirement is that we are not allowed to exceed 150 parts/million on suspended solids. We have gone as high as 270 and this month, we will average around 135. However, we're required on a monthly maximum to average at 125 so we will exceed our monthly average this month by about 10 parts/million. Chairman Stiles asked whether the various agencies required their restaurants to have grease traps. Mr. Beckman said it was part of their industrial waste requirement. Mr. Filanc said that in the Phase III expansion, it appeared to him that we haven't accounted for an alternate method in keeping within guidelines in the event of a failure in any one part of the system. Perhaps this should be considered when Graham and his - 8 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE/^i, 1978 team work on Phase III. There may be a list of minimal things that could be incorporated. Hopefully, there will be enough in- put from both Mr. Evans and Mr. Waters to overcome some of these problems. Mr. Evans said that the design has started and all the agencies have indicated that they wanted to be on the design review pro- cess. He asked to set the first meeting of the design review team. His understanding was that each agency was going to pro- vide either a staff person or an engineer. The Design Review Committee Team will meet on Thursday, July 6, at 10:00 A.M. in the Encina Conference Room. Members of the Com- mittee are: Vista - Don Todd Carlsbad - Ron Beckman Buena - Jim Frandsen San Marcos - Jim McKay/Stan Mahr Leucadia - Greg McBain Encinitas - Jack Kubota Mr. Fraser will attend the Design Review Committee meeting. Mr. Skotnicki referred back to Mr. Filanc's comment regarding the building in of various kinds of fail-safes in our design, mention- ing this should be considered in our design. Mr. Beckman made the technical point of when you built in flexi- bility into a system, you sacrifice something and it's probably a degree of efficiency and we'll have slightly higher O&M costs. He supported Mr. Filanc's proposal but, as the fiscal agency, we've got to be aware that costs may be slightly higher. 9. FLOW REPORT Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for a report on the flows. Mr. Evans reported that this may be the last time that we will see a Flow Report in this particular format. The actual flows and the connection data will probably be retained. Although the May flows are showing some infiltration, the June flows should be back to normal. For the first time since January, all of the agencies are within their capacity rights this month. 10. SULFIDE CONDITION REPORT Mr. Evans reported that there have been no significant changes in the sulfides. - 9 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE/"% 1978 11. EXPENDITURE REPORT Mr. Evans reported that the Operating Budget is well within budget. There will be a surplus although he wasn't sure what it would be since some special expenditures were authorized. Chairman Stiles asked whether the excess funds from Phase II and Phase II A had been distributed or is it available for use. Mr. Evans said that it was available for use. It's held by the County in the Vista Trust Fund and will be used for Phase III. ACTION 12. DRAFT CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PLAN Mr. Evans explained that he wanted the JAC to read this Plan over since it is a requirement by the State that we have a plan which ex- plains exactly how we're going to finance, manage, schedule, spend and organize. In the seven parts of this Construction Management Plan, Mr. Evans has addressed each of those questions as best as he could. He said that he had written the plan as he understood it and it has not been submitted to anybody else but the people at the meeting. In October, 1978, we are going to have to submit a plan on which we can agree to the State for approval. Mr. Zapotocky asked that if we make an organizational change after today by going independent, what would be the impact? Mr. Evans said that he would like to impact it as little as possible; for instance, he didn't feel that we should change the lead agency from the Vista Sanitation District no matter what. He felt that it would create some problems. He said that we're started now, we have grant offers, the State finally understands our organization and have recognized his, Ms. Taylor's and Mr, Gann's grant eligibility. He felt that whatever we do with organization, he would rather not tam- per with Phase III. Mr. Gann said he had finished a draft of the reorganization with the exception of two problems; one of which dealt with Phase III to incor- porate that into the agreement so we would not have any adverse ef- fect on any programs in existence and still be able to operate and do the things that the JAC wants to do. Secondly, incorporating in that agreement the necessary provisions to retain those parts of the agree- ment that presently exist with which we need to carry on. He is almost - 10 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE 2B, 1978 through with it and in another week or so, he should have it. It's a very time-consuming task to make sure that everything is covered and does not interfere with our operations. He added that we do not want to be delayed or have to reapply for some grant or change agencies at this stage of the game. Mr. Schneider asked if the Vista Trust Fund would continue to exist as an impound account after Phase III was completed. Mr. Evans said that a separate fund would be created and each agency would have to contribute into that fund an amount that would cover its share of the project plus the cash flow and when the project was com- pleted, the money would be distributed back to the agencies. Mr. Evans opined that, at the conclusion of the project, the fund would be closed out and the money redistributed to the agencies. Mr. Zapotocky said that the Seventh Supplement made specific provisions for the agreement that was entered into by way of distribution of the buy-in monies and it was assumed in that agreement that the money would be held in suspense to partially fund the Phase III project. It doesn't address any residual money after the Phae III completion. It would be a flat distribution on the same formula that was used on the earlier distribution. Mr. Skotnicki referred to the Cash Flow Funds mentioned on page 2 of the Financial Planning Section of the Plan. It shows the amount of cash flow funds needed and states that about 45% would be needed. He asked when the difference between the amount in the trust fund and the required cash flow funds would be due. Mr. Evans said if would probably be sometime in the spring that each agency, that has less than is going to be required in the Vista Trust Fund, will have to contribute because when it comes time to pay the bills, each agency is going to have to have their share in that Fund. Mr. Skotnicki asked if the State would not insist that each agency have on hand these exact amounts at the inception of the project. Mr. Evans said that the State might when we get to construction but as far as Step 2 goes, we have convinced them that we have the money available and they're not going to ask to see it. He said that it would occur similarly to the JAC billing which is billed monthly in advance. When each agency's share of the Vista Trust Fund sinks to a point when he felt that it would not cover the next progress payment, he would bill a month in advance andd ask that that amount be contri- buted to this Trust Fund. SPECIAL REPORTS - 11 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE , 1978 13. RECLAMATION SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Evans for a report on the Reclamation Sub- committee meeting. Mr. Evans had met with staff of the Water Reuse Project. There is an Encina Reclamation Project which is described by the memorandum in the Agenda Packet. He noted that the construction and annual costs for this proposed project falls into two categories; (1) design cri- teria (2) regulatory criteria. The design criteria costs assume that we have already have secondary treatment and that we only have to meet a total dissolved solids re- quirement of 1100 mg/1 which is all that would be needed to irrigate Interstate 5 landscaping. The regulatory criteria assumes that we would have to install a 4.25 mgd desalination plant in order to meet the RWQCB basin requirement which would be approximately 400 mg/1 TDS which is substantially better than the water we're importing for this area. Mr. Skotnicki sated that there was no TDS requirement west of 1-5. Mr. Evans agreed and said that, hopefully, the desalination plant would be eliminated by the RWQCB setting reasonable standards. Mr. Evans said that, at this point, the Reuse Study Staff are recom- mending that any agency which wishes them to pursue a project report for the reclamation projects identified in the 208 study, they will do it. The Encina project is a project that our Reclamation Subcom- mittee has, in effect, said go ahead and prepare a project report. The Reuse Study will continue with the project if they can find a mar- ket. The first step in this study is to identify the markets and get some market commitments before they spend a lot of money and time in putting together projects reports, environmental impact reports, etc. They first have to make sure they have a market. If they have no mar- ket, they will have to abandon the project. Exactly how many project reports they will end up doing, he wasn't sure. 14. EDU SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Chairman Stiles asked Mr. Zapotocky for his comments on the EDU Sub- committee meeting. Mr. Zapotocky said that the meeting took them nowhere and that Mr. Evans had summed it up well when he said that he would leave the Flow/EDU off of the report in the future. However, that wasn't his point and he would be pursuing this on a local basis in Vista by tak- ing certain selective homes in the community in a variety of forms and attempt to put together some sort of a factor that would be rep- - 12 - JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE f*\ 1978 resentative of the amount of water that gets into the landscaping and not into the sewer system and from that come up with Vista's average flow/EDU for future projections. 15. MANAGEMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Chairman Stiles said that there were two meetings and, as a result of the meetings, Mr. Gann is preparing an Agreement to be used in lieu of the Basic Agreement and supplements. Mr. Gann said the Agreement is all finished with the exception of incorporating the aspects of the Phase III agreements. Mr. Stiles said that this Agreement would be offered to the six en- tities to let them review it. In time, it would be returned to the Joint Advisory Committee as approved or for whatever changes are necessary. Mr. Gann said that the Agreement would be stamped "DRAFT". Mr. Zapotocky asked if it was the intent for the Subcommittee to re- view it before it goes back to the respective agencies or will it go to the agency first. Chairman Stiles said it would go directly to the agency because the Subcommittee has already agreed in principal that this was the thing they wanted to do. OTHER BUSINESS 16. CHRISTMAS PARTY Chairman Stiles said that Ms. Taylor suggested that we give consider- ation to the meeting place for the party and change the date of the party, which is usually held after the December JAC meeting, to Decem- ber 20 instead of the 27th; that being the normal date of the JAC meet- ing. Mr. Zapotocky moved that the December meeting be held on December 20 instead of the 27th so we could adjourn for the annual Christmas luncheon. Seconded by Mr. Skotnicki, the motion unanimously carried. Mr. Zapotocky said that during the past couple of years when we have these Christmas parties, there have been members of the Vista Council who have expressed an interest in attending. He asked if there would be any objection in doing this since everyone is paying their own way. He felt that it would give the other Council members a chance to get acquainted with the members of the agency. - 13 - JOINT ADVISORY CflMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES - JUNE d 1978 The JAC members agreed with Mr. Zapotocky's suggestion. 17. NEXT MEETING The next regularly scheduled JAC meeting is to be on Wednesday, July 26, 1978 at 9:00 A.M. at the Encina Conference Room. There being no further business , Chairman Stiles adjourned the meeting at 10:07 A.M. Respectfully submitted, 7tfc M. ytmn^fraylor Recording Secretary - 14 -