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Home My WebLink About18 - Newport Bay Watershed Executive CommitteeCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH COUNCIL AGENDA CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT Agenda Item No. is July 27, 2004 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: City Manager's Office Dave Kiff, Assistant City Manager 949/644 -3002 or dkiff @city.newport- beach.ca.us SUBJECT: Resolution 2004 - : The Newport Bay Watershed Executive Committee and Appointments Thereto ISSUE: Should the City Council adopt a formal Council resolution correcting the name of a regional committee and replacing Mayor pro Tern Adams as a member of the • committee? RECOMMENDATION: 1. Adopt Resolution 2004 -_ relating to the Watershed Executive Committee 2. Appoint Council Member as the representative to the Watershed Executive Committee and Council Member a s 1 5i A Iternate and Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff as 2nd Alternate. DISCUSSION: Background: Newport Bay is an impaired water body per §303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act. As such, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) via the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Region (Regional Board) is directed to prepare "total maximum daily loads" (TMDLs). A TMDL is a management plan to eliminate a water quality impairment within a certain amount of time. Newport Bay is listed on the §303(d) List for the following substances: • Sediment • Nutrients • Fecal Coliform bacteria Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 2 • Toxic Pollutants Here is what the TMDLs direct us to do: SEDIMENT TMDL. Local partners (stakeholders in the watershed) must survey the Bay regularly and reduce annual sediment coming into the Bay from 250,000 cubic yards to 125,000 cubic yards (a 50% reduction) by 2008. The TMDL's goal is to reduce dredging frequency in the Bay to once every 20 years. Reducing sediment inputs to the Bay is pgrt of the Sediment TMDL. But first the Bay needs to be dredged and restored to its optimal ecosystem so that the sediment that does enter the Bay (within the TMDL's limits) does not exacerbate the impairment. The Newport Bay Ecosystem Restoration Project, a US Army Corps of Engineers -led effort planned for September 2004, restores the Bay to this optimal point. The Project's: • Construction period will be September 2004 through early 2007. There will be a dredge in the Bay and barges going up and down the channel for a significant period of time, often working 24 hours a day; • Life is intended to avoid this scale of dredging for another 21 years; • Cost is estimated at $38 million; and • Dredging activity will remove more than 2.1 million cubic yards of material. NUTRIENT TMDL. Approved by US EPA on April 16, 1999, the Nutrient TMDL limits nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the Bay. The Nutrient TMDL attempts to reduce the annual loading of nitrogen by 50% — from 1,400 pounds per day today to approximately 850 to 802 pounds per day at San Diego Creek - by 2012. Phosphorus loading must fall from 86,912 pounds per year in 2002 to 62,080 pounds by 2007. In plain language, here's what the Nutrient TMDL means: • Less nutrients should mean less algae. • City must help pay for monitoring + sediment basin maintenance upstream since less sediment can mean less nutrients (about $10,000 /year) • City works to keep upstream cities involved in the watershed management process via a Committee called the Watershed Executive Committee. FECAL COLIFORM TMDL. Approved in late 1999, the Fecal Coliform TMDL attempts to reduce the amount of fecal coliform inputs to the Bay enough to make the Bay meet water contact recreation (RECn standards (swimming, wading, surfing) by 2014 and shellfish harvesting (SHEL) standards (where waters support shellfish acceptable for human consumption) by 2020. In plain language, here's what the Fecal Coliform TMDL means: • • Less fecal coliform in the water means fewer beach postings. 0 Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 3 • City has more than 200 storm drain outlets that drain into the Bay. Over 2,200 catch basins take urban runoff into these 200 storm drains. Can we keep each one clean (below state standards for fecal coliform)? TOXIC POLLUTANTS TMDL. Developed in 2002, the Toxic Pollutants TMDL addresses Bay inputs like heavy metals (chromium, copper, lead, cadmium, zinc) and priority organics like (endosulfan, DDT, Chlordane, PCBs, Toxaphene, diazinon, chlorpyriphos, more). It will lead to the reduction or elimination of pesticide use by residents, businesses, and municipal services in watershed. Some controls will be placed on heavy metals. The Toxic Pollutants TMDL also addresses existing toxic deposits in sediments in Rhine Channel and other areas in the Lower Bay. The Role of the Watershed Executive Committee (WEC) and the Watershed Management Committee (WMC). Two committees - one made up primarily of elected officials (the WEC), the other made up of their staffs and interest groups (the WMC) - work on implementing the four TMDLs. The Committees include representatives from: • The County of Orange; • The City of Newport Beach; • The California Department of Fish and Game; • The City of Irvine; • The City of Tustin; • The City of Costa Mesa; • The City of Orange: • The City of Lake Forest; • The Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD); • The Irvine Company; and • The Regional Board. Other groups, like Defend the Bay, the UC Cooperative Extension, area nurseries and horse stables, and others attend the WMC meetings. The WEC meets roughly once per quarter - the WMC meets slightly more often (once every 2 -3 months as needed). The WMC discusses and debates issues, studies, and projects that affect the Bay and the San Diego Creek Watershed. Once the WMC comes to a recommendation, it forwards that recommendation to the WEC for approval. This Agenda Item. Council Member Adams serves as our representative to the WEC and I attend the WMC meetings. With Council Member Adams' pending resignation, the Council needs to appoint a new representative. Council Member Webb has been Mr. Adams' alternate. This agenda item requests that the City designate two alternates, one being a City staff member, in the event that neither elected official can attend (an event that happens fairly frequently, since the WEC meetings are held in the afternoons on Thursdays). This Agenda Item also corrects the name of the Committee in the City's Boards, Committees, and Commission's manual. Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 4 Environmental Review: The City Council's approval of this Agenda Item does not require environmental review. Public Notice: This agenda item may be noticed according to the Ralph M. Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the public meeting at which the City Council considers the item). Funding Availability: Not applicable. Submitted by: Dave Kiff Assistant City Manager Attachments: Resolution 2004 Relating to the Watershed Executive Committee Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 5 0 RESOLUTION 2004- A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH RELATING TO THE WATERSHED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE WHEREAS, Newport Bay is a vital and important ecological and recreational resource to Southern California; and WHEREAS, Newport Bay is home to at least six federally endangered species, including the California Least Tern, the California Brown Pelican, and the Lightfooted Clapper Rail; and WHEREAS, Newport Bay is listed as an impaired water body under Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act; and WHEREAS, the Bay's impairments include sediment, nutrients, fecal coliform bacteria, and toxic materials; and WHEREAS, the City of Newport Beach is an active participant in two regional committees that relate to the Bay, including the Watershed Executive Committee and the Watershed Management Committee; WHEREAS, these committees collectively manage and administer plans called Total Maximum Daily Loads ( "TMDLs ") which are intended to eliminate these impairments; and WHEREAS, the City has formerly referred to the Watershed Executive Committee as the Joint Committee for the Evaluation and Implementation of the Upper Newport Bay Cooperative Agreement via the City's Resolution 83 -113 (adopted October 24, 1983); and WHEREAS, both the name and membership of the Joint Committee have changed since 1983; now, therefore be it RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Newport Beach that it hereby shall refer to the Joint Committee as the Watershed Executive Committee; and be it also RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Newport Beach that it hereby amends Resolution #83 -113 with this resolution that makes the following changes to the Joint Committee's role and membership: 1. The new name shall be the Watershed Executive Committee; and Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 6 2. The City Council shall annually designate a representative to the WEC and two alternates. ADOPTED this 27`h Day of July, 2004. TOD W. RIDGEWAY Mayor ATTEST: LAVONNE HARKLESS City Clerk 0 P � J Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 7 d IT GOM AITT r]D TWE: C��ATInKI AA1fl IKADI F11ACLLTATIr�A1 nr: �Trvr�"rzr�rmr��m��TrTrrvrrvr TTHF UPPER NEWPORT BAY COOPERATIVE Ar-`REW6N WATERSHED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AUTHORIZATION: Established by Resolution No. 83 -113 adopted October 24, 1983: amended by Resolution 2004- adopted July 27, 2004. MEMBERSHIP: The membership shall consist of the parties subject to the Cooperative Agreement that implements the Upper Newport Bay's Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). The City Council shall appoint a Council Member as the representative to the Committee and two alternates, one of whom must be a Council Member and the other who can be a City_ staff member. fi=in .,..�.Ya...± :`°•°..�..n� f�io /C1 olfn .�fo� nc fnlin.�c. One (1) r npr eserit from five and one (11 Itemate the City of Ales .pert Beach to be appOiRted by the Mayor of the City ef NewpeFt Beac-4, O 0 (1) representative rl n o rn (1\ alteate frem the City of Iwine to be eppoinferl by the Mayer ef the Gity of kviRe. O (1 ) FepFesentative n.t one (1 ) alternate frem the Geunt., of rlrn ..e to be epp9i_nf, by the GhaiFFnaR of the Beard of SwpeNiSOFS. One (1) representative and 9Re (1) altemate from T (1\ r f t' d e(1\ alter f the State De ...am nt of Fish & Game. �}.' ` . / . 2S..r.- vmc- �v :.-r. . � .' 1.°-- .rro^mm -rn— ... � . .. .. ......... TERM: Indefinite PURPOSE & RESPONSIBILITIES: The Geeperat've Agreement provides fer the estabrahmem of an Executive Committee to -shall evaluate and assess the programs and elements leading to the implemewatieflthat implement of the sediment GGAtF01 plaA Upper Newport Bav watershed's Total Maximum Daily Loads, to prepare agreements to implement elements • MEETING: Watershed Executive Committee July 27, 2004 Page 8 The Executive Committee shall meet from time to time upon the request of the Chairman, but at as! ,...,.F, six . enths. 07 -27 -04 0 f�J