HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.a.3) General Manger AnnouncementsAgenda Item 7.a.3)
Board Meeting of September 2, 2010
Additional Written Announcements
Board Member Appointment
a) Board Member Hockett Appointment
Board Member Hockett was elected the new President of the California
Association of Sanitation Agencies for the next year.
Staff Conference Attendance /Meetings
b) District Annexation 175 Community Meeting
A community meeting to discuss District Annexation 175 — Orinda and Lafayette
was held in Orinda on Wednesday, August 25, 2010. Meeting notices were sent
to owners of the 107 affected properties, as well as surrounding properties within
300 feet. This proposed annexation includes the El Toyonal hillside
neighborhood. Only four people (representing three of the affected properties)
attended the meeting. No objections to the proposed annexation or its Draft
Negative Declaration were raised. Annexation has been controversial in the
past.
c) Staff to Attend WateReuse Symposium in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the Acting Director of Plant Operations, Curt Swanson, Associate
Engineer Don Berger will be attending the WateReuse Association's Annual
Conference in Washington D.C. from September 12 through 15, 2010.
Attendance at this conference was specifically budgeted in the 2010 -11
Technical Conferences Budget. While they are in Washington D.C., they will
meet with federal legislative and agency staff regarding the District's request for
funding for our recycled water projects.
General Updates
d) Natural Gas Purchase
On August 24, 2010, the District purchased the final third of the Treatment Plant
natural gas for January through December 2012 at Pacific Gas and Electric
Citygate price of $5.40 per decatherm (dth). Natural gas prices have continued
to remain depressed as the economy struggles to recover and gas demand for
summer peak electrical demand never materialized. This purchase results in the
average cost of $5.69 for 2012 and is lower than pre - purchased gas for both
2010 and 2011. Future natural gas purchases will require additional Board
authorization.
e) Best Management Practices Permit Program
The District adopted Local Discharge Limits in 2007 that established tiered limits
for four pollutant parameters: copper, lead, mercury and cyanide. The tiers were
set for discharges of process wastewater from unpermitted and permitted
businesses. This strategy allowed higher limits to be established for the permitted
businesses for these particular parameters. Rather than issuing individualized
permits to each business, the District's Source Control Section developed Best
Management Practice (BMP) Permits as a means of permitting larger groups of
businesses that discharge elevated concentrations of the four parameters with
tiered limits; businesses that implemented the established BMPs are presumed
to comply with the applicable limits. The dental amalgam permit was the first
BMP Permit program implemented, and has successfully lowered the influent
and effluent mercury.
Starting in 2009, Source Control started implementing the new tiered limits by
mailing BMP Permit applications to businesses conducting activities that could
result in elevated levels of copper and lead in their process wastewater discharge
(e.g. vehicle service, vehicle /equipment washing, machine shops). Applications
were sent to more than 750 businesses with 698 being returned which resulted in
258 BMP Permits being issued to date. Fifty -two (52) businesses have been non-
responsive despite repeated attempts to prompt these businesses to submit a
completed application. Source Control recently sent Warning Notices notifying
them that they did not submit a completed BMP Permit application and setting a
new deadline for them to complete and return this document. We are hoping to
obtain the cooperation of these remaining businesses by using the Warning
Notice strategy.