Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESOLUTIONS - 07151986 - 86-418 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on July 15 , 1986, By the following vote: AYES: Supervisors .Fanden, Schroder, Torlakson, Powers NOES: None ABSENT: Supervisor McPeak ABSTAIN: None IN THE MATTER OF Supporting the Basin Plan Task ) RESOLUTION NO. 86/ 418 Force Recommendations Regarding) San Francisco Bay ) WHEREAS, The San Francisco Bay/Delta estuary is a resource of inestimable economic and environmental value to the State of California: and . WHEREAS, The State Water Resources Control Board has determined that the Bay has suffered biological degradation due to long-term exposure to toxicants found that the estuary is under stress leading to the decline of the striped bass and other fish species that .once supported thriving commercial fisheries due to toxic pollutant loadings, selenium, and the loss of wetlands; and WHEREAS, The environmental and economic health of the Bay faces many threats including toxic discharges, stormwater runoff and nonpoint sources of pollution, diversion of freshwater flows, loss of wetlands, inadequate monitoring of toxics in dredged material, and faulty regulatory management 'of the Bay, and WHEREAS, The Regional Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay (Basin Plan) serves as the water quality management guide for all activities of the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) and is now being reviewed pursuant to the Clean Water Act and federal regulations requiring a triennial review; and WHEREAS, The current Basin Plan has failed to reverse the decline of the striped bass and other aquatic life; and WHEREAS, a Basin Plan Task Force composed of representatives from the a number of environmental groups including the Audubon Society, The Bay Institute, Citizens for a Better Environment, Committee for Water Policy Consensus, Environmental Defense Fund, Oceanic Society and Sierra Club have proposed amendments to the Basin Plan; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors endorses the April 1986 proposed Amendments to The San Francisco Bay Basin Plan of the Basin Plan Task force and urges the Regional Board to approve these amendments. I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of a resolution entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date aforesaid. I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the 15th day of July 1986. Attested: PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County AdministratoVzzz� r IIn/troduced by: By Deputy Clerk Supervis Nancy C. Fanden RESOLUTION NO. 86/418 Y' AMENDMENTS TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY BASIN PLAN Basin Plan Task Force Recommendations J April 1986 I The San Francisco Bay/Delta represents a regional and national resource of enormous environmental and economic value: A growing body of scientific evidence warns us that this major estuarine system faces a continuing, longterm decline in health and productivity. The present triennial review of the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay Basin is a crucially important opportunity to strengthen existing water quality control policy and thus fulfill state and federal mandates to protect the beneficial uses of the San Francisco Bay/Delta estuarine system. Our organizations jointly endorse the following policy recommendations. 1. CONTROLS ON TOXIC POLLUTANT DISCHARGES MUST BE STRENGTHENED. FINDINGS: The existing Basin Plan fails to set standards specific enough to monitor. and control ongoing toxic discharges or to require cleanup of toxic "hotspots" resulting from pollution of the Bay. -Despite federal and state water quality legislation and the progress in pollution cleanup of the past 20 years , toxic pollution of the Bay continues to pose a serious and documented threat to aquatic life and wildlife , as well as a health risk to people who eat contaminated fish and shellfish from the Bay. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should: j * Immediately monitor and control acute and sub-lethal effects of toxic pollutants in discharges by requiring bioassays that use the three most sensitive and ecologically diverse test species for which standardized tests have been developed. The dilution of wastewater to achieve compliance with toxicity requirements should be prohibited. * Adopt numerical water quality-based standards for ambient Bay waters and wastewater discharges, to limit the concentration and mass loading of toxic water pollutants, to protect the Bay environment from the adverse cumulative effects of these pollutants and to ensure the use of the best available pollution control technology. * Ban the discharge of toxic corrosion control chemicals when non-toxic substitutes exist. * Develop a program to identify', assess and clean up highly contaminated toxics "hotspots". * Establish a program for identifying, assessing and proposing solutions to the contribution of toxic pollution from the Delta to the Say. 2. STORHWATER RUNOFF AND OTHER NONPOINT SOURCES OF POLLUTION MUST BE CONTROLLED. FINDINGS: Runoff from urban, industrial and agricultural areas is a major source of toxic pollutant discharge to San Francisco Bay, but is inadequately I addressed in the Basin Plan. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should : * Establish a program for the identification, monitoring and assessment of these pollutants and their sources. * Require discharge permits for new and existing nonpoint source dischargers, with immediate requirements for new commercial and industrial developments, to encourage the cost-effective control and treatment of pollutant discharges. * Establish the Regional Water Quality Control Board as the lead agency for the development of this program, working in full cooperation with other relevant agencies. 3. OPTIMAL FRESHWATER FLOWS TO THE BAY MUST BE GUARANTEED. FINDINGS: The protection and enhancement of beneficial uses and public trust values of the San Francisco Bay estuarine system are directly related to the amount of freshwater entering the Bay from the Delta. Adequate freshwater inflow is necessary to create and maintain the estuarine habitat values required for fish migration and spawning , to prevent salt intrusion, to provide mixing, to provide diverse and important wetland habitats , to maintain proper temperature and to transport and dissipate residual pollutants that cannot be eliminated by treatment. Freshwater flows have already been reduced below levels needed to protect the beneficial uses and public trust values of the Bay. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should : * Declare the State's obligation to set salinity standards and other freshwater flow requirements for the Bay at a level that guarantees protection of the Bay's resources. * Require the Regional Board to be involved in the water quality aspects of this standard-setting process, and assert the need for 'other agencies and institutions involved in Bay/Delta research, to have a role as well . The burden should be on the state and federal water projects and on other upstream diverters to demonstrate that their diversions of freshwater flows from the Delta do not harm Bay beneficial uses and public trust values. No additional freshwater diversions should be permitted where there are alternatives which could avoid or minimize harm to the Bay. 4. BAY WETLANDS MUST BE PROTECTED. FINDINGS: State policy calls for the expansion of the State's wetlands by 50% by the year 2000. Recent scientific work has linked the destruction of 80% of the Bay's historic wetlands to the decline in Bay water quality. Yet despite the beneficial uses that the Basin Plan recognizes are provided by the Bay's wetlands, the Plan includes few policies for wetlands protection. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should: * Prohib.it the approval of development, landfill or effluent discharge projects which would adversely affect wetlands. 3. I * Adopt the definition of wetlands developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to distinguish the different types more clearly. * Recognize that wetlands perform many important beneficial uses in addition to those already specified, such as flood control , groundwater recharge, the enhancement of water quality and providing an educational and scientific resource. 5. DISPOSAL OF DREDGE SPOILS MUST BE CONTROLLED. FINDINGS: Inadequate monitoring of toxic pollutants and uncoordinated regulation by government agencies render regulation of dredging in the Bay unsatisfactory. In view of new evidence of toxic contamination due to dredge spoils disposal in the Bay and the lack of adequate transport of spoils disposed in the Bay to the ocean, plans to expand the Alcatraz dump site have to be viewed with alarm. RECOMMENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should: * Establish criteria and a time schedule to prohibit the disposal of dredge spoils which have adverse impacts on water quality in the Bay. * Institute immediate monitoring and characterization of toxic pollutants and toxicity in dredge spoils material. r * Require the Regional Board to review all U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits, monitoring programs and test protocols relating to dredge spoils disposal . 6. BAY DISCHARGE SEGMENTS MUST BE REVISED. FINDINGS: To implement pollution controls and distinguish the capacity of different sections of the Bay to assimilate pollution, the Basin Plan divides the Bay into administrative segments. The present system of segmentation has not been changed since 1975. It does not reflect either current knowledge of the hydrodynamics of the Bay or the evidence of toxic pollutant-induced stress in all the existing segments. The segmentation of South Bay is particularly in need of review. RECOM14ENDATIONS: The Basin Plan should: * Classify Bay segments in a scientific manner, by major hydrodynamic sections that reflect similar physical , chemical and biological conditions. * Designate all segments as 'water quality limited', in need of water quality-based controls.