Summary of the Occurrence of Herbicide in Surface Water To Support Comments On USDA Draft Environmental Assessment

Caltha LLP Project Summary

Project: Summary of the Occurrence of Herbicide in Surface Water To Support Comments On USDA Draft Environmental Assessment
Client: Agricultural Chemical Manufacturer
Location(s): California, Illinois, Texas, Minnesota

Key Elements: Acquisition and review of state water quality monitoring data; statistical analysis of the occurrence and concentrations of herbicide in surface water, preparation and submittal of public comments to Department of Agriculture Draft Environmental Assessment

Overview: Caltha was contracted by this multinational agricultural chemical company to prepare a review and analysis of the occurrence of a specific common use herbicide, 2,4-D, in waters of the United States. Caltha first reviewed and summarized nationwide data in the US EPA STORET database and U.S Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program database. Caltha staff then contacted State agencies which implemented long-term Statewide water quality monitoring programs, including California, Texas, Illinois and Minnesota. All data were then compiled to provide a summary of 2,4-D concentrations in surface waters dating from the 1970s through 2012. Caltha then conducted a review of federal and state regulatory standards for 2,4-D in surface waters, including:

• Federal Water Quality Criteria
• State Water Quality Standards
• Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Level
• Office of Pesticide Program Aquatic Life Benchmarks

Finally, Caltha conducted an analysis of the exceedance of applicable regulatory standards based on the comprehensive analysis of reported herbicide concentrations. All analyses were summarized in a report which was submitted to the US Department of Agriculture through its public comment process for a Draft Environmental Assessment document.

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Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment. Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Federal Water Quality Standards Withdrawn For New Jersey, Puerto Rico and San Francisco Bay

EPA is taking final action to amend the federal regulations to withdraw certain human health and aquatic life water quality criteria applicable to waters of New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and California's San Francisco Bay. In 1992, EPA promulgated the National Toxics Rule or NTR to establish numeric water quality criteria for 12 states and two Territories, including New Jersey, Puerto Rico and parts of California. On May 18, 2000, EPA then promulgated a final rule known as the California Toxics Rule or CTR in order to establish numeric water quality criteria for priority toxic pollutants for the State of California that were not previously in the NTR.

These two states and one territory have now adopted, and EPA has approved, water quality criteria for certain pollutants included in the NTR. Because California, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico now have water quality standards that meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act, EPA has determined that the federally promulgated criteria are no longer needed for these pollutants. Therefore EPA is proposing to amend the federal regulations to withdraw those certain criteria applicable to California, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. The withdrawal of the federally promulgated criteria will enable New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and California to implement their EPA-approved water quality criteria. This final rule is effective on June 3, 2013.

The water quality criteria subject to this action address both freshwater and marine standards and cover a wide range of priority pollutants, including metals, volatile organic chemicals, PAHs, PCBs, pesticides and others EPA has proposed to withdraw only one federal water quality criteria for California - the saltwater aquatic life cyanide criteria for San Francisco Bay. Other criteria for cyanide for waters in California that are currently part of the NTR or CTR will remain unchanged in the federal regulations

.Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund Grants

Grants to state and local agencies, and non-profit organizations totaling $6.5 million have been awarded to restore water quality and wetlands throughout the San Francisco Bay watershed. Grants range from $75,000 to $1.5 million and will support ten projects that prevent pollution, restore streams and tidal marshes, and manage floodwaters.

The projects are funded under EPA’s San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund that has invested over $28 million in 48 projects across the Bay region since 2008. The project summaries, partner agencies/organizations, and funding amounts are:

• Restore Wetlands at Creek Mouths ($1.55 million, in partnership with San Francisco Estuary Partnership and the Association of Bay Area Governments): Redesign flood control channels to restore wetland habitat, water quality, and shoreline resilience at three creek mouths: San Francisquito, Lower Novato, and Lower Walnut Creeks. Restore over 100 acres of tidal marsh and re-use 70,000 cubic yards of clean sediment from dredging projects.
• Continue Reducing Sediment Loads into the Napa River ($1.5 million, in partnership with Napa County Flood Control District): Complete instream restoration of the Rutherford Reach and begin restoration of the Oakville Reach to reduce sediment loads into Napa River.
• Restore Quartermaster Reach – Presidio ($1 million, in partnership with Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy): Restore 1,050 feet of creek channel, 3.3 acres of dune-coastal scrub upland, and 4.7 acres of previously buried tidal marsh adjacent to the Crissy Field wetlands.
• Site Preparation of Sears Point Tidal Marsh Restoration ($941,000, in partnership with Sonoma Land Trust): Prepare for restoration of 960 acres of tidal marsh in the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge through removal of contaminated soil, construction of a 2.5 mile levee to manage floods, and contouring the site to accelerate sediment accumulation.
• South Bay Salt Ponds Mercury Studies ($500,000, in partnership with California State Coastal Conservancy): Conduct methylmercury studies within the 15,000-acre South Bay Salt Pond complex to support tidal wetlands restoration of ponds.
• Reduction in Packaging at Fast Food Establishments ($257,000, in partnership with Clean Water Fund): Develop source reduction programs for takeout food containers, the largest documented contributor of trash in urban waterways that flows into SF Bay, and, with partner cities, conduct outreach at fast food establishments.
• Reduction in Household Use of Toxic Pesticides ($250,000, in partnership with San Francisco Estuary Partnership and the Association of Bay Area Governments): Use social media and direct outreach to consumers and retailers to promote less-toxic pesticides and pesticide free practices. Project aims to shift Bay Area households towards using less-toxic pesticides.
• Improve Water Quality and Wetlands at Sonoma Creek Marsh ($235,000, in partnership with Audubon California): Enhance 300 acres of tidal marsh within Sonoma Creek marsh by excavating a new channel. Dredged channel material will be used to create wildlife habitat and improved tidal exchange will reduce the need for pesticides used to control mosquitoes.
• Restore Alameda Creek ($181,000, in partnership with Alameda County Resource Conservation District): Establish stream buffers, restore stream channels and riparian corridors, improve grazing practices, and upgrade rural roads in three subwatersheds of Alameda Creek.
• Improve Fish Passage on San Francisquito Creek ($75,000, in partnership with San Mateo Resource Conservation District): Remove Bonde Weir and redesign the creek channel to re-open access to 40 miles of upstream spawning habitat for steelhead.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment. Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary Action Plan Released

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released an Action Plan that proposes seven measures for improving water quality, restoring aquatic habitat, and improving the management of the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary. The release of the Action Plan follows the agency’s analysis concluding that existing federal and state water quality programs are not adequately safeguarding the ecosystem.

The Action Plan responds to findings and recommendations made following EPA’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2011 that sought public input on the effectiveness of existing federal and state water quality protection programs. The Action Plan prioritizes the following seven actions to be pursued in partnership with the State Water Resources Control Board, the Regional Water Boards for the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, and numerous other state and federal agencies:

• By 2013, propose a standard for selenium discharges from cities, farms, and oil refineries;
• By 2013, achieve organophosphate pesticide water quality goals in Sacramento County urban streams;
• By 2014, set new estuarine habitat standards, including salinity, to improve conditions for aquatic life;
• By 2017 establish a monitoring and assessment program for water quality in the Delta;
• Ensure that EPA’s pesticide regulation program more fully considers the effects that pesticides have on aquatic life;
• Restore and rebuild wetlands and floodplains to sequester drinking water contaminants, methylmercury, and greenhouse gases and make the Delta more resilient to floods, earthquakes, and climate change;
• Support the development and implementation of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

EPA Approves TMDLs for 175 South California Water Bodies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board have announced a series of pollution reduction plans designed to restore 175 water bodies in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The pollution targets set by these plans are intended improve water quality, restore ecosystems, and protect the public by eliminating beach closures due to bacteria and improving the health of fish used for consumption.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, states are required to develop pollution reduction plans called Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for waters that are impaired by pollutants. These plans must be approved by the EPA. The announcement is a part of a 1999 legal settlement between EPA and local environmental groups in which EPA committed to approve LA Water Board-developed TMDLs or independently establish TMDLs for a list of water bodies in the Los Angeles Region. As a result of the consent decree, 47 TMDLs have been established for 175 water bodies that address numerous pollutant impairments including elevated bacteria, metals, pesticides, PCBs and trash. Additional TMDLs will be approved or established within the next year.

EPA established four TMDLs to address pollutants and impairments for the following water bodies:

- Long Beach City beaches and Los Angeles River estuary for bacteria
- Santa Monica Bay waters for DDTs and PCBs
- Ballona Creek wetlands for sediment and exotic vegetation
- Nine Los Angeles area urban lakes for toxics, trash, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution

In addition, the EPA has approved four LA Water Board-adopted TMDLs to address pollutants and impairments for the following water bodies:
- Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors for toxic pollutants
- Machado Lake for toxic pollutants
- Los Angeles River for bacteria
- Santa Monica Bay for trash

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

California Water Boards Statewide Mercury Policy

The State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Water Boards) are in the early stages of developing a Statewide Mercury Policy to control mercury in California’s waters. The Policy would define an overall structure for adopting water quality objectives; general implementation requirements; and control plans for mercury impaired water bodies.

According to the Water Boards, the first phases of program development will include:

1. Development of water quality standards to protect people and wildlife that eat fish. These could include water quality objectives expressed as concentrations of mercury in the water column or in the tissues of fish; beneficial use designations; and antidegradation provisions
2.Establishment of a control program designed to attain the new water quality objectives in the state’s mercury-impaired reservoirs.

An associated implementation plan will likely include control actions for a variety of point and nonpoint sources, such as runoff from mine sites, atmospheric deposition, and discharges from wastewater treatment plants and urban stormwater. It could also propose changes in approaches to reservoir management that will modify water chemistry to reduce creation of the most biologically available form of mercury and changes in fisheries management practices to limit populations of the types of stocked fish that often have high levels of mercury in their tissues

Future phases may include development of control plans specific to other mercury-impaired water bodies such as creeks, rivers, bays, and estuaries.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

California Scope Meetings For Statewide Mercury Control Policy

In March, the California State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards will be holding series of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) scoping meetings for a proposed Statewide Mercury Control Policy and a Mercury Control Program for Reservoirs.

The meetings will begin at 1 pm at each of the following locations. The Sacramento meeting will be broadcast on the internet.

March 5- Sacramento, State Water Resources Control Board

March 6- Oakland, San Francisco Bay Water Board

March 8- Redding, Caltrans Office

March 12- Riverside, Santa Ana Water Board

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Approval Of California Statewide Marine No Discharge Zone

U.S. EPA has approved a California state proposal to ban all sewage discharges from large cruise ships and most other large ocean-going ships to state marine waters along California’s 1,624 mile coast from Mexico to Oregon and surrounding major islands. The action establishes a new federal regulation banning even treated sewage from being discharged in California’s marine waters.

California Senate Bill 771, the Clean Coast Act which prohibits all commercial ships from dumping hazardous waste, sewage sludge, oily bilge water, “gray water” from sinks and showers, and sewage in state waters. SB 771 also required California to petition the federal government for a ‘No Discharge Zone’ to enforce the bill’s anti-dumping provisions.

Under the Clean Water Act, states may request EPA to establish vessel sewage no-discharge zones if necessary to protect and restore water quality. In 2006, following passage of three state statutes designed to reduce the effects of vessel discharges to its waters, the State of California asked EPA to establish the sewage discharge ban. After releasing the proposed rule in 2010, EPA considered some 2,000 comment letters from members of the public, environmental groups, and the shipping industry before finalizing the regulation.

In contrast to prior no-discharge zones under the Clean Water Act, which apply in very small areas, the new ban applies to all coastal waters out to 3 miles from the coastline and all bays and estuaries subject to tidal influence. Other California no discharge zones for ten bays and marinas remain in effect for all vessels. Consistent with the State’s request , the new prohibition applies to all passenger ships larger than 300 tons and to all other oceangoing vessels larger than 300 tons with sewage holding tank capacity.

In addition to the discharge prohibition, other vessel sewage discharges will continue to be regulated under existing Clean Water Act requirements, which generally require sewage to be treated by approved marine sanitation devices prior to discharge. The State is also continuing to implement and strengthen other efforts to address sewage discharges from smaller vessels, including recreational boats, to state waters.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

ANPR For San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary Water Quality Improvements

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) seeking public input on the effectiveness of current water quality programs influencing the health of the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary. The ANPR identifies water quality issues affecting Bay Delta fisheries, describes regulatory measures currently underway, and initiates an information-gathering process on how the EPA and the State of California can achieve water quality and aquatic resource protection goals.

The ANPR is part of a set of actions to address California water issues under the Interim Federal Action Plan released in December 2009. Through this plan, the EPA has promoted water conservation and efficiency improvements throughout California, dedicated more than $40 million to drought relief projects, and to modernizing California’s water infrastructure.

EPA will be coordinating its review of water quality issues with the on-going development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which currently is being developed through a collaboration of federal, state and local agencies, environmental organizations, and other interested parties.

The ANPR identifies specific issues for which the EPA has regulatory responsibility and solicits comment on topics, such as potential site-specific water quality standards and site-specific changes to pesticide regulation. Summaries describing environmental stressors and the regulatory framework necessary to address them are also included in the ANPR.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Increase Proposed For California Water Discharge Permits

The California State Water Resources Control Board is considering emergency measures that will result in a significant increase the fees charged to stormwater permittees and other permittees holding NPDES discharge permits.

According to the State Board, the increase is needed to respond to both reductions in revenue generated and increased program costs. The shortfall in revenue is a result of under-collection of revenue in the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) in FY 2009-10 and a substantial drop in enrollment under the State Water Board’s recently adopted storm water construction permit. In July 2009, the State Water Board adopted Order 2009-0009-DWQ requiring storm water construction dischargers to enroll in a new storm water construction permit by July 1, 2010. Approximately 64 % of previous storm water construction permit holders did not renew their permits by the deadline and have been terminated from coverage. Many of these permittees did not reenroll because of a decline in construction activity. At the same time, the downturn in the construction industry has resulted in a reduction of the number of new permits being issued.

During the same period, costs increased substantially due to a shift in funding for basin planning from General Fund support to fee support and a return to full payroll costs due to the discontinuance of the furlough program.

According to the State Board, the Storm Water program needs to generate an additional $4.4 million in revenue to meet the FY 2010-11 Budget, which translates to a 21.5 % increase to all Storm Water fee categories.

The NPDES program needs to generate an additional $6.4 million in revenue to meet the FY 2010-11 Budget. This translates to a 31.4 % increase to all NPDES fee categories.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website