City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 11, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.D
1 of 3
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Susan Cline, Director, Public Works, Office of Sustainability & the Environment
Subject: Cost-sharing Memorandum of Agreement with the City of Los Angeles for the Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plan for Santa Monica Bay Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement a cost-share monitoring plan to comply with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's NPDES permit requirements for Santa Monica Bay. The cost over the five-year (FY2017-22) monitoring period of the Santa Monica Bay MOA will not exceed $316,084.
Executive Summary
As a municipal agency within the boundaries of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit system of Los Angeles County, the City is obligated to comply with the NPDES requirements to reduce pollution from urban runoff into the Santa Monica Bay. The NPDES permit requires Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plans (CMP) to collect data on water quality to demonstrate compliance with water quality objectives of the NPDES permit. As a member of the jurisdictions that drain into the Santa Monica Bay watershed the City is obligated to share in the costs of implementing CMPs for this water body. The cost over the five-year (FY2017-22) monitoring period of the Santa Monica Bay MOA will not exceed $316,084.
Background
The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region (Board), to develop water quality standards that identify criteria to protect beneficial uses for each water body found within its region.
Beneficial uses include swimming, fishing, drinking water, navigability, and wildlife habitats and reproduction. Section 303(d) of the CWA requires states to prepare a list of 2 of 3
water bodies that do not meet water quality standards and establish for each of these water bodies pollutant load allocations known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) which will ensure attainment of water quality standards. A TMDL represents an amount of pollution that can be released by anthropogenic and natural sources of a watershed into a specific water body without causing a decline in water quality and beneficial uses.
The Santa Monica Bay watershed has been listed since 1998 on California’s Section 303(d) list due to impairments by bacteria and trash. The Board adopted many TMDLs for these pollutants since 2003 to address these impairments. These TMDLs reduce the amounts of pollutants found in runoff discharges from the cities within the watersheds.
The City Council previously approved a renewed Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plan (CMP) MOA for bacterial monitoring cost-sharing on August 13, 2013, per Attachment A.
In accordance with these TMDLs, the City of Los Angeles submitted a CMP for compliance with the TMDLs on behalf of the agencies within this watershed. The City of Los Angeles currently performs all required monitoring and reporting to the Board and invoices the City of Santa Monica annual for its share of monitoring costs for Santa Monica Bay.
Discussion
The current MOA expired on June 30, 2016, but was extended on a month-to-month basis for one year only. The new 5-year MOA would replace the previous MOA. Under the terms of the MOA, the City of Los Angeles would continue to be responsible for all monitoring and reporting activities to the Board.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Santa Monica’s share of the monitoring costs per the terms of this MOA is not to exceed $316,084 over the five-year monitoring period ending FY 2021-22. The estimated payments to the City of Los Angeles are as follows:
3 of 3
FY 2017-18 $58,823
FY 2018-19 $61,688
FY 2019-20 $62,934
FY 2020-21 $65,262
FY 2021-22 $67,677
Estimated Total $316,084
Funds of $58,823 are available in the FY 2017-18 budget in the Public Works Department and will be charged to account 06402.555170. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Neal Shapiro, Senior Sustainability Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. August 13, 2013 Staff Report