HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution No. 11-C27RESOLUTION NO. 11-C27
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA
SUPPORTING REASONABLE, PRACTICABLE, AND ECONOMICALLY
ACHIEVABLE STORMWATER NPDES PERMIT AND TMDL
REQUIREMENTS, THROUGH THE USE OF PROGRESSIVE AND
ADAPTIVE BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
WHEREAS, the City of Azusa is proud of its environmental programs and invests
significant resources in improving water quality by implementing both federal and state
environmental programs, including the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permits and the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program; and
WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is governed
under a consent decree issued by a federal district court in 1999 which requires USEPA to adopt
96 TMDLs for water bodies in the Los Angeles region, under an accelerated time schedule; and
WHEREAS, the State of California, through the State Board and Regional Board, has
been designated by the USEPA. to enforce federal stormwater regulations, including the
municipal NPDES permits and TMDLs, under the Clean Water Act; and
WHEREAS, TMDLs are the means by which water quality standards are applied to the
municipalities and TMDLs are specifically designed to achieve beneficial uses of water bodies
by limiting the amount of pollutants in runoff conveyed to them; and
WHEREAS, TMDLs are typically implemented and enforced against local governments
through the Municipal NPDES permits and that the Clean Water Act allows for third -party
litigation/citizen suits against local governments if they fail to comply with their NPDES permit
requirements; and
WHEREAS, the USEPA and the Regional Board have adopted dozens of TMDLs since
2001 and additional TMDLs are pending adoption under the consent decree; and
WHEREAS, the Regional Board has already incorporated into the current NPDES
permit a trash TMDL for the Los Angeles River and a bacteria TMDL for Santa Monica Bay,
and plans to include in the permit dozens of other TMDLs affecting Ballona Creek, Calleguas
Creek, Dominguez Channel, Los Angeles River, San Gabriel River, and Santa Clara River
watersheds; and
WHEREAS, a study commissioned by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) concluded that the stormwater management program (including TMDLs) in
the United States is dysfunctional and in need of radical change;
WHEREAS, the USEPA study concluded that the cost of complying with TMDLs would
impose upon subject local governments tremendous costs that may not result in a significant
improvement in water quality;
WHEREAS, a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report commissioned by Congress
found that compliance with existing TMDL regulations has been problematic and that limitations
in USEPA's economic analysis of the NDPES and TMDL programs raises questions about their
reasonableness (GAO/T-RCED-00-233); and
WHEREAS, the GAO also found that states have had difficulty in developing accurate
water quality standards for the TMDL program due to a lack of financial resources and that, as a
consequence, local governments risk directing limited resources to water bodies that have been
incorrectly targeted for clean-up (GAO-03-88IT); and
WHEREAS, the State's non-partisan Little Hoover Commission found in its January of
2009 report that local governments, representing small, poor communities, as well as larger,
richer urban areas, are struggling to pay for upgrades needed to protect the state's waters and that
urban stormwater is a vexing problem with costly solutions, yet the State has not developed an
adequate system for assessing and prioritizing the problems; and
WHEREAS, the State Water Board commissioned a panel of experts to report on the
feasibility of relying on numeric limits in municipal NPDES permits and the panel reported on
June 19, 2006 that "it is not feasible at this time to set enforceable numeric effluent criteria for
municipal BMPs and in particular urban discharges"; and
WHEREAS, the League of California Cities adopted statewide water policy guidelines
in March of 2010 supporting the development of reasonably achievable, environmentally sound
and cost-effective TMDLs based on monitoring and sound science, and opposes legislation that
requires the use of numeric limits in NPDES permits,'because of the difficulties in meeting
numeric limits, problems with exceeding numeric limits and the costs and potential enforcement
impacts of numeric limits; and
WHERAS, federal regulations allow for flexibility and provide discretion to the states
when imposing NPDES permit requirements and developing TMDL programs, and USEPA has
adopted Interim Permitting Approach for Water Quality -Based Effluent Limitations in Storm
Water Permits, which allows municipalities to employ best management practices (BMPs) as a
reasonable, practicable and economically achievable method to improve water quality in lieu of
incorporating numeric limits into NPDES permits; and
WHEREAS, a recent USEPA memorandum reaffirmed the use of BMPs in addressing
water quality based effluent limits (WQBELs) as a means of complying with TMDLs in NPDES
stormwater permits;
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AZUSA DOES
HEREBY RESOLVE:
Section 1. That the City of Azusa supports the California League of Cities
statewide policy that TMDLs be reasonably achievable, environmentally sound, cost-effective
and based on monitoring and sound science.
Section 2. That the City of Azusa supports the California League of Cities
statewide policy that generally opposes strict compliance with numeric limits in municipal
NPDES Permits because of the difficulties in meeting them, problems with exceeding them,. and
the costs and potential enforcement impacts.
Section 3. That the City of Azusa recommends that the Regional Board allow the
municipalities to comply with TMDLs through reasonable, practical, and economically
achievable BMPs, in a progressive and adaptable manner.
Section 4. That the City of Azusa recommends that this BMP compliance
approach be included in the upcoming municipal NPDES permits in Los Angeles County,
in lieu of absolute compliance with numeric limits by whatever means necessary to
achieve such compliance.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 4`h day of April, 2011.
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J eosJ ph R. Rocha, Mayor
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was duly adopted by the City of Azusa
at a regular meeting thereof held on the 4`h day of April, 2011.
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: GONZALES, CARRILLO, MACIAS, HANKS, ROCHA
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE
Vera Mendoza, City Clerk