Reso 2010-781r•
COSTA MESA SANITARY DISTRICT
RESOLUTION NO. 2010 -781
A Resolution in Support of Sound
Statewide Policies that Advance Clean and
Sustainable Local Water Supplies
WHEREAS, California's water system is facing a growing list of challenges
associated with aging infrastructure, ecological problems in the Sacramento -San
Joaquin River Delta, drought, climate change, population growth and regulatory and
legal decisions that reduce the amount of water delivered to Southern California;
WHEREAS, clean and sustainable local water supply solutions, including
groundwater desalination, water recycling, water conservation and ocean water
desalination, offer opportunities to overcome the natural, regulatory and legal water
supply challenges in order to secure a reliable water supply in Southern California;
WHEREAS, consistent and unambiguous statewide policies would help to
prioritize.and streamline permitting and regulatory compliance actions for groundwater
and ocean water desalination, water conservation and recycling projects, thereby
advancing the development and continued use of these proven reliability projects;
WHEREAS, the South Coast Water District's (SCWD) Groundwater Recovery
Facility (GRF), which produces and conveys approximately 264 million gallons of
treated groundwater annually, is precisely the type of local water reliability project that is
needed to supply residents and businesses with high - quality, safe and sustainable
water supplies;
WHEREAS, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region (San
Diego Board) improperly imposed on the GRF new requirements regarding compliance
with National Pollution Elimination Discharge System (NPDES) permit limits at the
facility rather than at the outfall;
WHEREAS, SCWD and SOCWA have filed an appeal with the State Water
Resources Control Board (State Board) to reverse this decision by the San Diego Board
to impose the new permit requirements on the GRF;
WHEREAS, the San Diego Board also improperly imposed Mandatory Minimum
Penalties (MMP) in the amount of $204,000 on SCWD and SOCWA, penalizing them
for not meeting the new limits;
WHEREAS, the State Board staff summarily denied SCWD and SOCWA's
petition for review of the San Diego Board's imposition of MMPs and SCWD and
SOCWA have filed a petition for writ of mandate challenging the San Diego Board's
decision to the Orange County Superior Court;
WHEREAS, the imposition of new permit requirements regarding compliance at
the GRF severely inhibits the operations, functionality and beneficial use and expansion
(installation of additional wells) of the GRF by SCWD;
WHEREAS, the imposition of this policy change and MMP sets a bad statewide
precedent regarding existing NPDES permits and threatens the viability of new water
reliability projects in the Costa Mesa Sanitary District and across the State of
California;
WHEREAS, SCWD and SOCWA are joined by a broad coalition of business and
local government interests in urging the State Board to adopt consistent and
unambiguous statewide policy that advances the streamlined permitting, development
and continued operations of groundwater recycling projects, like the GRF;
WHEREAS, a broad coalition of business and local government interests are
aligned in supporting the reversal of the San Diego Board's policies regarding the GRF
in order to prevent the promulgation of these questionable policies;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the State Board hear the NPDES
petition of SCWD and SOCWA as soon as practicable;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa
Sanitary District finds it imperative that the State Board adopt consistent and
unambiguous statewide water policy in support of innovative and reliable local water
supply projects;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa
Sanitary District finds it imperative that the State Board shall adopt new statewide
policy ending the imposition of MMPs against public agencies.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Directors of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District at
a regular meeting held on the 27th day of May 2010.
Gar,,`FAlonahan
!�-acreta of the Board of Directors
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'ooA-.
Arlene Schafer
President of the Board of Directors
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS
CITY OF COSTA MESA )
I, Joan Revak, Clerk of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, hereby certify that the
above and foregoing Resolution No. 2010 -781 duly and regularly passed and adopted
by said Board of Directors at a regular meeting thereof held on the 27th day of May
2010.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal
of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District, this AU day of 2010.
Clerk of tv COS rvles,Sanitary District
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