Municipality: City of Pittsburg Permit Year: (2007/2008)

Introduction:

The City of Pittsburg (the City) strives to eliminate non-stormwater discharges to the City storm drain system through implementation of an Illicit Discharge Control Activities (IDCA) Program. In order to achieve this goal, many City staff are educated and trained to recognize non-stormwater discharges or potentials for stormwater pollution. Staff in the Police Department, Code Enforcement, Engineering Department, Building Department and Public Works is actively involved in the IDCA Program. Each Police Officer, Code Enforcement Officer, Public Works employee, or Engineering/Building inspector that works out in the field is actively on the lookout for illicit discharges, especially in areas identified as "hot spots" or "priority areas" in the Pittsburg IDCA Plan.¹ These field personnel can add up to 10-50 City employees monitoring for illicit discharges throughout the City each day. When discharges are found and the discharger is positively identified, another goal beyond eliminating the discharge is to ensure the discharger is educated on the issue and proper enforcement is pursued. All cases, whether started by the Police Department or recorded in the field by Public Works, are forwarded to Jason Burke, NPDES Coordinator for filing and possible further steps.

By having a large team of field employees educated on the goals of the NPDES permit, the City is able to target and eliminate potential pollutants, and respond to spills and/or current illicit discharges. This greatly reduces the amount of non-stormwater pollutants entering the storm drain system and eventually San Francisco Bay at any given time. Also, continuing to implement significant revisions made to the Program’s IDCA Model Plan over the last few years has allowed the City to learn more about what areas, creekways, hardened channels, and neighborhoods require more attention and inspection to eliminate or reduce exposure to illicit discharges. (Refer to Volume 1, Section 7 for a detailed discussion on the Program's Model IDCA Plan).

Implementation & Evaluation:

Develop an Illicit Discharge Control Inspection Program

The development and implementation of the IDCA Plan first occurred with the development of the Contra Costa Clean Water Program’s IDCA Model Plan. The City used Program’s IDCA Model Plan as a starting point for its IDCA. The City continued implementing the Pittsburg IDCA Plan 2003-2004² during FY 2007-2008. This plan ensured that the City continued to:

• Identify, verify and prioritize field-screening areas for investigation and/or repeat inspections.

• Develop a schedule for conducting investigations of the high priority areas during the coming year.

• Establish standard procedures for Illicit Discharge complaint responses.

• Establish standard procedures for documenting Illicit Discharge responses.

• Demonstrate legal authority.

• Develop educational materials for problem areas.

These are just a few of the requirements found in the Pittsburg IDCA Plan. Another requirement is to evaluate the fiscal years inspection results. Based on the City’s experience documenting and compiling the IDCA inspection forms, the City revised the Illicit Discharge Reporting Procedures (see ATTACHMENT ID-1), the Field Response Procedures and flow chart (see ATTACHMENT ID-2), and the Illicit Discharge Reporting Form (see ATTACHMENT ID-3) documentation and compellation process. In order to improve coordination between City staff in various departments and ensure correct follow up measures are taken with all illicit discharge cases, the City revised the reporting process to ensure that illicit discharge form are filled out and provided to the NPDES Coordinator. The NPDES coordinator is responsible for ensuring that adequate follow up actions were taken, including providing any additional educational materials, referring cases to code enforcement, or having Public Works crews cleanout the storm drain system when required.

The City focuses on documenting discharges from a responsible party, whether that party is known or not. Documenting dumping in creeks or road-side ditches is done on a Straight Bill of Lading, which is filed with the Public Works Department. This form is more efficient and easier to fill out than the regular IDCA form. Aside from a Straight Bill of Laden, cases when there may be an illicit discharge that is not recorded on an IDCA form is when it is discovered during a facility inspection and covered on the INSP form filled out by DDSD inspectors.

Another type of potential illicit discharge that is very common is found in residential areas and consists of what the City refers to as a PEX or pollutant exposure. Each month PEX reports are done by the Police Department. They range from cans of used oil sitting in driveways to an old tire on a side yard. Residents are notified and required to abate the PEX. Out of all PEX only a very small percentage (2-5%) are found to be in or near the City storm drain system. This would include PEX in the street gutter. Since PEX enforcement is an already established and efficient means to abate potential pollutants, whether threatening the storm drain system or not, there is no additional IDCA form filled out.

In fiscal year 2007-2008 the City documented 13 illicit discharges on IDCA forms (see ATTACHMENT ID-4). These do not include the daily clean ups Public Works does or the PEX work Code Enforcement does. The incidents included:

• Discharge of motor oil and antifreeze from automobile repair

• Improper storage of automotive fluids

• Draining pool and wash water into the storm drain system

• Illegal dumping of trash and construction waste into roadway and creek areas

• Improper discharge of concrete wash waters.

Although not noted on either IDCA form, trash is a common illicit discharge. Anything from shopping carts, old batteries, clothes, chairs, and sometimes unknowns are cleaned out of our creeks and roadway ditches daily. The City has not been witnessing what would seem to be intentional spills or discharges, with the exception of the piles of trash sometimes found on roadsides. Although, this is not a clear sign that intentional discharges are not taking place, it is at least a sign that there is a general knowledge that such activities are prohibited, and consequences will result.

Within fiscal year 2007-2008 the City also received three "Incident, Notification, and Complaint Reports Forms" and one "Spill Report" from Contra Costa Health Services, Hazardous Materials Programs. Completed copies of the "Incident, Notification, and Complaint Reports Forms" from Contra Costa Health Services, Hazardous Materials Programs are attached (see ATTACHMENT ID-5). The spill report was for Hazmat clean up of an oil spill from an auto accident on the Pittsburg/Antioch Highway (Loveridge Road) and the 3 notification incidents included:

• Leaking pipeline

• Leaking car battery draining into storm drain

• Charity car wash activities

Fluids used for vehicles (oil, gas, petroleum products) are the most prevalent spill incidents reported by the Hazardous Materials Program. On one of the forms the main contact was the Public Works Department, which demonstrates multi-agency coordination for illicit discharge enforcement.

Training

On August 31, 2007 the City conducted an illicit discharge training workshop for building and engineering inspectors, with 11 staff members attending. The intent of the workshop was to provide a refresher course for employees already educated in the IDCA Program, and to introduce the material to newer employees. Copies of the agenda with topics covered and attendance rosters are attached (see ATTACHMENT ID-6).

Proactive: Field Screening Program

The City's field screening program goes well beyond the minimum permit requirements. Areas designated as high priority include an area of Kirker Creek that runs between two arterial streets and the roadside ditches along two streets in north Pittsburg (Willow Pass Road and North Parkside Drive). Most areas surveyed consist of linear bodies or stretches of the creeks. The creek stretches are inspected monthly due to the difficulty to get personnel and equipment into some areas. Major roadside ditches that are high priority areas for illicit dumping are inspected and cleaned out weekly. Medium and low priority areas include small ditches throughout the City and residential neighborhoods. Small ditches and areas where debris may accumulate but don’t receive much illicit dumping are inspected and cleaned out yearly, unless special attention is required. Residential areas are inspected routinely for PEX (Pollutant Exposure) by Code Enforcement. Although the residential areas occupy a majority of the land area, routine inspections and constant documentation and enforcement drop the risk to a low level. All field screening is done in both dry and wet weather.

Reactive: Investigate Spill Reports/Complaints

Currently, when City staff recognizes an illicit discharge or the potential for one, either Public Works, Code Enforcement, or both is notified by phone. Usually, the stormwater coordinator is notified in the event of a discharge even if another department has already given attention to the call. When Code Enforcement is contacted, the most available officer is radioed to do a visual inspection of the location. If there is an illicit discharge, further action is taken, which may result in enforcement.

When discharges are traced to a residential source, Code Enforcement officers will talk with the residents about the discharge, find out if they are aware of stormwater quality issues, and proceed as necessary. City staff uses these opportunities to educate the public and not as threatening and intimidating encounters. If officers feel it is necessary, they may have the residents contact the stormwater manager to gain more insight in the issues on water quality objectives. The City has developed a door hanger that includes educational information on protecting water quality in the Delta and the legal restrictions related to the limitations of what can be discharged to the storm drain system. These door hangers are used in neighborhoods where there are illicit discharge activities, and are designed to provide education, change behavior, and provide contact information to facilitate the reporting of any violations residents may notice.

Common pollutants were mentioned above. Also, residential irrigation runoff is common along with landscape debris, especially deciduous tree species located near storm drains. The City has been successful in reducing the amount of non-stormwater discharges entering the City storm drain system and eventually the Delta and SF Bay. When trash cannot be reduced, it is cleaned up either by Public Works on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis (depending on location and priority area) or by a volunteer creek clean up group, which usually meets up to twice a year through event sponsorship.

A unique part of Pittsburg's overall campaign to reduce illegal dumping and illicit discharges is the installation of surveillance cameras in illegal dumping hot spots. There areas are slightly different from illicit discharge hot spots in that they are not located directly in a creek or roadside ditch. Rather, they are located in an alley or vacant property where there still may be a potential for an illicit discharge in the case of a storm event following a dumping. The bullet-proof cameras provide a new-age deterrent to illegal dumping. The cameras function through motion detection and sound an alarm and verbal instruction that the potential violator is being video recorded. Since the installation of the cameras, there has been a very significant decrease in dumping in those particular locations. These cameras have proven to be so successful last year that the City has chosen to install more.

During FY 2007-2008, the City initiated the website based “Government Outreach” system, which allows members of the public to request City services through an online system (http://user.govoutreach.com/pittsburg). This online system resulted in increased cases of residents reporting illicit discharge activities in residential areas via the Government Outreach request system, mostly related to automotive fluids being improperly drained. This system helped the City streamline the illicit discharge reporting and response process, and provided members of the public with a convenient and anonymous system to report illicit discharges within their own neighborhoods. This system has helped the City streamline the documentation process, and increased the ability of the City to identify and eliminate illicit discharges, thereby reducing pollutant loading and directly improving stormwater discharge and receiving water quality.

Follow-Up, Enforcement, and Reporting

As with all IDCA activities, the City follows the procedures in the Pittsburg IDCA Plan which is referenced in the introduction section of this IDCA report. All incidents requiring follow-up will have a follow-up inspection, all of which are documented accordingly.

In most cases, the incident sites are not left until the clean-up is complete, and therefore a follow-up is not required. When an incident is recorded, the City may opt for strict enforcement, or light enforcement, both of which are subject to Pittsburg Municipal Code Chapter 13.28. Strict enforcement involves fines issued by code enforcement and possible referral for additional legal action in situations when problems are not quickly corrected. Light enforcement would include a verbal warning, necessary education, and a bill for cost recovery clean up. This past fiscal year, the City mostly implemented light enforcement and in managed to achieve compliance in most cases. Two cases have been referred to code enforcement for additional fines as problems continue. One particular residence is subject to ongoing code enforcement and legal actions. All reports are sent to the NPDES coordinator for filing and electronic database recording.

In order to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of the City's IDCA program, in FY 2007/2008 the City revamped its administrative procedures for handling illicit discharges to streamline coordination between office and field personnel and City departments. These new procedures have improved the response time for illicit discharge corrective action. Introduction of the new procedures also served as a refresher to existing employees on the proper procedures for responding to illicit discharges and a formal opportunity to train new personnel to the City in the proper procedures for handling illicit discharge incidents.

Modifications:

The addition of the website based “Government Outreach” system, in order to facilitate anonymous reporting of illicit discharge activities by members of the public via the internet, has resulted in increased illicit discharge case reported in residential areas. The City continued to train inspectors in the types of activities which are considered illicit discharges, the standard response and reporting process, and provision of relevant phone numbers for pollutant cleanup.

Fiscal Year 2008/2009 Goals:

The City is please with the success of the IDCA program and looks forward to continue its focus on improving the illicit discharge elimination and reporting process. By continuing to focus on the cleanup of illegally dumped trash along the Willow Pass Road, North Parkside Drive and Kirker Creek Area, the City will continue to reduce pollutant loads on receiving water bodies by removing illegally dumped trash in areas with increased potential to end up in the City’s storm drain system and in receiving water bodies. Factors such as seclusion from commercial and pedestrian traffic, presence of roadside ditches, and low visibility from the public view make these area especially strong targets for illicit discharges. Keeping these areas as high priority areas during FY 2008-2009 will ensure that these illicit discharges will be eliminated through clean-up, enforcement and surveillance. By continuing to increase the citywide security camera program, the City will be able to increase enforcement, cleanup and prevention illegal dumping.

By continuing staff training in the illicit discharge reporting process, the City will continue to efficiently respond the illicit discharge events provide the required documentation of the events, clean up and enforcement actions associated with each illicit discharge case. By creating binders with relevant illicit discharge elimination education materials for field inspectors for storage in vehicles, the City will further streamline the response and educational and informational component of illicit discharge elimination. This will reduce the lag time between when an illicit discharge is reported to the NPDES coordinator and when educational materials are provided to the responsible party.

1 Please see the Pittsburg 2003-2004 Annual Report, which contains the Pittsburg 2003-2004 IDCA Plan.

2 Ibid.

3 Screening areas are not classified by land use. See narrative (page IDCA-4) for explanation.

4 Three high-priority linear segments. Segments of Kirker Creek and tributaries that are not in high priority areas are classified as medium priority areas. All other areas of the City are low priority areas.

5 Ibid.

6 Does not include “Straight Bill of Ladings.”

7 Ongoing code enforcement case(s)