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Home My WebLink About20220210_CWDACminutesAlways working for a safer and healthier community 615 Sheridan Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 www.JeffersonCountyPublicHealth.org Community Health Environmental Health Developmental Disabilities Water Quality 360-385-9400 360-385-9444 360-385-9401 (f) (f) 360-379-4487 Jefferson County Clean Water District Advisory Council Quarterly Meeting Zoom Meeting due to COVID-19 Thursday, February 2, 2022, 3:00 to 4:30 pm Attending: Mike Dawson, Greg Brotherton, Richard Hull, Joe Holtrop, John Fleming, Monica MickHager. Staff: Lara Gaasland-Tatro, Brad Stone, Tim Weissman, Amanda Christofferson. Guests: Scott Chernoff (DOH), Carol McCreary (public). Dawson called the meeting to order at 3:04. Zoom Etiquette and Introductions 3:05 – 3:10 Agenda and Minutes Approval 3:10 – 3:13 MickHager moved to approve agenda as is, Holtrop seconded, all in favor, none opposed. MickHager moved to approve minutes as is, Hull seconded, all in favor, none opposed. CWDAC Citizen #1 Position 3:13 – 3:16 Dawson informed the council that two candidates are being interviewed for the citizen #1 position, with selection to be made soon. Updates from DOH 3:19 – 3:33 Chernoff shared DOH marine monitoring data and pointed out that water quality at Dosewallips 124 improved. There were some gains and losses in water quality at Duckabush. Dawson asked which areas were scheduled for shoreline surveys. Chernoff replied that Michael Friese had completed OSS evaluations in Dabob and may do follow up sampling there, Hood Canal #2 was completed, no problems identified. Protection Island (including the part on the Quimper Peninsula) will start in fall-winter of 2022, Mats Mats Bay will likely be done in early 2023. 2021 Water Quality Report 3:33 – 3:46 Dawson shared background on the annual water quality report, and explained that the goal is to produce a corresponding PIC report annually. The June heat wave was discussed. There were bacteria high hits immediately after in DOH and BEACH monitoring, and not just in our county. Bacteria declined soon after. Vibrio illnesses increased this summer, and Vibrio are more common in warmer water. There were several blooms reported this year in marine and fresh water. One resulted in a fish kill in Squamish Harbor. There were no hypoxia related mortality or severe events in Dabob Bay. Stream monitoring was reported in a pass-fail table in the report. Several streams failed Part 2 in dry season, only Cooper Creek failed Part 1. 100 miles of prioritized shoreline monitoring in all projects were completed in wet season and dry season. Created a new GIS layer to help track mileage. 17 hot spots were found, including Little Goose Creek, Paradise Bay 042, and Pierce Creek. Brotherton asked if biochar may be used to control fecal coliform and if we do pilot projects to address this? Dawson replied that it is not something we have explored, but knew it had been tried in stormwater management at the Port of Port Townsend to remove zinc. In the open environment it’s a lot messier, in terms of natural stream courses, tidelands, environmental forces, and potential difficulties of instream permitting. Brotherton shared some websites about biochar: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215017X20300023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653520307323 and https://princetonhydro.com/how-to-reduce-habs-improve-water-quality-with-biochar/. Always working for a safer and healthier community Community Health Environmental Health Developmental Disabilities Water Quality 360-385-9400 360-385-9444 360-385-9401 (f) (f) 360-379-4487 Northern Hood Canal PIC Project Results Summary 3:46 – 4:00 Stenman reported on the project, which wraps up at the end of March 2022. Project area is Port Ludlow south to Coyle. Stream monitoring found generally good conditions, with Cooper Creek being the most impacted, and Shine Creek, Bywater Creek and Thorndyke Creek having had high bacteria at times. Shoreline monitoring identified hot spots. 24 sites had elevated bacteria, and 16 hot spots were investigated in the project to date. 84 surveys had been completed and was focusing on completing 14 more before the end of the project. There were 21 septic enforcement cases being worked on. Oak Bay – Mats Mats PIC Project Results Summary 4:00 – 4:15 Gaasland-Tatro reported on the project, which is similar to the Northern Hood Canal Project, but covers parts of Marrowstone and Indian Islands, Oak Bay, and Mats Mats Bay. Monitoring included shoreline, streams (with nutrients), marine monitoring, and deployment of MusselWatch cages. Generally, bacteria was low during wet seasons, and high dry seasons. Little Goose Creek had 1 septic correction that seemed to lower bacteria levels, but not entirely eliminate problem. The streams pass/fail table was shown, there were many exceedances in dry season of 2021. Oak Bay Creek “A” had the highest levels of nitrogen compared to the other creeks in the study, but nothing was alarming. Bacteria was low in marine, with Mats Mats Bay having only two samples above 30 Enterococcus. Mats Mats Bay had higher turbidity, probably due to its shallow, enclosed geography. 22 hot spots for bacteria were found during the project, and fact sheets were mailed to area residents. 122 mailers with fact sheets were sent, 102 surveys were completed, and 4 failures or septic violations were found. Oak Bay 053 hot spot investigation resulted in 2 septic repairs, which lowered, but did not eliminate, bacteria levels. 3 other septic repairs or decommissioning were completed and 4 repairs are in progress. 15 enforcement cases were completed or in process. Lake Monitoring 4:15 – 4:29 Dawson showed graphs of toxin levels in the last 6 years. Anderson Anatoxin-a peaked at 1,400 ug/L last year. A press release was issued 5/13 for lake closure. We had biggest spike in microcystin in many years at Anderson: 2,776 ug/L in the fall. A press release was issued 10/15. Bloom severity value vs. toxin exceedance: it doesn’t always correlate; therefore you can’t always tell toxin levels by looking. Gibbs microcystin: peaked at 46 in 2021, press release 7/23 for lake closure. Leland microcystin: bloom in the fall peaked at 14, press release 10/15 for lake warning. Crocker: August bloom, microcystin below guideline, informational sign posted. There were no blooms observed in Tarboo, Teal, Sandy Shore, or Silent Lakes, but these lakes aren’t regularly monitored. Pilot bacteria monitoring at Gibbs Lake and Lake Leland: E. coli was sampled once a month at three locations along the shore and averaged. Both lakes passed state standards every month. There was 1 elevated bacteria result in Gibbs Lake in July after heat wave, but the average was low. In 2022 JCPH proposes to increase sampling events and collect about 100 more samples to see if gaps were missed in the pilot. BEACH Monitoring Plan 2022 4:29 – 4:31 Proposed list of beaches for 2022: Fort Flagler State Park, Irondale Beach Park, Quilcene Marina Beach, and every other week at Mystery Bay State Park. Fort Worden State Park will be monitored by Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Ecology will put out the list online for public comment. Public Comment 4:31 – 4:33 Carol McCreary: Found presentations interesting. Thank you for your work.