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Home My WebLink About20250213_CWDACMeetingNotesAlways 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 Notes Thursday, February 13, 2025 3:00 to 4:30 pm Jefferson County Courthouse First Floor Conference Room 1820 Jefferson St, Port Townsend 98368 And via Zoom Attendance: Carol McCreary, Heidi Eisenhour, Joe Holtrop, Lee Steele, Michael Dawson, Richard Hull, John Fleming, Trevor Swanson, Sage Ince, Andrew Jauhola, Jacquelyn Stenman Call to Order at 3:03pm 3:03 – 3:05 Hybrid meeting/Zoom webinar etiquette 3:05 – 3:06 Introductions 3:06 – 3:08 Agenda and Minutes Approval Heidi moves to approve agenda, Richard seconds, all in favor, none opposed Richard moves to approve minutes, Heidi seconds, all in favor, none opposed 3:08 – 3:08 Public Comment No public comment 3:08 – 3:30 Hood Canal #3 Data Report & 2025 Work Plans – Trevor Swanson, DOH Compared to January 2024, five stations’ water quality has improved while one has declined (137) in the conditionally approved area, only by 3 FC. Can’t upgrade Duckabush yet due to a high FC result in August this year (during the closed period). Looking into upgrades soon, but may be delayed due to budget deficit and staff shortages. Annual report (out in late April) will place recommendations first, then we address any classification changes this summer - need more data during closed period (May-Nov) too. Upgrade evaluation for Conditional area around Duckabush delta: What we need to upgrade (CA to Approved): 1. Must meet NSSP SRS Approved standards based on 30 samples. DONE! 2. Must have stable or improving trends. DONE! 3. Must have restoration work accomplished or underway. DONE! 4. Must meet APC Approved standards for last 15 samples (10% of samples below 43 FC/100mL). See SOP on last page for more details. a. At 13% now, need to wait till next closed season to purge data and reevaluate. 5. We’ll also investigate seal population and any other outstanding sources. Annual reports will describe recommendations and depending on the data, we’ll consider upgrading this summer depending on budget status at DOH. Upgrade evaluation for Restricted area around Dosewallips delta: What we need to upgrade (Restricted to Approved): 1. Must meet NSSP SRS criteria. DONE! 2. Need to check status of seals (what we’ve seen is far fewer than in past = good). 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 3. Shoreline conditions must support upgrade. Outstanding sources of bacteria? Shoreline Survey Schedule for 2025 Full shoreline surveys • Hood Canal 1 • Discovery Bay Triennial shoreline survey reports • Dabob Bay • Protection Island Full shoreline surveys – every 12 years or less • Identify drainages/discharges to shellfish GA and sample them all • Evaluate OSS, wildlife, agriculture, industrial, marina, and other pollution sources (WWTPs are included, but assessed separately by our engineer). • Risk and impact assessment • Parcel closures if necessary • Recommendations for further investigation Triennial reports – shorter, every 3 years • Address same issues • Triennials usually don’t collect field data (but do consider subsequent data collected by others) • Address things that have changed and updates needing assessment. • Shouldn’t be redundant with 12-yr report Joe: Are the federal budget issues likely to cause issues at the state level? Trevor: Yes, but governor wants to save as much money as he can. Gives leeway to DOH. Cannot hire PHA 3, Trevor is PHA 4 and is covering vacant position. May change in the summer. Mike: Anything else we should do to coordinate with shoreline work? Trevor: Goes both ways, will coordinate on shoreline work. No timeline yet. Discovery Bay data requests to come. Mike: We will be conducting regular wet season and dry season shoreline monitoring, but our priority areas may not cover everything. 3:30 – 4:07 Clean Water District Annual Report draft – Mike Dawson Summary of Report (see report for full details): The Clean Water District is funded by a $23 (started as $20 and $5 for condos – built in cost-of-living increases) per-parcel fee. In 2024, the Water Quality division received a net of $498,030 from the CWD assessment. 2024, the Chimacum-Port Hadlock PIC project received $42,185 in state funds matched with $14,062 in CWD funds. Project partner Jefferson County Conservation District (JCCD) received $27,840, who supplied their own in-kind matching funds at 25% or greater. We will need to be mindful of state-funded programs in 2025, such as BEACH which will have a budget decrease of 10% in 2025. The Foundational Monitoring project continued throughout 2024 with support from CWD funds. In 2024, the CWD fee covered $329,504 in expenses to execute this project. The Water Quality indirect rate in 2024 was 28.07%. JCPH spent $2,297 on boat maintenance. JCPH provided temporary sanitation for $1,965 at the Big Quilcene River during the fishing season to avoid 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 emergency closures of shellfish beds. Staff training amounted to $569. Total other expenses were $5,430. JCPH added two new staff members to the Water Quality division in 2024 to replace staff that left in 2023. The higher staffing level helped JCPH reach monitoring goals in dry season. There were no new threats to approved shellfish growing areas in Jefferson County in 2024. Hood Canal #3 water quality improved slightly. Discussions with DOH about the potential for a future upgrade of the Restricted area at the mouth of the Dosewallips River. JCPH completed a commercial septic repair along the shoreline at the river’s mouth. Removal of closed parcels on the DOH Commercial Shellfish map at South Bay Way due to the completion of a septic repair. A portion of Mats Mats Bay was reclassified by DOH from Conditional to Approved. JCPH completed most water quality monitoring targets in 2024, especially in dry season. We restarted the septic system sanitary survey process, and redesigned the hot spot fact sheets and mailers. Laboratory services were inconsistent, with operational difficulties and limitations that occasionally impacted JCPH monitoring schedules. Analysis costs will increase as much as 60% in 2025. JCPH explored the potential for alternate services, as well as developing internal analysis capacity, and secured some new office space that has adequate room for lab equipment. JCPH encountered delays in the implementation of GIS upgrades and online tools for Field Notes and Sanitary Surveys. Equipment failures and network issues were factors in the delays. Several iPads used for fieldwork failed and were replaced at the end of 2024. Pollution Control Implementation Table at the end of the report shows statistics for the year, based on a state template (same as last year’s report). Richard: Who will run the lab equipment? Mike: Our own staff. Richard: Will that be satisfactory for our purposes? Mike: We will train, compare results to lab results, work to get accredited, and most lab equipment is fully automated. Carol: Why are the analysis costs going up? Mike: Our main lab has held costs low for many years and now they’re playing catch up. Heidi: Wouldn’t we always send a letter for failed OSS? Mike: O&M warning letters are sent for a variety of reasons. Hard to track. Heidi: Was cost share from a current or previous grant? Mike: All seven are from Craft3. Septic cost share spent all funding in previous grant. Pinky applying for new round of funding. Heidi: What are you rebating? Mike: Cost of inspection, pumping, installation of risers? Heidi: How do we get the word out? Mike: On our webpage. We also have rebate money for the Chimacum-Port Hadlock PIC project. Heidi: Do you get input from Jefferson Land Trust? Price Street improvements showcased? Mike: Wasn’t sure where to highlight it, stuck to bigger picture. Would be good to list some of the smaller projects. Richard: Were CWD involved? Volunteers? Mike: I am supervisor for Natural Resources, but CWD funding not involved. Restoration often involves Ecology grants. Joe: JCCD restoration in Tarboo, provide grant funding. Wasn’t sure how to include in report, mostly habitat restoration. Mike: In the big picture it affects agricultural areas along creek. Could list certain areas in the report, but we did not fund anything with CWD funds. 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 4:07 – 4:19 Hood Canal Regional PIC Phase 5 – Mike Dawson https://hccc.wa.gov/water-quality-protection/#hcrpic Regional PIC program going on 13 years, multiple counties and partners (tribes). Grant through Puget Sound Partnership, no match. PIC work directly supports our mission. Addressing specific areas of concern. Collaboration, best practices, trainings. EPA money that could be affected in the future. Phase 5 involves potential upgrades in Dosewallips and Duckabush areas. Many small lots in Duckabush area originally intended for vacation use leads to minimum land area issues, floodplains, poor soils – septic system installation issues. Last year we focused on Pierce Creek. Lots of seasonal land use, need to go back this year. Will focus on financial assistance as well. Changes at Dosewallips State Park – decommissioning bathroom. Unknown septic systems near river, either pre-permit or non-permit. Collaborate on lab analysis standard operating procedures and statistics. 4:19 – 4:20 Announcements • Next meeting May 8 4:20 – 4:30 Room clean-up and exit (building closes at 4:30) Adjourned 4:30