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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJefferson County Clean Water District Annual Report 2021Jefferson County Clean Water District ANNUAL REPORT Figure 1. Quilcene Bay. Photo by Jacquelyn Stenman. August 26, 2021 Prepared by: Michael Dawson, Jefferson County Public Health 615 Sheridan St, Port Townsend WA 98368 360-385-9444 www.jeffersoncountypublichealth.org Distribution List: Scott Chernoff Water Quality Restoration Program Lead Office of Environmental Health & Safety Washington State Department of Health PO Box 47824 Olympia, WA 98504-7824 scott.chernoff@doh.wa.gov Pinky Mingo Environmental Public Health Director Jefferson County Public Health 615 Sheridan St Port Townsend, WA 98368 pmingo@co.jefferson.wa.us Jefferson County Clean Water District 2021 Annual Report p. 1 Reporting Period: January 1 - December 31, 2020 Name of Shellfish Protection District: Jefferson County Clean Water District Name of County: Jefferson Primary Point of Contact: Michael Dawson, Water Quality Manager Number of Meetings in 2020: 3 Clean Water District Advisory Council meetings 1 FUNDING The Jefferson County Clean Water District (CWD) is funded by a $20 per-parcel fee assessed by the Jefferson County Assessor. In calendar year 2020, the Water Quality division of Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) received net $423,716 from the CWD assessment, which was used as matching funds for Clean Water Projects. The Water Quality division has continued to pursue the Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) strategies outlined in the 2012 Clean Water District Advisory Council recommendations. These include pursuing grant funding for Clean Water Projects. This strategy allows district funds to be leveraged with state funds for projects. The following Clean Water Projects were active during this reporting period (Figure 2): 1. Strait Priority Areas Project 2. Central Hood Canal PIC Project 3. Northern Hood Canal PIC Project 4. Oak Bay – Mats Mats PIC Project 5. Jefferson County Foundational Monitoring and PIC Project Each of these projects was funded at 75% by Ecology’s Centennial Clean Water program with a 25% match requirement. JCPH utilizes the CWD fee to provide matching funds. During the year, the Central Hood Canal PIC project received $65,657 in state funds matched with $21,886 in CWD funds. The Strait Priority Areas project received $59,432 in state funds matched with $17,381 in CWD funds, with the Jefferson County Conservation District (JCCD) providing $2,430 in matching funds. The Northern Hood Canal PIC project received $89,280 in state funding matched with $29,760 in CWD funds. The Oak Bay – Mats Mats PIC project received $105,796 in state funding matched with $35,265 in CWD funds. The Foundational Monitoring project received $49,952 in state funding matched with $16,651 in CWD funds. CWD funding covered program administration and management. Water Resource Management stream monitoring allowed for continuity of data collection between the end of the Strait Figure 2. Water Quality Project Area Map, 2020. Jefferson County Clean Water District 2021 Annual Report p. 2 Priority Areas and Central Hood Canal projects and the beginning of the Foundational Monitoring project. CWD funds covered the cost of 47 E. coli lab analyses. JCPH provided temporary sanitation at the Big Quilcene River during the fishing season in 2020 to avoid emergency closures of shellfish beds. CWD funds did not cover additional programs of the Water Quality division, including the BEACH program, Recreational Shellfish Biotoxin program, Lakes program, Hood Canal Regional PIC project, and the Natural Resources programs. 2 PROGRAM STATUS/CHANGES In Spring 2020, JCPH hired Environmental Health Specialist Amanda Christofferson. The position is split between the Water Quality program and the Septic Operations and Monitoring (O&M) program. Christofferson took over managing the OSS Cost Share program and began by helping to finalize arrangements with Craft3. She also took on coordinating code enforcement with Department of Community Development Enforcement Officer Deb Murdock. The Foundational Monitoring project began in 2020. The monitoring plan breaks the CWD into watersheds (with the large Hood Canal watershed divided into three parts) and assigns one Water Quality staff member to be the lead in that area (Figure 3). Water Quality Manager Michael Dawson made the following assignments: Monitoring Group Receiving Waters Description Staff 1 Strait of Juan de Fuca Discovery Bay Brad Stone 2 Puget Sound Port Townsend to Port Ludlow Lara Gaasland-Tatro 3 Hood Canal Duckabush and Dosewallips Amanda Christofferson 4 Hood Canal Quilcene and Dabob Tim Weissman 5 Hood Canal Coyle to Paradise Bay Jacquelyn Stenman Because the Foundational Monitoring project covers the entire Clean Water District and there were existing projects with overlapping geographies, staff coordinated so there wouldn’t be duplicative efforts. Where a previous Clean Water project exists, staff will use those funds until the project is completed, and then the Foundational Monitoring project will take over the work in that area. Figure 3 shows the shellfish growing areas and their relation to the Foundational Monitoring areas. It also shows the prioritized shoreline (in purple). Shoreline reaches were prioritized by the presence of commercial and recreational shellfish beds, recreational beaches, and by past monitoring history. Staff will monitor high priority shorelines each wet season and dry season, with medium priority reaches monitored if time and budget allow. The prioritization scheme is meant to be adaptable as conditions change over time. Jefferson County Clean Water District 2021 Annual Report p. 3 Figure 3. Foundational Monitoring areas map. Jefferson County Clean Water District 2021 Annual Report p. 4 3 PROGRAM SUCCESSES With the approval of the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for the Foundational Monitoring project in 2020, JCPH created a baseline water quality monitoring program that will serve the entire Clean Water District and allow for monitoring that can continue into the future independently of grant funding availability. The plan covers stream and shoreline monitoring for bacterial indicators, prioritized by shellfish growing areas. This will allow a sustainable, local program to provide early warnings of declining water quality and to be well-positioned for rapid response in pollution control activities. It will also allow greater efficiency by standardizing monitoring procedures and reducing duplicative planning efforts. Long term, the establishment of a stable dataset will allow for greater analysis of trends, correlations and source identification. Marine water quality, as monitored by DOH, showed some improvements in 2020. Hood Canal #3 data exhibited an improving trend, although greater improvements over a longer time period will be needed to consider any changes to the Conditionally Approved area at the Duckabush River. Discovery Bay station 196, near the mouth of Snow Creek, improved which removed it from the threatened list for 2020. JCPH marine monitoring in Hood Canal, Oak Bay and Mats Mats Bay indicated low bacteria levels. 4 CHALLENGES/BARRIERS The COVID-19 pandemic impacted all JCPH programs starting in April 2020. JCPH strongly encouraged working from home for all Water Quality staff, and held all meetings virtually, including the Clean Water District Advisory Council quarterly meetings. The May quarterly meeting was cancelled since a virtual meeting platform had not yet been deployed by the county. Staff halted fieldwork for a period of time until JCPH approved departmental guidelines for certain field activities. Staff worked solo in the field doing water quality monitoring, which sometimes resulted in additional vehicle trips and less efficiency. In spite of this, staff met water quality monitoring goals and there was very little disruption in data collection. Progress of completing septic system sanitary surveys slowed considerably. Upon the recommendation of the Jefferson County Health Officer, staff were required to contact landowners by mail or phone before scheduling a survey to limit contact with residents. Door-to-door “cold call” site visits had been the primary method of completing surveys before COVID-19, but this was not consistent with health precautions during the pandemic. Staff mailed cards with a detachable return section for scheduling site visits, but got a low rate of return. Staff tried to find phone numbers for sites, and when possible, followed up with phone calls. Staff attempted 98 surveys in 2020 and of those, staff completed only 36 surveys. Staff found three septic system failures during surveys. Progress was also delayed on investigations, and on pollution correction activities. Staff had to cancel one scheduled dye test when the resident expressed concern over health vulnerabilities and exposure to non-family members in her home. Complaint investigation and enforcement continued, but at a reduced pace. The septic team pursued septic repairs and permitting, but were sometimes slowed down by lack of availability of professionals for design and installation due to impacts of the pandemic. Planned development of GIS solutions for the Water Quality program by ProWest GIS were stalled during the pandemic due to ProWest’s prioritizing of COVID-related work in other jurisdictions. Jefferson County Clean Water District 2019 Annual Report p. 5 5 POLLUTION CONTROL IMPLEMENTATION TABLE SPD Information Number Outcomes Comments Miles of shoreline evaluated 85 Wet and dry season monitoring E. coli and Enterococcus Central Hood Canal: 15 miles Strait Priority Areas: 35 miles Northern Hood Canal: 20 miles Oak Bay – Mats Mats: 15 miles Discharges/streams monitored 23 Monthly monitoring Fecal coliform and E. coli Central Hood Canal: 7 stations Northern Hood Canal: 5 stations Oak Bay – Mats Mats: 5 stations Water Resources Management: 6 stations Marine stations monitored 18 Enterococcus (January only) Oak Bay – Mats Mats: 18 stations – concluded 2019 monitoring in 2020 Sites with elevated bacteria or “hot spots” 17 Confirmed hot spots > 320 E. coli geomean or > 110 entero investigated Strait Priority Areas: 1 Northern Hood Canal: 1 Oak Bay – Mats Mats: 15 Parcel/property evaluations 36 Distributed copies of as-builts if available, homeowner class info, rebate info, and Craft3 and USDA financial assistance 36 Completed, 59 attempted, 3 partially completed Central Hood Canal, Strait Priority Areas, Northern Hood Canal, & Oak Bay – Mats Mats OSS in the Shellfish Protection District ~13,500 48 previously unknown OSS identified On-site Septic program OSS with current inspection report unknown 1,844 O&M inspections completed (205 from homeowners) On-site Septic program O&M warning letters 300 O&M reminder letters mailed On-site Septic program OSS dye tests none Failed OSS 3 From surveys, additional unknown # from O&M OSS Repairs 67 67 urgent repairs finaled 17 urgent repair permits issued 1 urgent repair permits pending Jefferson County Clean Water District 2019 Annual Report p. 6 SPD Information Number Outcomes Comments Low interest OSS repair loans (Craft3 or other) 8 Approved & partially or fully funded as of June 2020 Craft3 low-interest loans. Began Jefferson County Septic Repair Cost Share program Farms with animals in the Shellfish Protection District unknown Surveillance flights None Farms evaluated None A comprehensive farm inventory was planned but not implemented Agriculture BMPs installed 16 Reed canarygrass removal on 15 Chimacum and East Chimacum creek properties 1 riparian buffer project implemented 1 roof runoff management project implemented 1 stream access control project Chimacum watershed East Chimacum Creek Ludlow Creek Donovan Creek Agriculture warning letters None Utilized new source tracking technology No Incentives/Rebates unknown 1st O&M inspection and/or riser installation rebates to homeowners On-site Septic program Penalties unknown OSS failure/violation NOCVs sent Tickets Public Complaints 37 OSS 5 WQ 17 OSS finaled/closed 4 WQ finaled/closed All complaints investigated Public Meetings 5 Clean Water District Advisory Council 3 Clean Water Projects meetings 2 (combined project close & project launch): Strait Priority Areas, Central Hood Canal PIC, Foundational Monitoring Workshops Online classes on demand 98 homeowners completed and became registered for homeowner inspections Online Homeowner Septic Classes (On-site program) Jefferson County Clean Water District 2019 Annual Report p. 7 SPD Information Number Outcomes Comments Community Events none Mailers/flyers/brochures 4 Hot spot factsheets sent to project area residents Central Hood Canal Strait Priority Areas Northern Hood Canal Oak Bay – Mats Mats Did you conduct a social marketing survey? No Newsletters sent 2 Mailed to project area residents Additional JCCD newsletters sent Letters of support/ recommendations to council/commission/grants received none Are there stormwater activities occurring? No Riparian restoration Yes Duckabush & Big Quilcene Floodplain Acquisitions, riparian planting Conservation Futures & Natural Resources program Reports 2 Posted on JCPH website Data/Mapping Yes WQDB/GIS connection 6 ACRONYMS AND SPECIAL TERMS USED CWD (Jefferson County) Clean Water District DOH Washington State Department of Health Ecology Washington State Department of Ecology EPA Environmental Protection Agency GIS Geographic Information System JCCD Jefferson County Conservation District JCPH Jefferson County Public Health O&M (Septic) Operations & Maintenance OSS On-Site Septic Systems PIC Pollution Identification and Correction SPD Shellfish Protection District WQ Water Quality