PORTAGE BAY SHELLFISH PROTECTION DISTRICT
ADVISORY COMMITTEE SUMMARY

ZIp File of 2002 Summaries

AGENDA

MEETING ATTENDANCE

DOCUMENTS DISTRIBUTED

• Agenda
• 10/23/02 IFA Portage Bay Meeting Summary
• Summary of Marine Water Data 8/17/99 – 11/1/02
• Portage Bay Sampling Stations and Classification Boundaries (as of 11/4/02)
• Educational Packet: Septic System and Well Water Newspaper, Flier, Questionnaire

MEETING CONTENTS

1. Public Comment Period

Hilary Culverwell introduced herself to the Advisory Committee (AC) and mentioned that she will be taking over Stewart Glasoe’s role as the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team representative to Whatcom County.

2.Review Previous Meeting Summary and Meeting Agenda

10/23/02 Meeting Summary
Meeting attendees reviewed the meeting summary. Ami Stillings noted that she sent a revised version of the summary to Anvil today.

• Action: Anvil will incorporate Ami’s revisions and distribute the 10/23/02 Meeting Summary as Final.

Chris Woodward, Ami Stillings, and Michael Cochrane provided the following updates on action items from the last meeting:

• Chris and Ami wrote and sent a letter supporting the enforcement of the manure management ordinance with proactive strategies, rather than the existing complaint-driven method, to the Whatcom County Planning Department.
• Ami touched base with Hilary Culverwell, who indicated that she would bring examples of protocols for dealing with high fecal coliform (FC) counts to the next Portage Bay (PB) meeting.
• The Marine Resources Committee (MRC) drafted a resignation for committee members who are leaving the MRC. PB AC members could modify and use this letter for AC member resignations.
• Lummi Natural Resources’ drift cell study on long shore drift is still in the planning stage.

Meeting Agenda
Attendees reviewed the agenda and meeting participants agreed to discuss Item 4 after Item 2.

3. Department of Health Update

Ecology Proposed Budget Cuts
Don Lennartson reported that Ecology is proposing to eliminate their dairy enforcement program. This would eliminate the requirement to register dairy farms and eliminate Ecology’s role to enforce Clean Water Act compliance.

Mark Henderson noted that the legislature asked Ecology to make budget cuts. Each Ecology program has proposed cuts, one of which is the dairy enforcement program.

Chris wondered who would take over monitoring dairy farm compliance with the Clean Water Act if Ecology is out of the picture. Chris suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could take over enforcement. Some participants noted that the EPA is also going through budget cuts.

Some participants wondered if Ecology enforcement is still necessary, since most farms in Whatcom County are in compliance. Others noted that ongoing inspection and enforcement is still necessary.

Dorie Belisle suggested that a neighborhood farm watch would probably work well. She noted that there is a pilot study in Bertrand and Fishtrap Creeks to monitor FC levels.

Some participants noted that the Whatcom County Conservation District will write a Dairy Farm Management Plan for county farms. Others noted that Ecology would enforce plan compliance.

One participant noted that with the implementation of the dairy enforcement program, enforcement shifted to a local agency (Ecology) instead of a federal agency (EPA). Dairy farmers don’t want to go back to the way things were before the Nutrient Management Act was passed, nor do people who are concerned about water quality in Whatcom County. Mark Henderson encouraged participants to contact legislators with their concerns about eliminating the dairy enforcement program.

PB Sampling Results
Don reported that DOH added a sampling station to PB (No. 271).

Meeting participants looked over a map of PB sampling stations and classification boundaries. Don noted that all stations in the Approved area meet water quality standards. However, station No. 49 is nearing restricted levels. All stations in the restricted area do not meet water quality standards, except station No. 57.

Don noted that there are two requirements for meeting standards (based on 30 samples):

• FC geometric mean must be equal to or less than 14 organisms/100 ml
• FC 90th percentile must be equal to or less than 43 organisms/100 ml.

Don noted that the geometric mean is fairly consistent, while the 90th percentile can be very volatile. He noted that the 90th percentile works best with data that can be graphed on a bell-curve. This does not generally apply to bacteriological and environmental data.

Don reported that on August 13 of this year, DOH collected samples in Portage Bay that showed extremely high FC numbers. It was a sunny, windless day, local dairy farm lagoons were dry, and farmers weren’t irrigating fields. DOH felt that a large source would be necessary to produce such high FC numbers.

Don noted that, unfortunately, prior to the high counts in August, most of the stations were close to reaching Approved status. It is questionable whether results from November and December sampling will be enough to adequately change the counts so that the stations could be considered for re-classification from ‘Restricted’ to ‘Approved’.

Don said that if DOH could be notified in advance of events that might raise FC numbers considerably, they would close PB for a specified length of time associated with the known event for public health reasons.

The Northwest Washington Fair took place in Lynden during the week of August 12th. This is one of many possible sources that were investigated in an effort to determine what caused the high fecal counts and to correct any problems found. Chris noted that she and others will conduct a dye test at the Lynden fairgrounds on 11/15/02, to see where animal wash down station runoff travels.

Ed Halasz said he talked to the owner of the port-o-potties used during the fair. The owner claimed that he dumped the port-o-potty waste in his own septic system in the Drayton Harbor area. Ed noted that the owner does not keep dumping records and does not have a license (port-o-potty owners are not required to be licensed). One member noted that a septic system designed to hold a certain amount of waste would probably not handle more than that amount and still function properly. The volume of waste from the fair may be more than that type of system could handle.

• Action: Ed will follow up with the port-o-potty owner to determine whether the system he is using is sufficient to handle the amount of waste being generated by such events as the fair.

Mark wondered if DOH would consider taking action if illegal dumpers were caught red-handed. Don noted that Ecology would take action since illegal dumping violates the Clean Water Act.

Meeting participants discussed ways to address illegal waste dumping. Dorie suggested offering some type of reward for coming forward about illegal dumping (with the promise of no prosecution to the person reporting it). She also suggested having financial incentives for picking up and dumping the same amount of waste, to make record keeping worthwhile.

Chris suggested finding out how other counties handle port-o-potty permitting and how they hold port-o-potty dumpers accountable. Don said he didn’t know of any other county that requires dumping records. He noted that there is no way to trace whether the amount of waste is the same, between picking up and dumping. Ed noted that Whatcom County Health Department keeps records on how much septage is dumped at Post Point sewage Treatment Plant, in Bellingham. The department has no way of tracking whether all of the septage pumped in Whatcom County is disposed of in Whatcom County, or if some of it is disposed in eastern Washington. Ed noted that septic tank pumpers do pay a fee to dump their septage at Post Point in Bellingham.

Don said that the Lynden STP did not show increased flow from the fairgrounds on August 13. Kasey Ignac noted that Steve Hood, Ecology, conducted a study that showed some increased flows to the STP on that day.

Participants wondered why there was so little information about the high FC numbers on August 13. One member noted the Bellingham Herald had one small article regarding the issue. Chris noted that she and Ami are working on improving a communication network for this type of information in the future.

4. Lummi Update

Andy Ross gave a presentation on preliminary findings from the Lummi Natural Resources water quality monitoring study. (Please note: The following information reflects unpublished study findings and should not be cited or quoted.)

Preliminary findings include the following points:

• FC counts at freshwater core sites were higher at the onset of stormwater flow than later in winter.
• There was no clear evidence of culvert discharge on the beach.
• High FC counts in Portage Bay occurred independently of high counts in local stormwater runoff.

Andy noted that based on the study results, it seems that local stormwater runoff is not a substantial source of FC in Portage Bay.

One participant wondered if the study was stratified for tidal influence on freshwater. Andy indicated that the study was not stratified for tidal influence.

Chris wondered if the water quality monitoring study included Silver Creek. Andy said that samples were taken at Silver Creek but since the Nooksack River backs up into the creek, it was hard to determine if the samples truly represented Silver Creek water quality conditions.

Sewer Treatment Plant (STP) Outfall Study
Andy reported that during 2001, Lummi Natural Resources conducted a study to trace the path of the Gooseberry Point STP outfall. The study showed that drogue releases travel down Hale Passage in surface and deep currents and do not enter Portage Bay.

Some water travels from Hales Pass and over the portage into PB (this water is not linked to the STP outfall) but it hits a natural hydraulic barrier where salt water meets lower saline water which is diluted by freshwater in the bay. Model results confirm that discharge from the STP outfall doesn’t enter PB.

Chris wondered if there is any indication that Whatcom Creek contributes to FC problems in Bellingham Bay and if that could affect Portage Bay. Andy said that the tidal influence in Bellingham Bay is so strong that the Nooksack River can get split in two where it meets the bay. This tidal influence would likely prevent FC in Bellingham Bay from traveling to PB.

Michael Cochrane noted that he studied STP outfall migration using oranges, grapefruits, and driftwood in 1997. Study results were similar to those from the 2001 study.

5. Ferndale Update

Chris reported that she talked to the City of Ferndale Public Works about sewer and septic systems in city limits. Public works staff indicated that not all homes in Ferndale are on city sewer but according to the city, their septic systems do not seem to be problematic.

City of Ferndale Public Works does not yet have a stormwater outflow map but is working on it. Almost all storm drains flow into a detention pond in Vander Yacht Park. The Public Works department doesn’t sample stormwater outfalls, but would likely support these types of sampling projects.

Andy wondered if Whatcom County would have to comply with Phase II of the Stormwater Management Act. Mark said he didn’t know if Whatcom County would have to comply.

Chris noted that Ferndale Public Works collects a fecal coliform sample from the Nooksack River on a monthly basis at the treatment plant’s raw water intake site. The September sample showed elevated fecal coliform levels (500 CFU/100mL).

6. Mutt Mitt Stations

Chris, Kasey, and Ami are discussing the installation of Mutt Mitt stations in Ferndale and Lynden with the help of funding from Whatcom County Water Resources.

7. Dye Study Update

Mark reported that the City of Lynden is planning to do a preliminary dye study of the Lynden fairground storm drains, to give them some idea of how stormwater and sewer flows at the fairgrounds.

The City of Bellingham has a program that calculates how much dye to use in a dye study. The person in charge of the City of Lynden study noted that the City of Bellingham doesn’t have a standardized protocol for conducting dye studies (he didn’t think a standardized protocol was necessary, in any case).

Mark and others will conduct the dye study of the fairgrounds. Chris wondered if they would add water to simulate increased effluent during the fair. Mark said they shouldn’t have to, due to increased rainfall, but will have a water truck ready just in case.

Kasey noted that it is important to find out if washdown station runoff flows into storm drains.

8. On-site Sewage Program Survey

Ed distributed educational materials and questionnaires regarding septic systems and water quality. The questionnaire asks for feedback on how the materials could be improved.

• Action: AC members and other meeting participants will provide Ed with any feedback on the septic system/water quality educational materials.

9. New Business

Next Meeting
Meeting participants discussed the need for a December meeting. Chris indicated that she wants to have study results and other information before the next meeting.

• Action: Chris and Ami will look into whether crucial information will be ready in time for a December meeting. If the information isn’t available, the next meeting will be in January 2003. They will notify the committee in either case.

Matrix Update
One member wondered if the AC’s task matrix was completed and posted to the Web.

• Action: Ami will follow up on the status of the matrix and the Web site.

10. Next Meeting Agenda

To be determined