San Mateo County Grand Jury
• 2004-2005
Improving Water Quality Flowing to the Ocean and Bay Issue Statement What are city and County agencies doing to improve
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F1
The Board of Supervisors should immediately begin the search for better facilities for the long-term care of the patients at the Burlingame Long-Term Care Center. This facility, or its replacement facility, should have safe and efficient ingress and egress for non-ambulatory or disabled patients in both emergency and routine situations. Response: Disagree. The San Mateo Medical Center agrees that a better facility would be desirable; however, the feasibility of locating such a large facility (the largest in the County) is prohibitively expensive under current Medi-Cal reimbursement rates and is effectively not possible. The County’s 20-year lease for the current facility is the only practical way these patients can be housed in San Mateo County. This recommendation will not be implemented. Improving Water Quality Flowing to the Ocean and Bay Findings:
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
C/CAG should, by September 1, 2005, develop and implement a plan to increase the awareness of residents and businesses of the repercussions of dumping pollutants into storm drains.
F2
Improvement of Storm Water Quality Staff agrees with the finding. The quality of storm water can be improved by frequent street sweeping, using storm drains that dissipate the energy of the water flow to decrease erosion, designing slow water flow in new developments, preventing construction site debris from reaching streams, and providing a means for the public to properly dispose of household hazardous wastes. Environmental Health will continue to offer a means for proper disposal of household hazardous waste through collection events located throughout the County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Board of Supervisors should provide funding for the Environmental Health Services Division for a staff person whose function is to determine pollution sources and to monitor ranches for compliance.
F3
Watershed Assessment and Monitoring Staff agrees with the finding. Environmental Health samples various recreational beach areas and has had success in identifying and remediating sources of contaminants. Beach monitoring will be continued and, within existing resources, investigations will be conducted into possible sources of contamination.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Board of Supervisors should direct the Environmental Health Services Division to expand the focus of manure management plans to include an emphasis on decreasing creek pollution.
F4
The Board of Supervisors should support a request from the Environmental Health Services Division to provide sufficient funding to inspect each septic system every three years. Response: This recommendation requires further analysis. The re-inspection of septic systems has been in place for five years. The inspection program is an important component of the Land Use Program since the only other means for managing septic systems after installation is complaint-based. There are over 5,000 septic systems in the county. Currently, inspections are conducted on a periodic basis at a rate of approximately 700 per year; this roughly equates to an inspection every seven years. The Environmental Health Advisory Committee has prioritized the septic inspection system based on situations where potential failure could cause contamination; i.e., for septic systems where there is a well on the property. Environmental Health will evaluate the staffing required to inspect each septic system every three years. Environmental Health staff will report back to the Board of Supervisors on the results of their findings in a future quarterly update. COUNTY OF SAN MATEO Inter-Departmental Correspondence County Manager’s Office DATE: August 3, 2005 BOARD MEETING DATE: August 16, 2005 SPECIAL NOTICE: None VOTE REQUIRED: None TO: Honorable Board of Supervisors FROM: John L. Maltbie, County Manager SUBJECT: 2004-05 Grand Jury Response
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Board of Supervisors should support a request from the Environmental Health Services Division to provide sufficient funding to inspect each septic system every three years. IMPROVING WATER QUALITY FLOWING TO THE OCEAN AND BAY Issue What are city and County agencies doing to improve the quality of water flowing into the ocean and the bay?
Conclusions 2
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CL1 Page 1The C/CAG STOPPP programs concerned with industrial and illicit discharge controls, construction controls, and assessment monitoring are important in improving the water quality of streams running to the ocean and bay. The mercury thermometer trade-in program is an effective way of preventing mercury run-off. 1 Although C/CAG has active publicity campaigns to educate the public about not dumping pollutants down storm drains, a large percentage of both business people and county residents still do not understand that the outflow of storm drains is not treated. EHSD does an excellent job in testing the beaches and detecting bacterial pollution. However, insufficient funds prevent thorough follow-ups to determine sources once pollution has been measured entering the ocean.
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CL2 Page 8The C/CAG STOPPP programs in industrial and illicit discharge controls, construction controls, and watershed assessment and monitoring are important in improving the water quality of streams running to the ocean and bay. 8 C/CAG/STOPPP has significantly increased the number of business inspections in the last five years. The C/CAG/STOPPP mercury thermometer trade-in program is an effective way of keeping mercury from migrating to creeks and the bay. Although C/CAG has active publicity campaigns to educate the public about not dumping pollutants down storm drains, a large percentage of both business people and county residents still do not understand that the outflow from storm drains is not treated. Through the C/CAG/STOPPP requirements in the construction permit process, cities appear to have proper controls to prevent storm water pollution from proposed new construction. This permitting process insures that modern engineering techniques of storm water handling will be used for larger parcels of land so that the water settles into the ground instead of directly running off into streams. EHSD does an excellent job in testing the beaches and detecting bacterial pollution. However, there are insufficient funds to determine sources once pollution has been measured entering the ocean. As quoted in the San Francisco Examiner (August 10, 2004), “It’s not enough to determine that the water is dirty. You need to do something about it.” Although informed horse ranch owners have been cooperative in preventing manure from polluting streams, there is no ongoing monitoring of these problem sites. Additionally, the county continues to take a reactive stance in dealing with the ranches despite the fact that horse manure is regularly found to be a source of pollution in county creeks. Given the level of funding, EHSD is not able to inspect septic tanks every three years. EHSD cooperates very well with volunteer organizations such as Surfriders and the San Pedro Creek Coalition. EHSD will have a major challenge over the next several years in maintaining staffing and service levels in programs not directly funded by permit fees such as the Groundwater Protection and Household Hazardous Waste program.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office