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HomeMy Public PortalAboutWQAP 2016-08-17 ORLEANS iurN CLERK CiZ�y ORLEANS WATER QUALITY ADVISORY PANEL '17 JUL 1_ 3:O�3Ei, PROGRAM STATUS UPDATE AND MEETING MINUTES Final for the meeting of: Wednesday,August 17,2016 9:00 AM— 12:00 PM Orleans Town Hall, Nauset Room 19 School Road,Orleans, Massachusetts 02653 This meeting was the second held by the OWQAP in FY 2017. The purposes of the meetings of the OWQAP are to review and advise on the activities of the Town and its consultants related to adaptation and implementation of the plan for wastewater and water quality management as de- scribed in the Consensus Agreement initially developed by the Panel in FY 2015 and updated in July 2016. • WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION OF PANEL The following documents were distributed to participants: • Meeting Agenda • Draft minutes for the July 13, 2016, meeting of the OWQAP • Presentation material for the August 17, 2016, meeting of the OWQAP • A proposed budget for the November 2016—June 2017 timeframe for the Water Qual- ity and Wastewater Management program for consideration by the Board of Selectmen at their meeting on Wednesday, August 24, 2016, for inclusion in the warrant article for the October 24, 2016, Special Fall Town Meeting. All meeting documents and presentations for the Town of Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel are located here: http://www.town.orleans.ma.us/water-quality-advisory-panel/paues/owgap-meeting july-13-2016 Alan McClennen, Orleans Selectmen, called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM. Attachment A is a list of the panel members, liaisons and presenters present at the meeting. The next meeting of the Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel will be held on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Comments and suggestions on the draft minutes of the July 13, 2016 meeting of the OWQAP were received and a revised document will be provided to the Panel in the information package for the September 14, 2016 meeting. 1 2. MEETING SUMMARY AND PROGRAM UPDATE Tri-Town Plant Closure and Decommissioning Update Tom Parese of AECOM summarized the planning and recent activities undertaken in the decommissioning of the Tri-Town Septage treatment Plant. Plant decommissioning is underway, including soil testing,permit- ting and coordination with plant staff. Development of contract drawings for demolition construction is also underway. He clarified that the design of demolition includes the demolition of the compost building and related structures as well as the wastewater treatment plant. He stated that active coordination with Brewster and Eastham has been part of the process. He stated that the area disturbed in the demolition will be only the area within the footprint of the existing structures. In response to a question, he stated that emergency re- sponse after decommissioning and before demolition will be handled through the Orleans Police and Fire Departments. The plan is to complete design by the end of November and receive construction bids in time for the Towns to vote at their respective Spring Town meetings to proceed with demolition, which would occur in the September 2017 to February 2018 timeframe. Status of Public-Private Partnership(P3)Evaluations Mike Domenica provided an update of the meetings and discussions with the downtown businesses related to the costs and cost allocation for the downtown wastewater system. Sid Snow has reached out to a number of I business owner'-s and condo associations that have great interest in the costs, issues,timing and design of this system. There have been three meetings of this"forum"to date. Additional meetings will be held as more specific information on the design,phasing,costs and schedule are developed. The Planning Board is con- sidering a proposal for alterations to the downtown zoning that would meet the needs of the businesses and Town goals for the Village Center and other areas of downtown. The business forum is addressing issues such as: 1. Rezoning proposals that meet town and business objectives and maintain the no-net-growth re- quirements of the State's zero interest financing program 2. Comparisons of cost allocations for business and residential properties based on capital cost al- locations for a single plant system as proposed in the Consensus Agreement versus costs for in- dividual solutions on a parcel-by-parcel basis 3. The need for a design of the downtown system to about a 25% level of detail to provide more certainty in cost estimates and cost allocations to individual businesses, as well as a basis for a design-build procurement that could save significant time and capital cost. The need for more detail as to what would be included in the 25%design was expressed The Panel members voted 6-0-1 with the Orleans Water Alliance abstaining and the Orleans Community Partnership not present to recommend to the Board of Selectmen that the Board consider approving the task for 25%design as included in the warrant article for the Fall Special Town Meeting. Non-Traditional Technology Demonstration Project Status Aquaculture Program Tom Parese gave a brief status report on the Shellfish/Aquaculture demonstration projects that are being un- dertaken as part of the Non-Traditional technology approach to nitrogen management. The Lonnies Pond project is in place and operating well. A draft report, including information on the cost and performance of 2 the project will be submitted by the AECOM team at the end of January. The Quanset Pond shellfish project is being planned with design commencing in Fall 2016 and installation in Spring 2017. The Town Cove quahog population survey is being planned and work with the growers and existing grants is underway. Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB)Demonstration Projects AECOM has submitted an application for an Underground Injection Control permit to the DEP. Monitoring wells are being installed in early September and injection of a food grade carbon substrate will begin at the end of September followed by groundwater sampling for performance monitoring. Judith Bruce stated that her concerns over the potential for fluid migration were adequately addressed at the PRB workshop on Au- gust 15. She and others expressed concern that the funding of the non-traditional projects needs to be ap- proved for the full duration of the projects to ensure continuity that is critical to understanding the feasibility of the technologies. Regarding the landfill PRB, Paul Dombrowski of AECOM stated that a scope of work for the characteriza- tion of the 1,4 Dioxane plume is being developed. Data from this investigation will also provide more in- formation on the nitrogen source and migration path. Several panelists expressed the importance of having as good an estimate as possible as soon as possible of the nitrogen load from the landfill to Town Cove as rough estimates from several parties indicate that the landfill nitrogen load may be a substantial percentage of the total load to Town Cove. Paul mentioned that alternatives for remediation of both the nitrogen and 1,4 Dioxane plumes will be developed this Winter,with design and implementation in FY 2018. Nitrogen Reducing Barriers(NRB) Tom Parese stated that AECOM and the Town are continuing to discuss with George Heufelder of the Coun- ty the potential for development of one or more demonstration projects for nitrogen removing barriers that are being piloted at the County On-Site System Test Center. The FY 2017 budget to be voted at the Fall Special Town Meeting includes funds for moving forward with a demonstration project for this technology. Tom mentioned that there may be grant opportunities for demonstration of this technology through the Coun- ty Health Department. Monitoring and Modeling Plan (AMP) Update Mike Domenica briefly summarized the sampling and monitoring activities that are underway and which are being supported by SMAST, including the Lonnies Pond project, planning for the Quanset Pond shellfish project and the Nauset and the Pleasant Bay monitoring programs. He mentioned that SMAST will also be contracted to support the freshwater ponds management projects if the budget for that activity is included in the Fall Special Town Meeting warrant article and approved at Town Meeting. Mike stated that SMAST was the most qualified and experienced technical support option, had extensive experience with the Orleans freshwater ponds and had supported the Town very well in previous water quality management work. For this reason it was recommended that SMAST continue to support the town on this initiative, at the same time the Town's consultants AECOM and Water Resources Associates will be working with SMAST staff to en- sure that their deliverables meet the expectations and needs of the Town. It was mentioned that it is im- portant that adequate budgets for SMAST work be approved to allow them to provide quality work products. It was mentioned that the freshwater pond planning needs to be linked with the stormwater and fertilizer management studies and data bases in development of integrated ponds management plans. It was also men- tioned that it is important that the SMAST contracts included provisions ensuring the transfer of data and analytical results to the Town as part of the SMAST deliverables. 3 Amended CWMP Document Review and Submission Plan Mike Domenica explained that AECOM submitted a draft Amended CWMP to the Town. Mike and Town staff are reviewing the document for compliance with the contract and outline of the document. In accord with the Commission's request,the document was submitted to the Cape Cod Commission as the Town's input to the Commission submission to EPA in accord with the 208 Planning requirements. The Commis- sion has provided to the Town a draft of the Orleans sections of their report to the EPA for Town Review. AECOM and Mike Domenica are reviewing the Commission's draft and will provide comments to the Board of Selectmen for their consideration and approval. Dale Fuller asked about the process for receiving comments on the Amended CWMP, discussing the com- ments, editing the document accordingly and preparing it for submission to the DEP and others. Alan McClennen requested that all comments be submitted to Mike Domenica and that the Panel would take up the discussion of the comments at a future date, allowing sufficient time for review by the Panel. A proposal that a separate work group be formed to discuss comments was put forth. It was concluded that,after review and submission of written comment by the individual stakeholder groups comprising the panel, it would be more efficient for minor editorial comments and changes be handled directly by Mike and AECOM and that substantive comments,suggestions or changes be dealt with by the entire Panel to ensure communication and consensus by the panel. It was agreed that this process would be the subject of a future Panel meeting. Proposed Summer Meetings of the OWOAP and Other Upcoming Meetings Mike Domenica gave an update of upcoming meetings of the Selectmen,NT work groups and other events. It was requested and agreed that meeting dates for the NT work groups and changes to those dates be sent to the entire OWQAP to facilitate attendance at those meetings. Warrant Agenda for Fall Town Meeting:Discussion Mike Domenica referenced the draft spreadsheet outlining the proposed scopes of work and budgets of the various water quality and wastewater tasks included in the budget to be considered by the Board of Select- men at their August 24, 2016 meeting. There was discussion of the cutoff dates for the warrant article budgets over the next six weeks. Mr. Dunford stated that, although September 8 was the cutoff for the submission of warrant articles for inclusion in the Town Meeting agenda,there would still be discussion and potential for revision of details of the article until actual publication in early October. Mr. McClennen stated that the Panel would be able to comment on the proposed budgets for the wastewater warrant article at the September 14,2016 meeting of the OWQAP. There were also questions related to submission of a petition article by residents with respect to the cutoff for the warrant article. Mr.McClennen stated that petition articles had to be submitted by 4:30 PM on Septem- ber 9,2016. Other Items Dale Fuller mentioned concerns regarding the protocols of the Panel with respect to subsequent activities of stakeholders who voted to abstain from future discussion related to that topic. Jim McCauley suggested that this matter be discussed in conjunction with the agreement of the panel that members who vote against or abstain from voting not subsequently work against the decisions of the panel with regard to a particular mat- ter. It was suggested that these issues be addressed at the next panel workshop. 4 Ed Daly made comments regarding the latest data from SMAST for the Pleasant Bay system that indicated that nitrogen levels in Pleasant Bay and at the sentinel station had declined over the last year. He also com- mented on the validity of the sentinel station with respect to its ability to represent water quality in the vari- ous sub-embayments. Judy Scanlon asked and it was confirmed that SMAST is currently conducting a re- view of the Cadmus study which should address these questions. PUBLIC COMMENT Ginia Pati recommended that the fertilizer control program of the town be coordinated with the wa- ter quality management projects to ensure that there are not impacts on the NT projects related to fertilizer practices and that fertilizer practices of project abutters must not be allowed to compete with or inhibit project water quality goals. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:06 AM. The next meeting of the Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel will be on Wednesday,September 14, 2016 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. 5 Attachment A Orleans Water Quality Advisory Panel Member Attendees OWQAP Meeting of July 13,2016 Alan McClennen Selectman David Dunford Selectman Mark Mathison Selectman Doug Fromm Orleans CAN Jeffrey Eagles Orleans Water Alliance Judith Bruce Former CWMP Committee John Meyer Orleans Water& Sewer Commission Ed Daly (Alternate) Former Peer Review Committee Jim McCauley Orleans Pond Coalition Dale Fuller(Alternate) Orleans Taxpayers Association Kevin Galligan Orleans Conservation Commission Sid Snow Orleans Chamber of Commerce Liaisons Lynn Bruneau(Alternate) Orleans Finance Committee Brian Dudley Massachusetts DEP Suzanne Phillips Orleans Shellfish& Waterways Elizabeth Migliore Orleans Conservation Trust Judy Scanlon Orleans Water Quality Task Force Carolyn Kennedy Orleans Water Quality Task Force Sandy Bayne Town of Eastham Charles Harris Town of Eastham Carole Ridley Pleasant Bay Alliance Presenters and Consultants Betsy Shreve AECOM Tom Parese AECOM Paula Winchell AECOM Sia Karplus Science Wares Mike Domenica Water Resources Associates 6