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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-04_NSAB_Summary_FinalPage 1 of 4 NC Nutrient Scientific Advisory Board Meeting Summary October 4, 2019 @ TJCOG 9:30 Am – 12:00 Pm Attendees Members / Advisors Drew Blake - Chatham County Mike Burchell - NCSU BAE Alicia Goldstein - Chapel Hill Sally Hoyt - UNC Brian Jacobson - Aecom (phone) Josh Johnson - AWCK Eric Kulz - Cary J.V. Loperfido - Durham David Phlegar - Greensboro Haywood Phthisic - LNBA Peter Raabe - American Rivers Allison Schwarz Weakley - Chapel Hill Forrest Westall - UNRBA Sandra Wilbur - Durham Facilitator Jenny Halsey - TJCOG Guests Teresa Andrews - Guilford County Amy Cameron - Burlington Anne Coan - NC Farm Bureau Federation Jacob Dorman - Contech ES Joey Hester - NC Division of Soil and Water Conservation Kaley Huston - TJCOG Alix Matos - Brown and Caldwell Dan McLawhorn - Raleigh Sushama Pradhan - NC DHHS DWR Staff www.deq.nc.gov/nps Patrick Beggs Trish D’Arconte Rich Gannon Agenda Topics • June 7, 2019 Meeting Summary • Future meeting schedule • Storm drain cleaning nutrient credit practice • Street sweeping nutrient practice credit • SCM data standards workgroup update Meeting Materials are available online: www.deq.nc.gov/nps The NSAB will plan to meet November 1, 2019, 9:30 am at TJCOG. Meeting Summary Jenny Halsey (TJCOG) opened the meeting with introductions and a review of the agenda. The June 7, 2019 meeting summary was approved. NSAB – October 4, 2019 2 of 4 NSAB Meeting Schedule Patrick Beggs-DWR led the NSAB in a discussion about their meeting schedule. NSAB members would like to meet more regularly and have more input into the agenda. The current schedule is dependent upon DWR staff completing nutrient practices to bring to the NSAB for discussion. NSAB members asked DWR staff to inform them when DWR has nothing to present, allowing members to suggest alternate topics, or agree not to meet. DWR will keeping a list of potential agenda items populated by the NSAB. Suggestions include: special topics NSAB is interested in, what are different municipalities and watersheds doing, NC Policy Collaboratory update, stormwater management technology, Falls Lake nutrient strategy, Falls Model Program and nutrient catalog, agricultural nutrient update, Chesapeake Bay Program, Nutrient Offset Rule adoption, update on list of all nutrient credit practices, credit practice confidence, updates at each meeting, NSAB agreed to keep the monthly meeting on everyone’s calendars, to plan meetings for odd numbered months, to not miss more than one month in a row, and to meet on even numbered months when needed. Starting January, the TJCOG room will only be available to us on odd numbered months. The NSAB will meet November 1, 2019. Alix Matos of Brown & Caldwell agreed to present the recent work of UNRBA for Falls Lake including current monitoring and the alternative approach for existing development stage 1. The NSAB will NOT meet December 2019. Members asked if the NSAB would be involved in Jordan rule readoption. DWR will invite NSAB to all public involvement activities, will keep them updated on the process, may at times specifically ask them for help and input, but does not expect to use them as a representative stakeholder forum. The purpose, charter and guiding session law of the NSAB can be found on its website. Storm Drain Cleaning and Street Sweeping Practices Patrick Beggs-DWR reviewed the history of both practices, identified the latest changes and asked for NSAB endorsement. These 2 practices have been discussed as combined and individual based on different implementation plans at the user level. The final version of presents 2 separate practices for simplicity. The amount of nutrient credit per pound of material collected has not changed since last year. It is still 0.023 lb TN and 0.002 lb TP. Other than exceptions listed in the practices, a baseline time period weight of material collected needs to be estimated. There are many ways a credit seeking organization can achieve it and DWR looks forward to helping communities figure it out. The burden of work is on the organization seeking the credit. If the baseline changes with the new Jordan rules there is a concern it may make it more difficult for some communities to receive credit for work they have been doing. NSAB – October 4, 2019 3 of 4 Members asked for the survey results from the street sweeping baseline determination survey done this past Spring. Charlotte has information on street sweeping also. Staff will contact and try to incorporate it into the survey information and send it out to the NSAB. This information will likely help with baseline estimations. The term baseline seems like it can be confusing to people outside our sphere of influence. The baseline time period for each nutrient strategy watershed is different. Listing the years for each within a practice document would be clumsy and would only be listed for current strategies. Staff will clarify in the documents who the practice is for and where more information can be found on baseline. The practices are like chapters in a nutrient credit catalog which will have sections explaining the bigger picture. The NSAB endorsed both the Storm Drain Cleaning practice and the Street Sweeping practice, with the additional of some text to explain where to find information on baseline. Staff will make these changes and send the practices on to be approved by the DWR Director. SCM data standards workgroup update Trish D’Arconte – DWR presented the latest developments of the workgroup. Contact Trish if you are interesting serving on the workgroup. • Applicable to nutrient data, not any other sort of data standards. • Need to define and refine types and quality of data – both new and old. • Working with NC State to gather and process SCM data. • Mainly the same dataset for SNAP tool. • Data from NC, VA, TN, GA, SC. • Not looking at sand filter data - still waiting to get study done. • Would be establishing range of nitrogen and phosphorous influent concentrations. • Reporting on medians, quartiles, and performance at various influent concentrations. • Aiming for first meeting in early November. • Part two involves using a screening tool to pick out which effluent data would construct mean concentration. • Don’t expect that many SCMs will change. • Expecting to have analysis done by December 2019. • DEMLR Stormwater Planning is a part of the workgroup. • Maryland is not part of the first screening of data but its inclusion can be discussed by the workgroup. • Other states data may be included, especially, for example, if we considering removing wintertime values from Ohio or other northern states. • Planning to have project finished by Spring 2020. SNAP tool update would be at least a year off. • Regenerative stormwater conveyance (RSC) devices and Bioswales may be included in this update. Updates and Comments • Sally Hoyt offered a tour of an RSC at UNC-Chapel Hill. Contact Patrick Beggs for more information. • The North Carolina Department of Justice has an Environmental Enhancement Grant. The application deadline has passed for this cycle. Dr. Burchell has submitted a proposal. NSAB – October 4, 2019 4 of 4 • Welcome to Alicia Goldstein, Chapel Hill’s newest staff engineer and NSAB alternate for Allison Schwarz Weakley. • Greensboro has installed a subsurface gravel wetland, in conjunction with NCSU. It is monitored. This is a good NSAB agenda item for Spring 2020. • The Neuse and Tar Pamlico Nutrient Strategy Rules were presented and approved by the Environmental Management Commission at their September meeting. The now go to the Rules Review Commission in November for approval. • NCSU may be developing an app to help communities retrofit existing SCMs and may potentially be looking to the Collaboratory for support. • NC Policy Collaboratory Jordan Nutrient Study o After questions concerning the Jordan watershed modeling pointed out that the current remodel by the Collaboratory was done without a QAPP or the normal regulatory approvals. The legislature asked for the remodeling and gave a very short timeline. DEQ was not involved in developing the models. The modeling is an academic project facilitated by the NC Policy Collaboratory for the NC State Legislature. DWR staff will send out the currently available final papers from the collaboratory researchers. The final comprehensive report has not been received yet. It is due by December 31, 2019. • DWR Jordan rules re-adoption public involvement update. The next JLOW meeting Oct 30, 9:30- 11:30, Pittsboro. information link • The NSAB will plan to meet November 1, 2019, 9:30 am at TJCOG.