Facilitator: Stephen McCord, McCord Environmental, Inc. (MEI) Meeting Summary by: Atley Keller and Stephen McCord, MEI. Attendees

Transcription

1 DELTA TRIBUTARIES MERCURY COUNCIL Tuesday, 12:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. DWR s West Sac. Conf. Room Industrial Blvd., West Sacramento, CA Facilitator: Stephen McCord, McCord Environmental, Inc. (MEI) Meeting Summary by: Atley Keller and Stephen McCord, MEI In Person Stephen McCord, MEI Atley Keller, MEI Lysa Voight, SRCSD Mike Majewski, USGS Kevin J. Brown, DWR William Martinez, DTSC Carrie Monohan, Sierra Fund Alex Keeble-Toll, Sierra Fund Tamara Kraus, USGS Dave Tamayo, Sac. Co. Stormwater Joe Franz Sac. Co. Stormwater Via Teleconference Amanda Palumbo, SWRCB Dimitri Vlassopoulos, Anchor QEA Jennifer Castillo, SCVWD Maia Singer, Stillwater Sciences Mitsuko Grube, DFW Peter Graves, BLM Todd Muelhoefer, Kinder Morgan, Inc. Jacob Fleck, USGS Attendees Lisa Lee, DWR Petra Lee, DWR Carol DiGiorgio, DWR Vic Claassen, UCD Debbie Webster, CVCWA Myint Thein, DWR Carolyn Yee, DTSC Charlie Alpers, USGS Brian Currier, OWP-CSUS David Tibor, CA DOC/AMLP Janis Cooke, CV RWQCB Tom Maurer, USFWS Brian Laurenson, LWA Chris Silke, Napa County Patrick Morris, RWQCB Peter Graves, BLM Laura Young, SCVWD Julie Griffith-Flatter, Sierra Nevada Conservancy Carrie Austin, SF RWQCB I. Introductions and Agenda Review No comments on the summary of the September 8, 2015 meeting. II. Project Updates & Upcoming Events Announcements are attributed to Stephen McCord (MEI) unless otherwise noted. SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 1

2 Mine Site Cleanups Argonaut Mine, in Amador County, is proposed as one of 8 waste sites to add to the Superfund s National Priorities List. North American Abandoned Mine Lands Program is calling for nominations for its 2016 Hard Rock Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Award Program. Due June 10, The Corona and Twin Peaks Mines Drainage Treatment project by Tuleyome began anew in early The team is getting regulatory approvals and initiating site work this spring. The three-year project will include soil stabilization, mine feature closures, and drainage treatment. The Westside Sacramento Integrated Regional Water Management group s Coordinating Committee has hired a consultant team led by MEI to implement a three-year USEPA Brownfields Coalition Assessment project for the Cache Creek and Putah Creek watersheds. Initial efforts are focused on developing outreach materials, as well as inventorying and prioritizing mercury mine sites for potential cleanup. See for more information: William Martinez (DTSC): DTSC recently conducted four mine site assessments and added to the national database. Carrie Monahan (The Sierra Fund): [1] TSF is partnering with State Parks to calculate loads of sediment and mercury at Malakoff Diggins. State Parks is now looking at remediation techniques and alternatives. Charlie Alpers and Jennie Curtis at USGS are also supporting the site investigations by calculating erosion rates and fingerprinting soils to determine the source of the mercury. [2] TSF is working in Combie Reservoir and Rollins Reservoir with Nevada Irrigation District. Pilot project in Combie includes the removal of sediment deposits and subsequent removal of mercury from the excavated material. There is also a food chain study to measure potential benefits of removing mercury contaminated sediments and determine if there is a reduction in MeHg in fish. A similar study in Rollins would require a different removal technique but monitoring of the same performance measures. [3] TSF is supporting OEHHA s by conducting sitespecific fish consumption studies. The current advisories are incomplete. TSF will monitor 3 more waterbodies this summer on top of the 3 monitored last summer, thus: Lake Englebright, Lake Clementine, Rollins Reservoir, Combie Reservoir, Scotts Flat Reservoir, possibly Camp Far West Reservoir, and associated streams/rivers. Preliminary results are that OEHHA s general advisory is protective of other mine-impacted reservoirs. The fish monitoring data will be uploaded to CEDEN. Mercury Studies and Monitoring Activities The Delta Regional Monitoring Program approved mercury monitoring for the fiscal year, consisting of 6 sites for fish (annually for sportfish) and 5 for water (quarterly for unfiltered and filtered total mercury and methylmercury, total suspended solids, Chlorophyll a, dissolved organic carbon, and volatile suspended solids). The SRWP Monitoring Committee continues to develop a web-based water quality portal for the Sacramento River Watershed. Mercury will be a featured issue addressed in the portal. Please contact SRWP s Executive Director Holly Jorgensen or the project s technical lead, Stephen McCord, for more information. SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 2

3 Jacob Fleck (USGS): The Delta Science Program, Delta Conservancy and USGS hosted three one-day technical workshops in January 2015 to revisit the CALFED mercury science strategy based on knowledge gained since then. Presentations are available at Because several of the presentations contain unpublished data, they will not be posted or will take some time to obtain approval. If you would like any information regarding these presentations, please contact the speakers directly. USGS recently published a comparison of mercury mass loading in streams to atmospheric deposition in watershed of Western North America: Evidence for nonatmospheric mercury sources. USGS scientists and others published results from a SWAMP-funded study on mercury risk to wildlife in CA lakes. An on-line tool is available to predict bioaccumulation levels in birds at other lakes. (report: tool: USGS recently published a paper on Use of Stable Isotope Signatures to determine Mercury Sources in the Great Lakes, providing a tool that fingerprints mercury to determine sources. Regional & Statewide Mercury Regulations Janis Cooke (RWQCB): Educational materials for Mercury Exposure Reduction Program are being created and translated to 8 additional languages. Find on Delta Conservancy Website ( under Education Outreach. Small grants were dispersed to community-based organizations and there are currently three projects underway for outreach and education. SB 209, was sponsored by The Sierra Fund and signed into law in April 2016 by Governor Brown (along with AB 1142) to create a mining reform law. Amanda Palumbo (SWRCB): [1] A recent resolution (# ) by State Board directs staff to develop proposed beneficial uses pertaining to tribal traditional and cultural, tribal subsistence fishing, and subsistence fishing. [2] SWRCB statewide water quality objectives are moving along because EPA must set objectives for wildlife by mid Public comment period will be in fall of Patrick Morris (RWQCB): The State Board directed staff to further engage with reservoir owners and operators via planning meetings prior to submitting the statewide reservoirs mercury TMDL and Implementation Plan for peer review. The plan will likely prioritize mine site cleanups and pilot tests in reservoirs. Meetings will be in Southern California and in the Sacramento area. General outreach meetings are tentatively scheduled for June/July Recent & Upcoming Conferences The CALFED mercury science strategy synthesis workshop will be held June 2. Bay-Delta Science Conference will be held November at the Sacramento Convention Center. This year s theme is Science for Solutions: Linking Data and Decisions. Abstracts are due by June 3, To submit abstracts, go to There is potential for a SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 3

4 DTMC poster cluster. For more information about the conference, check out The Sierra Fund will be presenting a poster at the Society for Freshwater Science s conference at the end of May in Sacramento. CVCWA conference on May 18 at Regional San in Sacramento. Other News & Updates The Sierra Fund will be raising awareness of mercury contamination in Sierra community by posting signs on May 21. Survey questions will be sent out to measure effectiveness. The State and Federal Contractors Water Agency has an open position for a Science Program Manager. Resume and cover letter are due on May 27, CV RWQCB has an Environmental Scientist vacancy. The final filing date is May 18. The Sierra Fund will be hiring an Operations Director. III. Presentations Five presentations were given: (1) Delta MeHg TMDL Control Study Updates [Janis Cooke, RWQCB]; (2) Western North Mercury Synthesis project [Mike Majewski, USGS] (3) In Situ MeHg Control with Sediment Amendments [Dimitri Vlassopoulos, Anchor QEA]; (4) Tidal Wetland MeHg Control Studies [Petra Lee, DWR]; and (5) Mine waste soil amendments [Vic Claassen, UC Davis]. 1 Delta MeHg TMDL Control Study Updates (Janis Cooke and others, RWQCB) Progress Reports were due by October 20, 2015 and are now posted on the website. They are also summarized in the Executive Officer s Report. Progress Reports where many studies are not yet complete and still in progress. The control studies build upon several foundational documents, including the DTMC Strategic Plan, the TMDL stakeholder group s Adaptive Management Plan, and the Regional Board s TMDL Basin Plan Amendment and Control Study Guidance. Updates by source category are summarized here. Municipal and Industrial NPDES facilities: MS4s: Debbie Webster (Central Valley Clean Water Association): CVCWA members formed a Special Project Group, including most facilities in the Delta (14 out of 15) plus five others outside of the Delta. The study characterized MeHg removal for various treatment levels, compared current and projected loads to their TMDL wasteload allocations, and considered the additional benefits of plausible blanket requirements for advanced treatment. Nitrate reduction seems to control methylation as well. Work in Lake Onondoga also shows nitrate acting as a key suppressor of methylation. Upcoming work is centered around advanced nitrogen removal and its potential negative impacts on MeHg removal. Additional evaluations and Delta-wide assessments will be pursued through SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 4

5 Brian Laurenson: Sacramento County and co-permittees have built upon a grant through the City of Citrus Heights by monitoring the effectiveness of Low Impact Development (LID) at reducing Hg and MeHg loads. Documenting pre project condition and post project condition at that location. Flow volumes reduced significantly which was expected, according to models. The biggest challenge was the lack of rainfall runoff to sample. The overall finding was that LID was effective in reducing MeHg and total Hg concentrations and loads (possibly by reducing flow rather than concentrations). The project report has been submitted to the Regional Board. The next effort is larger scale modeling. Open Water: USGS is conducting several studies at the Cache Creek Settling Basin, which was built to trap sediment and also traps particulate mercury and methylmercury. Trap efficiency was estimated to be ~50% in previous studies by the RWQCB and is currently being evaluated by USGS based on new data from water years Follow-up reports with data from sampling during water year 2015 and planned sampling during 2016 will be published during Challenges/opportunities with the study include the drought (relatively few high flows) and fires in the upper Cache Creek watershed (especially turbid conditions expected during water year Carol DiGiorgio (DWR): DWR is leading the Open Water Workgroup to develop mercury cycling models for the Yolo Bypass and Delta. The control study is thus based on simulation results. DWR s existing DSM-2 is being enhanced to simulate sediment transport and mercury cycling in the Delta. D-MCM is being applied to the Yolo Bypass to simulate mercury cycling. Hydrodynamic input for the Yolo Bypass D-MCM will be provided by other modeling efforts. The models are using all available data from both the literature and collected directly in the Delta and Yolo Bypass. It is anticipated that the first Yolo Bypass D-MCM model run will be conducted this summer. Of the five field or lab studies being conducted to provide information for the Yolo Bypass D-MCM, two have been completed. Data is currently being analyzed. Next Steps Next steps in the process of regulating MeHg and understanding MeHg controls include: Statewide objectives and control program The statewide effort could set a precedent for the 2020 review of the Delta MeHg TMDL. Delta-wide assessment The models being developed by DWR may be useful to evaluate the effects of various source controls and overall TMDL attainability. For more information: Janis Cooke, Janis.Cooke@waterboards.ca.gov, Western North Mercury Synthesis Project (Mike Majewski, USGS) USGS is leading a multidisciplinary, tri-national assessment of the climate, landscape, and land use controls on mercury risk to ecological and human health across Western North America, including Western US, the Canadian-Alaska Arctic, and Mexico. They have extended the MercNet database to be comprehensive. Project goals were to (1) synthesize existing Hg and ancillary data, (2) engage the community of mercury scientists, resource managers, and stakeholders, and (3) provide foundational science to help guide regional scale management with respect to Hg risk to human and ecosystem health. 27 watersheds were investigated ranging in SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 5

6 sizes, and of those 15 had some degree of mining, gold, silver, or mercury. Results show that THg ratio of annual stream load to deposition varied considerably across the study areas and 12- year time frame. This synthesis found that watersheds have geologic, atmospheric, and anthropogenic Hg sources. The ratio of stream deposition to atmospheric deposition is variable but watershed area is an important factor because ratios are more predicable in smaller watersheds. Total mercury loads in small watersheds with gold, silver, or mercury mining are higher relative to the atmospheric deposition. Urban area watersheds had higher Hg loads/unit area than vegetated areas. In addition, the Arctic watershed had elevated ratios likely caused by mobilization of mercury due to climate change and thawing permafrost. For more information: Mike Majewski, In Situ MeHg Control with Sediment Amendments (Dimitri Vlassopoulos, Anchor QEA) Approaches for in situ remediation of mercury contaminated soils and sediments to control methylmercury production revolve around reducing the bioavailability of inorganic mercury to methylating bacteria or manipulating biogeochemical conditions to limit the activity of methylators. This study s focus has been on developing manganese oxide amendments as alternate electron acceptors to inhibit sulfate reduction and repress mercury methylation in situ, thereby reducing the MeHg flux to ecological receptors. Recent laboratory studies have documented the effectiveness of manganese oxide addition in reducing net MeHg production by 1-2 orders of magnitude in a contaminated sediment, and examined the effect of the amendments on sediment microbial community structure and activity. Ongoing research is assessing the longterm stability of the amendments to provide sustained treatment. Demetri is presenting at the Goldschmidt Conference in June For more information: Dimitri Vlassopoulos, dvlassopoulos@anchorqea.com, Tidal Wetland MeHg Control Studies (Petra Lee, DWR) DWR wetlands studies are completed in the freshwater lower Yolo Bypass (10 monitoring events) and underway in brackish Suisun Marsh (Blacklock). These are solely monitoring import and export, not characterizing conditions or changes within the wetlands. Constraints include reliable flow measurements and a reliable hydrologic balance in order to determine loads. Increased concentration does not imply increased load when there is a net loss of water in the wetland. The control study is simply monitoring tidal wetlands to quantify their MeHg production (or loss) seasonally and during ebb vs. flood tides. The tentative findings are that a freshwater tidal wetland in the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is mostly a sink of methylmercury and organic carbon and definitely an overall sink of water during the period of times monitored. Westervelt s floodplain along the lower Cosumnes River is likely going to be studied in the future. Some other possibilities are being considered. For more information: Petra Lee, petra.lee@water.ca.gov, Mine Waste Soil Amendments (Vic Claassen, UCD) Keeping sediments and water under control up in the watershed in order to control mercury loading. Objectives for site sustainability: (1) geotechnically stable (2) hydrologically stable (3) sustainable plant cover and nutrient cycling. Plants are propagated in cardboard planting sleeves with open bottoms so roots can follow the rooting column to moisture even on a terminally bare site. Composts, wood chips, lime, gypsum, biochar or microbial inocula can be loaded into the SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 6

7 rip slop in order for the site to be carbon neutral. Cases where this revegetation has been successful are still visible 20 years later. Establishing targets for soil hydrology can guide treatments and avoid necessary or ineffective effort. Example targets: no overland flow, capture of rainfall from 2-5 year events. Using a combination of soils, botany and engineering approaches, degraded sites can be regenerated to be erosion resistant and sustainably revegetated in order to decrease mercury mobilization. For more information: Vic Claassen, vpclaassen@ucdavis.edu, IV. Meeting Wrap-Up Future Agenda Suggestions Bay-Delta mercury science synthesis workshop recap (Jacob Fleck, USGS) USGS work at Cache Creek Settling Basin (Charlie Alpers, USGS) Mercury isotopes and detecting sources (Dave Krabbenhoff, USGS) Mercury in fish eating birds SWAMP study (Josh Ackerman, USGS) - Mercury & Methylmercury related to Historical Mercury Mining in Three Tributaries to Lake Berryessa, Upper Putah Creek Watershed, CA (Gen Sparks, CSUS) SRWP Portal Project s Mercury topic page (Stephen McCord, MEI) Next Meeting Date: August September 2016 Location: DWR (3500 Industrial Blvd., West Sacramento, CA 95691) SRWP DTMC Meeting Summary Page 7