Technical Advisory Committees Meetings to Work on Watershed Management Plan Objectives

Five different Technical Advisory Committees (TAC) will meet next week to work on development/refinement of objectives for our Ventura River Watershed Management Plan (WMP). This is obviously a very important part of our planning process, as the projects/programs and their priority build off of our goals and objectives. The date and location of these meetings is outlined below. These meetings are open to anyone.

Sufficient Local Water Supplies TAC: November 26, 2012, Monday Casitas Municipal Water District office, 1055 Ventura Ave., Oak View, 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Land and Resource Management TAC: November 26, 2012, Monday Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Healthy Ecosystems TAC: November 27, 2012, Tuesday Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Clean Water TAC: November 28, 2012, Wednesday Ojai Valley Sanitary District treatment plant, 6363 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Integrated Flood Management TAC: November 30, 2012, Friday Pacific Conference Room, Ventura Government Center, Hall of Administration, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Separate TACs have been formed to address each of our WMP’s seven goals. The “Access to Nature” TAC will not be meeting as their objectives are fairly well developed; and I have not yet pulled together a “Coordinated Watershed Planning” TAC, and so will be seeking input on the draft objectives related to this goal from the other TACs.

If you are interested in attending a TAC meeting, or otherwise commenting on the current draft objectives, please review this draft objectives memo. The memo contains the draft objectives language developed for the first five watershed management plan (WMP) goals by the five TACs that met in August and September 2012, along with my recommended edits to those objectives and an associated explanation. Also included are draft objectives for our other two goals, for which no TAC has yet met.

I am collecting comments on the draft objectives via an online document, which can be found at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1dEIkrhx2ScbG9IQW5meGV1OXM/edit. (Just click on the “Comments” button in the top right corner and add your comment. Provide your name also so we know who the comments came from.) You may also call or email me with your comments.

A Call for Photos – Old Ones, New Ones, Great Ones

Part of the job of our watershed management plan is to “tell the story” of the watershed, and often the most effective and interesting way to do this is through photos. So, we are putting out a “Call for Photos.”

Matilija Dam, 1952
Do you have pictures of your family frolicking in the river in the 1940s? Photos of floods or flood damage? Photos of Lake Casitas at its lowest, or photos of it being built? Photos of farming, restoration projects, water harvesting landscapes/designs, or other innovative water management in action? We’d also love copies of your aerial photos. Older photos would be especially welcome. And of course magazine quality, high-impact photos would be lovely.

Since we’ll be using the photos in printed form, high resolution digital files are preferred. We’d also be happy to scan and return your hard-copy photos. And if you know of any photo “jackpots” that we could pursue, please let us know about that also.

An easy way to transfer files would be to upload them to Google Docs or to your Drop-Box account and then share those files with me (lorraine@ovlc.org). Or you could use regular email, or mail me a CD or flash drive. To share via Google Docs, please use our google email, which is: venturawatershed@gmail.com.

The Proposed Ventura River Algae TMDL: Regional Board Responses to Comments and Revisions to the TMDL
by Ann Rosecrance

On November 19, 2012, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) released their responses to the comments received on the draft Algae TMDL (technically referred to as “Proposed Amendment to the Basin Plan to incorporate a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) regulation for Algae, Eutrophic Conditions and Nutrients in the Ventura River, including the estuary and tributaries”), and a revised Proposed Algae TMDL. Here is the website link where the comments and revisions can be found.

The following new documents are available at the RWQCB website:

• Responses to Comments from 15 comment letters received from affected stakeholders, which included a total of 115 comments.
• A Revised Resolution to the Proposed Basin Plan Amendment, which includes both a clean version and a version showing deleted items striked out in red and new additions underlined in red.
• A Revised Draft Staff Report which includes both a clean version and a version showing deleted items striked out in red and new additions underlined in red.

Refer to the revised documents for specific changes, deletions or additions.  Here are key changes to the revised resolution:

1. Clarification of language on dry/growing season, load allocations, total phosphorus, and other items throughout the attachment.
2. Revision on dry weather allocations for Ventura MS4 and Caltrans due to a math error.
3. Increase in the frequency of receiving water monitoring for algal biomass from twice a year in the growing season to monthly during the dry season between May 1 and September 30, with possible reduction to three times in the growing season if two years of results show no significant differences between monthly measurements. This increase in algal biomass monitoring frequency will result in additional monitoring costs to responsible parties.
4. Decrease in the frequency of percent cover monitoring from monthly to monthly only during the dry season between May 1 and September 30 (reducing the frequency from 12 to 5 months of the year).
5. Revision to seasonal waste load allocations for Ojai Valley Sanitary District (OVSD).
6. Addition of compliance-related language and area-weighted effluent limitations for waste load allocations for Ventura County MS4 and Caltrans.
7. Addition of area-weighted benchmarks for agricultural dischargers and reference to nutrient-related source control best management practices.
8. Addition of the Advanced Protection Management Program and compliance with pending new State law for onsite wastewater treatment systems (septic systems).
9. Extension from 3 years to 4 years for submission of results for optional special studies.
10. Allowance of a time extension for OVSD to implement facility upgrades if future reconsideration of the TMDL results in more stringent waste load allocations.

This is your last chance to comment before the TMDL regulation is finalized in March 2013. At the final public hearing on December 6, 2012, you can make up to three minutes of oral comments. If you want more than three minutes, then you will need to submit a written request to the RWQCB by November 29, 2012. This item is number 17 out of 17 items on the agenda (though the chair can take items out of order), so, bring food, a pillow, a book – whatever you may need to pass the time.