Southern California Branch

New Officers:
The results of our election for the 1996 GRA Southern Califomia Branch Officers was announced at our November 15, 1995 meeting. Susan Garcia, past President, informed the meeting attendees that there was a good response to the election and the following individuals will represent our Branch for 1996:

PRESIDENT - Jim Carter, SP Laboratories, 714/447-6868

VICE PESIDENT - Mark Cutler, Foster Wheeler Environmental, 714/444-5500

TREASURER-LOU Reimer, Reimer & Associates, 714/779-6743

SECRETARY - Carmen Guzman, Geraghty & Miller, 818/332-8010

MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN - O'Connor, Columbia Analytical Services, 714/505-4640

The new Officers are very excited about the results, and we are looking at ways to make this the best year ever for our Branch. The Southern California Branch has benefited from Susan's hard work and dedication and we all have the desire to build on her successes.

The new Officers met and had a planning session for 1996. Some of the issues that we are looking to accomplish for the year include: locating a common and central meeting place; ensure that we have presentations that will be valuable to our membership; and building our financial reserves to a sound level. In order to achieve these goals we need your input! Please give us a call with ideas for speakers, locations, etc. for the upcoming year.

Past Meetings:
Our July 19th, 1995 meeting was a noontime teleconference presented by Brian Anderson, Branch Chief with the Environmental Division at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA). Brian's presentation was titled "Effectiveness of Boundary Systems at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Commerce City Colorado." The teleconference was very well attended and proved to be an excellent format for the meeting. Brian discussed the groundwater treatment systems at RMA as well as the groundwater intercept and treatment system north of RMA. Brian provided the attendees with fact sheets, contacts at RMA, and contour maps of some of the contaminant plums at the site.

We sponsored a workshop titled "Certified Hydrogeologist Exam Preparation" which was very well attended. This workshop reviewed the basic concepts and important issues that are covered in the exam to become a Certified Hydrogeologist.

The September 20, 1995 meeting presented the thought provoking talk by Dr. Jay Lehr titled, "Environmental Cleanup ReEvaluated--Are We Compromising?" Dr. Lehr addressed the current status of environmental regulation including riskbased standards, public health issues and CERCLA reauthorization. Dr. Lehr assured the audience that environmental regulations will be relaxed to some degree, but he also stressed that there is still a luture for environmental professionals.

"Should TCE Be Considered a Probable Human Carcinogen" was the title of the presentation given by Dr. Lee Shull at our November 15, 1995 meeting. Dr. Shull is International Director of Toxicology for Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation. Dr. Shull's talk presented the strong case that the current 5 ppb drinking water standard is too low and is not supported by current toxicological data. He presented the scientific issues related to the classification of TCE as a probable carcinogen, and discussed some of the flaws of the TCE risk assessment performed by USEPA in the early 1980's. Dr. Shull is a member of the Trichloroethylene Issues Group, which is lobbying USEPA to revise the 5 ppb drinking water standard to a higher level.

Our January 17, 1996 meeting was presented by Dr. E. Essi Esmaili of Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation. He provided us with an overview of ASTM Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) and discussed how we could implement it within the state of California.

Future Meetings:
Our March 20, 1996 meeting will cover groundwater containment zones and will be presented by Donald Marcus of Emcon Associates. The location is tentatively scheduled to be held in Downtown Los Angeles.

We are actively looking for speakers and topics for future meetings. If you have any ideas, please call one of the new Officers.

Central Coast Branch

The Central Coast Branch of the GRA held its September 21, 1995 meeting at the El Ranchito Restaurant in Oxnard. The guest speaker was Mr. Bob Collar, Senior Engineer with CH2MHill in Santa Ana. The topic of Mr. Collar's discussion was "Using Water Supply Wells to Investigate Groundwater Quality." Using a technique developed jointly with Welenco, depth-specific samples were collected from water supply wells with large or multiple perforated intervals to determine water quality. This methodology was applied as an initial assessment tool for investigating potential groundwater contamination.

Our November meeting was held at the Elephant Bar in Goleta. The guest speakers were Mr. Morley Weitzman and Mr. Jeff Zukin of Dames and Moore. The topic of their discussion was "Groundwater Flow and Transport Modeling." Mr. Zukin gave an introduction to transport modeling, briefly describing the advantages and the disadvantages of three modeling methods: the analytical method, the semi-analytical method, and the numerical method. Mr. Weitzman gave a hypothetical site demonstration of four computer modeling programs: DREAM, TDAST, Visual MODFLOW, and RESSQ. There was a good turnout of the Branch membership at the meeting, as well as many nonmembers interested in transport modeling. The Central Coast Branch thanks Zymax for sponsoring this meeting.

The January 1996 guest speaker was Mr. Rick Iger of the Kern County, Water Agency, who discussed Groundwater Banking in Kern County.

Please watch for our next flyer announcing the time and place for our next meeting!

San Francisco

Executive Director of AIPG to speak in San Francisco Bay Area to AIPG/GRA.

The American Institute of Professional Geologists, Northern California Section and the Groundwater Resources Association, San Francisco Area Chapter will hold a joint meeting on Tuesday, February 20, 1996 at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Jack London Square in Oakland. William Knight, Executive Director of the National AIPG, will discuss domestic and international job opportunities fbr geoscientists, national trends in registration and university programs. The meeting will start at 6:00 p.m. with a social/dinner. The I hour talk will start at 8:00 p.m. Please reserve by faxing to Jim Jacobs at FAST@TEK Engineering Support Services at (415) 455-1890, or call at (415) 455-1899 by February 14, 1996. Dinner (Chicken/Lasagna/Fettuccine Alfredo/Meat Ravioli)is $15 for members of AIPG or GRA, $25 for nonmembers.

California Geology Board
The Geology Board is under sunset review. Members from the California Board of Geology will discuss the status of the Board at the AIPG/GRA meeting. For more information on the status of the review, please call Robert Tepel, (408) 997-3437

Engineering Board Review
The Engineering Board will have a sunset review in 1997. Engineers should take note of the process that geologists are performing to be better prepared for the sunset review next year.

Past Meetings:
The San Francisco Bay branch had three speakers for its January meeting in Oakland: Seena Hoose, representing the State Board of Registration of Geologists; Steve Morse, Chief of Toxics Cleanup Division of the Regional Water Quality Control Board; and Linda Spencer, Associate Engineer Geologist with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Attendance for the meeting exceeded 165 people.

Seena Hoose provided a brief update on the status of the Sunset Review of the Board of Registration for Geologists and Geophysicists (Geology Board). What follows is based on Seena's presentation plus late-breaking news from Robert Tepel of the association of Engineering Geologists. On January 29, the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee recommended continuance of the Geology Board for four more years, subject to recommended changes. But this is not the end of the process. The Review Committee's recommendation needs to be approved by the Department of Consumer Affairs. Then the continuance of the Geology Board needs to be ftmded in the governor's budget bill and be approved by the governor. Finally, a bill to continue the present licensure act needs to pass the legislature and the governor's desk. There are still a lot of possibilities that could derail the continuance of the Geology Board. If you are affected by this legislation, you are encouraged to write your Assembly Member and State Senator in support of the continuation of the Geology Board.

Steve Morse spoke on expected changes in groundwater cleanup policy pertaining to Containment Zones and leaking underground fuel tanks (LUFFs). These changes in State policy were driven by the National Research Council report "Alternatives for Groundwater Cleanup" dated June 1994. Locally, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory report "Recommendations to Improve the Cleanup Process for California's Leaking Underground Fuel Tanks" dated October 1995 concluded that fuel hydrocarbon leaks have had limited impacts and risk to human health, the environment, or groundwater resources, can be effectively remidiated by passive biodegradation, and can be regulated less stringently.

Evolving regulatory responses include proposed Containment Zone and LUFF cleanup policies. The proposed Containment Zone policy would allow a finite area of groundwater (the containment zone) to be degraded. Groundwater is to be contained by hydraulic capture, if necessary. Containment is to be verified by monitoring. Containment zones may apply to low risk sites, fuel leak sites, sites where existing remediation has reached an asymptote of concentration versus time, and to sites where the source has been removed.

Walt Pettit, SWRCB Executive Director, issued a letter on December 8, 1995, providing interim guidance to the RWQCBs and Local Oversight Agencies regulating leaking underground fuel tank (LUFF) cleanups. This letter recommends aggressive closure of low-risk soil only cases, and for low-risk groundwater cases, that active remediation be placed with monitoring to determine plume stability and whether passive bioremediation alone would be adequate.

For more information, access the regional Board computer bulletin board at (510) 2863978 or 286-0404 and read the executive officer's summary report (bulletin EOREP) and download the files: LUFTLLNL.ZIP, LLNLPLUM.ZIP, LLNLGUID.ZIP, LLNLOCC.ZIP, and R2LLNLX.ZIP.

Linda Spencer spoke on 1) an evaluation of beneficial uses of water resources on the San Francisco peninsula and 2) a groundwater protection strategy for the Napa River watershed.

Under SWRCB Resolution 88-63 most groundwater could have a beneficial use as a potential source of drinking water. This strict interpretation of beneficial use requires groundwater remediations to reduce contaminant concentrations below drinking water standards. In reality, however, many groundwater aquifiers have a low probability of use as drinking water. The probability of use can be limited by economics, yield, quality, risk of sea water intrusion, and other factors. Examples include aquifiers beneath the financial district in downtown San Francisco (limited by extensive contamination from leaking underground sewers) and shallow aquifers around the margins of San Francisco Bay (limited by low yields and potential for sea water intrusion). How the results of this study will affect regulations is not yet known. There are no plans to modify the Basin Plans at this time. It may be possible to modify Resolution 88-63 or interpret the PorterCologne Water Quality Act.

The Regional Board historically has been a "resource restoration agency." The Napa River watershed study is a first step toward becoming a "resource protection agency." This study used a Geographic Information System (GIS) as a tool to prioritize the value of groundwater resources and their sensitivity to contamination. By Overlaying contamination cases on a map of groundwater value and sensitivity, a regulatory enforcement agency can prioritize contamination cases by risk and focus on those with a high risk of damaging a valuable resource. Future Regional Boards may take a watershed approach to groundwater protection and restoration. Beneficial uses of water resources may be tailored to regional and local conditions. In the future, more information about groundwater resources may be provided to consultants and to the public.

For more information, access the Regional Board computer bulletin board and download file 9512#9.ZIP.

The next San Francisco Bay branch wiII be on Wednesday, March 20 and will feature Martin Reinhard, a professor at Stanford University. Dr. Reinhard will present the results of recent research in groundwater remediation, including passive bioremediation. For reservations, contact Mike MaIey at (510) 450-6159.