Branch Activities

San Francisco Branch
sf.branch@grac.org
by Jim Ulrick, Branch Secretary

For our September meeting, we were fortunate to have Dr. Jon Marshack from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Dr. Marshack gave a perspective on the framework for water quality regulations in California.

Water quality regulation in California began with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act in 1969. This Act created the nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards and the State Water Resources Control Board. State and Regional Water Quality Control Plans (Basin Plans) define beneficial uses of surface and ground waters for each region of the state. Under the Porter-Cologne Act, the discharge of waste is a privilege, subject to specific permit conditions, not a right. Thus, the Regional Boards issue Waste Discharge Requirements or Orders that specify the permit conditions for the discharge of waste.

In addition to beneficial uses defined in Basin Plans, the state also defines Water Quality Objectives, which consist of narrative objectives and numerical limits for the reasonable protection of water quality.

Mr. Marshack noted that risk assessment does not necessarily protect the quality of a water resource. Risk assessment is aimed at protecting humans or organisms at the point of use. Where there may be multiple sources of water quality degradation, the state does not allow a single source to degrade a water resource to the threshold of its beneficial use because that would not allow for any additional degradation. The concept of reasonableness applied to the protection of beneficial uses assesses the incremental cost for incremental degrees of protection.

An understanding of water quality regulation can be an asset in compliance and site remediation.

Additional information on water quality regulations in California can be found in the Basin Plans prepared by each of the nine Regional Boards and in A Compilation of Water Quality Goals, July 1995 (updated April 1996), available from the Central Valley Regional Board.

Our October meeting was held at the San Mateo County Office Building in Redwood City. This was a combined workshop and dinner meeting on "Developing Fingerprinting Information for Petroleum Hydrocarbon Identification" presented by Dr. James Bruya, expert forensic chemist.

Dr. Bruya discussed the petroleum refining process and its variations: among manufacturers, among refineries, in distribution, and over time, emphasizing the complexity and variability of commercial petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel fuel. Chemical markers, preservatives, performance improvement additives, dyes, tracers, and changes in chemical composition due to aging, partitioning with water, evaporation, and biodegradation were also illustrated. The advantages, shortcomings, and interpretation of the numerous volatile and semi-volatile analytical methods useful in hydrocarbon fingerprinting were discussed and illustrated with case histories. The importance of analytical quality control and quality assurance was emphasized, due to the subtlety of the interpretation of analytical results.

The Southern California Branch was pleased to host the Fifth Annual Meeting of GRA on October 10th and 11th. The event was a big success! It was held at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Costa Mesa and was attended by over 125 groundwater and environmental professionals. To paraphrase the President's welcome, the theme of the meeting, titled "Multi-Disciplinary Solutions to California Groundwater Issues," was an outgrowth of last year's annual meeting. At that meeting it was very obvious that a multitude of disciplines are needed to address California groundwater issues and that each discipline could not work in a vacuum. With that in mind, we developed the theme of this year's meeting to examine the multi-disciplinary solutions to California groundwater issues.

Special concurrent symposia addressed groundwater resources and environmental contamination issues, with the topics relevant to the meeting's theme. It was quite amazing how the various presentations all came together, with ideas from one talk building on the next!

The Groundwater Resources sessions were presented on Thursday and Friday, and included the following topics: Implications of the Safe Drinking Water Act on the Groundwater Industry; Superfund Issues; Reclaimed Water Issues; Key Issues for Groundwater Management Plan Implementation; Surface Water and Groundwater Interface Issues...The Fine Line; and a panel discussion on Groundwater Management: What is the Best Way?

The Environmental sessions were presented on Thursday, with Friday being devoted to an all day short course. The short course was titled "ASTM Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA) Framework Training Session," and the instructor was Dr. E. Essi Esmaili. The topics presented in Thursday's sessions included: Re-Examining Groundwater Cleanup and Performance Goals; In-Situ Remediation Techniques; and a panel discussion on The Changing Landscape of Groundwater Protection and Cleanup Policy.

The Southern California Branch would like to thank all those who participated and helped to make the meeting a success. First of all, Susan Garcia (Foster Wheeler Environmental) made a tremendous effort to organize and direct the meeting. Supporting Susan were Jim Carter (SPL Laboratories), Mark Cutler (Foster Wheeler Environmental), Lou Reimer (Consulting Geologist), Carl Hauge (California Department of Water Resources), and Vicki Kretsinger (Luhdorff and Scalmanini). Thanks also to those who helped run the meeting, including: Brian Lewis (Cal DTSC); Tony Ward, Carmen Guzman and Sean Coles (Geraghty & Miller); and Carol Reimer. And of course, we would like to thank our speakers and vendors for their time and effort in making the meeting interesting and thought provoking.

The September Sacramento Branch Meeting featured a presentation by Gerald Church of Transglobal Environmental Geochemistry on a Natural Attenuation Protocol for Intrinsic Bioremediation of Hydrocarbons in Groundwater. Mr. Church used case studies to describe the natural attenuation approach, in which contaminant concentration data and geochemical indicators are used to demonstrate that a plume is stable or shrinking, and that clear evidence exists to ascribe decreasing concentrations to biodegradation. The natural attenuation approach requires sufficiently detailed characterization of contaminant distribution and system biogeochemistry to yield estimates of the rates of natural attenuation and assimilative capacity for each contaminant. The typical hydrocarbon plume will have an anaerobic core and an aerobic fringe. Oxygen is replenished to the plume fringes by infiltration from the vadose zone.

Mr. Church reported that the draft ASTM guidelines on Remediation by Natural Attenuation (RNA) views this technique as one best used in combination with other approaches. He estimates that the cost to conduct site characterization for RNA may be twice the cost of traditional site characterization for a small site, but larger sites would cost less than double.

Among techniques of documenting that biodegradation is the predominant factor in reduction of contaminant mass, Mr. Church noted that stable isotope ratios of sulfur and nitrate have been applied to better understand background levels of these compounds. The bacterial reduction of substrate results in the isotopic enrichment of the S34/S32 and the N15/N14 ratios. Stripping and analysis of dissolved gases is critical to understand biodegration rates of RNA. TEG has successfully used peristaltic pumps to drive a gas stripping device for on site analysis of dissolved hydrogen, based on oil patch technologies used to characterize ocean micro seeps. Mr. Church shared his view that application of RNA to DNAPL plumes is limited by the difficulty in characterizing contaminant distribution and aquifer heterogeneity.

He emphasized the importance of detailed subsurface characterization, and recommended the Strataprobe in combination with a mobile laboratory as the direct push technology of choice. The Strataprobe, which Church refers to as a "Geoprobe on steroids," is capable of advancing to depths of 100 feet, collecting continuous core, soil vapor samples, grab groundwater samples, and, most recently, gamma logging for lithology. Field testing of this natural gamma logging tool with OD 3/4" is in progress in Denver. For more information, contact Gerald Church of TEG at 818-848-6374.

The Annual Winterfest Meeting will be held on December 12, 6 PM, at the Royal Hong King Lum Restaurant, Sacramento. Professor Jeffrey F. Mount, University of California, Davis, will give a presentation titled, "California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use." Dr. Mount's presentation will feature an overview of river hydraulics, processes that shape rivers, and the interplay of climate and tectonics shaping river profiles in different regions of the state. The primary emphasis of this presentation will be on early efforts at flood control, the impact of hydraulic mining, gravel mining, logging, grazing, and agriculture, the concept of flood frequency and recurrence, effects of urban settlement, and the geomorphic response to dams. Dr. Mount's talk will be illustrated with a rich collection of slides. Contact Tom Mohr (916) 757-5575 for more information or if your firm would like to donate a gift as a door prize.

January 16th, 1997, will feature a talk on "New Uses for Old Chemistry: Groundwater Remediation Using Metallic Iron." Dr. Cindy Schreier, Ph. D. from SECOR will give the presentation. Contact Tom Mohr (916) 757-5575 for more information.

The Central Coast Branch held its September meeting at the Barefoot Bistro in Ventura. Geoffrey Bates, former Branch Vice President and Michael Bodart, General Pump Company, gave a talk titled "Evaluating Wells for Rehabilitation." This informative talk included the basics of well and pump record keeping, trouble shooting, and well rehabilitation. The speakers stressed the importance of well and pump daily inspection, and record keeping to show trends in well performance overtime. Also discussed were specific problems with their potential corrective measures. The problems covered included decrease in well yield, sand pumping, and structural collapse.

The November meeting was held in Santa Barbara. A power failure necessitated a change in restaurants after all the members arrived, but thankfully, Keeper's Lighthouse provided facilities for us at the last minute. Chris Conway, a graduate researcher at the Desert Research Institute (DRI), University of Nevada at Reno, discussed his research. His talk, entitled "Hydrogeologic Studies for Dust Mitigation at Owens Dry Lake," included the various components of the basin-wide water balance being prepared by DRI. Dust storms from Owens Dry Lake account for the single largest source of anthropogenic air pollution in North America. Groundwater from the Owens Dry Lake Basin is being considered for dust mitigation. Mr. Conway discussed his specific research, ephemeral stream flow and its groundwater recharge, as well as other components of the DRI research currently being conducted. Our thanks go to American Analytics for sponsoring the November meeting.

We are holding a joint Holiday meeting with the Coast Geologic Society Tuesday, December 17, 1996. It is Spouse/Guest night, and Ernest Weber of Cal State Fullerton will speak. His talk is entitled "Colorado River--River of Controversy". We hope to see you there!