minutes

South Bay Irrigation District

November 17, 2003

The Board of Directors of South Bay Irrigation District held a regular meeting on Monday, November 17, 2003, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. President Pocklington called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

· ROLL CALL

Directors Present: Doud, Pocklington, Reynolds, and Welsh.
Directors Absent: None.
Others Present: General Manager Bostad, Operations Manager Mark Rogers, Legal Counsel Peggy Strand, and Board Secretary Marisa Farpón-Friedman. Also present was Paula Roberts, Sweetwater Authority.

· PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Director Pocklington conducted the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

· OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT (Government Code Section (54954.3)
There was no comment from the public.

· PRESIDENT'S PRESENTATION
There was no presentation.

ACTION AGENDA

1. PRESENTATION BY CLINTON D. CHURCH AND WESLEY R. DANSKIN, HYDROLOGISTS, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Analysis of Depth-Dependent Groundwater Chemistry to Indentify Possible Effects of Pumping on Coastal Riparian Vegetation, San Diego County.

General Manager Bostad introduced Wesley Danskin and Clint Church of USGS, who have been helping Sweetwater Authority to get a better understanding of the San Diego Formation groundwater efforts, and also with groundwater issues at the Demineralization facility.

Mr. Danskin took the stand and said that he and Mr. Church are both Hydro Geologists, and Mr. Church has a degree in microbiology. Sweetwater Authority Management and staff presented them with a concern regarding well production along the river channel There is concern that water being pumped may affect the riparian vegetation along with sensitive species. Another concern was the potential of pumping water that is under the influence of surface water. Any water that is considered surface water requires additional treatment.

Mr. Danskin gave a brief background of the USGS. He talked about their four divisions: topographic, geologic mapping, water resources, and biologic division. He said that USGS have people that can help them understand the likely effect of pumping on the riparian vegetation, as well as the effect of the releases from Loveland reservoir on the Arroyo Toads. He pointed out that the work they have done in San Diego County has been mainly with Sweetwater Authority.

He talked about the phases of the hydrogeology studies in San Diego County, which include the Sweetwater River, Otay River, San Diego River, and San Dieguito River drainage basins. The purpose and scope of this study is to obtain an integrated comprehensive understanding of the geology and water resources in the San Diego area. They need to evaluate the expanded use of the alluvial deposits in the San Diego region for recharge and extraction. They need to look at the underlying San Diego Formation to see how the wells can be used for recharging water into that formation and primarily for extracting water out. They also want to study the relationship between alluvial deposits and the San Diego Formation. They are also doing a surface water study looking at the effects of Route 125 on Sweetwater and Loveland Reservoirs.

The two concerns that prompted the study are whether pumpage adversely affects nearby riparian vegetation, and whether the water pumped from the San Diego Formation is "under the influence" of surface water. Mr. Church referred to the Demineralization facility. He said that the production wells in the channel and its proximity to the river could possibly pull water away from the plants and perhaps cause some stress. He showed a regional geologic map and talked about the surficial geology in the San Diego area, the San Diego Formation, and the overlying alluvial deposits. He said that they sampled a couple of alluvial wells to see if the water had an alluvial or a San Diego Formation signature. They used a depth dependent velocity logger that is dropped down to the well and injects a quick pulse of rodamine dye. While the well is pumping, the logger can go down to 200 feet, make a shot, go down to 400 feet and make another shot. By knowing the speed of the fluorescent signature, the geometry of the well, and how much yield the well is giving, they can construct a velocity log that tells them where the water is coming into the well.

Director Welsh asked if taking water from the alluvial would put more stress on vegetation. Mr. Danskin said that pulling water from the alluvial could dry up the sediments or it could become more saline because the alluvial is close to the ocean, and this would affect the vegetation.

Mr. Danskin said that when they started the study, they did not know which chemical signatures were going to tell them the age of the water. The isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen, bromide concentrations, and barium concentrations did not provide that information. They took the two San Diego Formation wells and came up with ages of 16,000 for one and 7,000 for the other; an average of about 11,000 year-old water. The alluvial signatures gave them ages of less than 50 years old. The three wells that they are comparing against those gave them a false number, a mixture of two. This told them that probably 80 - 92 percent of the water coming out of those three wells was actually derived from the alluvial rather than from San Diego Formation. He said that it was only in the last 15 years that they could put out these data and find out what was happening 10,000 years ago.

A concern that they had with SDF Well No. 1 was that if the water was less than 50 years old, it could possibly be under the influence of surface water as defined by the state regulators. If that were the case, it would have to be treated differently than older water. To find out the age, the water is purged with helium, which removes the tritium. After three months in the dark, the tritium turns into radioactive helium and the water is then analyzed for how much tritium was in the sample. Since the top screen was of the most concern, they took samples both above and below and analyzed it for tritium. They found out that over 35 percent of the water is coming from the top spring. However, that water is over 50 years old and has no tritium in it at all. San Diego SDF well No. 1 is designed a little different than the other wells. Its top spring is lower, probably below that contact, and it is not under the influence of surface water. General Manager Bostad commented that under the Surface Water Treatment Rule, a federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, filtration would be required if the water were classified as under the influence of surface water.

President Pocklington asked whether USGS was helping Orange County with the quality of its water. Mr. Danskin said that Orange County is a significant entity that has a tremendous number of resources. The Santa Ana drainage itself includes Orange County as the inland basin. They have completed four years of water quality assessment in the Santa Ana basin as part of a federal program funded in two to three million dollars. From the USGS standpoint, the focus of the study was to compare a very urbanized area in the Santa Ana basin to many other basins throughout the U.S. in order to answer Congress' question whether the laws during the last 20 years are helping improve the health of the water.

Mr. Church talked about the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which uses radar from a satellite to determine the distance to the earth and the land deformation. The land surface inflation or subsidence can be calculated by subtracting the measurements from two different times. This system can resolve changes in the land surface down to a centimeter. They found out that the land surface where the SDF wells are located is going down on the order of three centimeters or a little over one inch over a two-year period from June to June. The data on the National City Wells was compiled this way but they have not had the time and funding to be able to go through the data. Their speculation is that things have stabilized since the National City Wells have pumped so long.

President Pocklington said that the Authority is very appreciative of the information gathered through the years of contracting with USGS. Besides helping management and staff, it has also helped the board to understand what the Authority is trying to do in this area.

2. ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN OR REORDERED TO THE AGENDA
(Government Code Section 54956.5)

There were none.

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Reynolds, that the Board approve the minutes of the regular meeting of October 20, 2003. The motion carried.

4. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Welsh made a motion, seconded by Director Doud, that warrant numbers 10053 through 10064 be approved. The motion carried.

5. APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS' ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS & FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

There were none.

6. NEW BUSINESS

A. Letter of Resignation from Director Wright, Division 3: President Pocklington officially acknowledged the receipt of Director Wright's letter of resignation.

B. Determination of procedure for filling the vacancy in Division 3: Counsel Strand reviewed the process to fill the vacancy left by Director Wright, which she had outlined in a memorandum distributed to the Board. She specifically referred to the timeline to fill the vacancy by appointment, if the members of the Board determine that is the manner in which they wish to fill the vacant seat. Director Welsh made a motion, seconded by Director Reynolds, that the Board approve the timeline presented to fill by appointment the vacancy left by Director Wright. The motion carried.

C. Consideration of new signatories on the District's present checking account with the Bank of America: President Pocklington said that Director Wolniewicz and Director Wright were signatories on the Bank of America checking account. He asked for volunteers to be signatories on the District's checking account. Directors Doud and Reynolds volunteered to be the new signatories. Staff was directed to prepare a resolution to that effect.
7. REPORT OF TREASURER

Ms. Avery reported her intention to withdraw some funds from LAIF and invest it into a Ginny Mae, which would produce one percent more.

8. REPORT OF LAFCO SPECIAL DISTRICTS REGULAR MEMBER

President Pocklington reported that there were no major issues discussed at the last LAFCO meeting. They added the recent fires as an item to the agenda, and it was discussed for almost one hour. They mostly talked about the problems experienced with communication among all parties involved. They also talked about alert teams under Santa Ana conditions. LAFCO has formed a subcommittee, with Diane Jacobs as its Chair, to discuss this issue. He noted that this is the only county in Southern California that does not have a county fire department. He also reported that the Lakeside and Riverview Water Districts have adopted a resolution initiating a reorganization that would consolidate both agencies into one. The issue will come before LAFCO, after they get it through the CWA, to be discussed on Thursday. He does not think there will be a problem. He also informed the Board that there would be a Special District Advisory Committee on December 12, 2003 to discuss the preliminary draft of the Municipal Service Review, which involves the Tijuana Valley County Water District.

9. REPORT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY REPRESENTATIVE

President Pocklington reported that Susan Varty has resigned and Mark Muir, firefighter on the Olivenhain Water District would take over her seat. He informed the Board that a roundtable with Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe was scheduled on December 9th from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. He commented about the Tampa Bay Desalination Construction Company going bankrupt. They claim it was because of problems with two subcontractors as well as having difficulties with the filters.

10. DIRECTORS' COMMENTS

Director Doud said that last Monday he attended the CSDA San Diego Chapter board meeting. Amando Gomez, from Tijuana County Valley Water District, is the Chapter's secretary. They discussed the waterless water agency.

Director Welsh said that she gets very proud every time she hears our manager giving outstanding responses to questions presented at different meetings or conferences.

Director Reynolds said he wanted to welcome Jim Alkire in the audience.

Director Pocklington said that he had received a card from Mario Ortega who used to be with Hutchison and Bloodgood, and he wondered if this change would affect our relationship with the auditors.

11. CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for a closed session.

12. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, President Pocklington adjourned the meeting at 4:45 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m., on December 15, 2003.