Village Entrance Project: Unresolved Water Quality And Soil Remediation Issues From 12 Years Ago Linger

By Roger E. Bütow 

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." -- George Santayana

Preface:

An historical event from 12 years ago has great relevance in regards to the undisclosed hidden costs for the proposed Village Entrance Project (VEP).

As it was then, so it is now: Environmentally deficient and risky in the approved Water Quality/Hydrology Plans and the Geology/Soil portions of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

YESTERDAY:

I take you back to December of 2001 when the Laguna Beach City Council (LBCC) was unanimously in favor of a $10 million flood control project for the downtown district: http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/04/local/me-11352

By June 20, 2002 all of the LBCC members save Cheryl Kinsman reversed their support and voted to abandon it: http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/20/local/me-flood-20a

What so drastically changed as to get our leaders to do a “180” back then? 

It was complicated, but as they say, it wasn’t rocket science. Non-profits Clean Water Now (CWN), Surfrider Foundation (SF), the South Orange County Watershed Conservancy (SOCWC) and several independent hydrology/wastewater engineers all joined forces and convinced the LBCC that we couldn’t afford the inseparable fiscal and environmental risks.

One of the engineers was on the SOCWC Board and he was an expert on petrochemical ground and surface water remediation (cleanup), the logistical and regulatory limitations, not to mention ultimate costs.

I had gone down to Laguna Beach City Hall in the late Fall of 2001 and slowly read the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). I became justifiably alarmed. Not available online, I then paid to have a copy of the Water Quality section of the document printed out. I notified my group and then shared it with now-deceased engineer emeritus Gary Alstot.

What disturbed us, triggering my outreach to SF Coastal Engineer Rick Wilson in 2001, was the incredible gamut of carcinogenic hydrocarbon contaminants spread throughout the downtown aquifer. Old, in some cases abandoned and/or replaced gasoline and diesel storage tanks, combined with our own City maintenance yard fuel reservoir, had leaked for years.

Petrochemicals are Persistent Organic Pollutants, they’re very difficult to reduce or remove, and they don’t dissipate rapidly—hence the “persistent” sobriquet.

Under our downtown district, basically a flood plain, the fresh water (Laguna Canyon Creek aquifer) meets and mixes with the ionic (ocean) volumes very close in elevation to the street level.

During extreme high tides, the ionic (with the entire force of the Pacific behind it) pushes or bulges inland pretty far, so the contaminants get swirled and swooshed around; they also contaminate the surrounding soil through osmosis.

Beginning where they now want to dig down for the VEP, the federal and state rules of thumb made it a veritable crap shoot: Whoever the lead agency is, they must bear the fiscal burdens of remediating the soil and water.

Basically, if you break ground, you pick up the cleaning tab. No matter how long or how much money it takes until down to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory compliance standards.

Together, we estimated that the final costs were unknowable, might be double or even treble that $10 million.  Excavated, contaminated soil cannot be simply carted off to anywhere. It would have to be carefully handled and hauled out to Act V for de-watering, then left open to dry out to reduce its loaded weight for trucking to a hazardous waste landfill. The transporting of such substances is a specialized and expensive field. 

The US Army Corps of Engineers helped draft the EIR, but had no money for funding. OC Flood would only fund the lion’s share of the actual installation…there was no fiscal agreement in place to assist us with the site’s bioremediation. If we got in over our fiscal heads, there was no one offering to “bail us out.”

The other “IF” was where could we find a disposal site that wouldn’t charge us excessively, gouge us and had space available to take it?

The amount of polluted groundwater we’d need to pump out was also a nightmare. The City didn’t have the volume capacity in our sewage pipes to divert it to the Aliso Creek Coastal treatment plant. And there was no guarantee that the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Cal/EPA, would allow it.

Keep in mind that once the hole was dug, contributions from higher elevation, inland drainages (surface or subterranean) could keep replenishing, re-filling, keep re-inserting yet more polluted fluids.

The recipe or algorithm, the multiple unanswered and fuzzy logistics + unknown eventual costs convinced us that we needed to change the council’s collective minds. Or else.

We experienced a catastrophic anomaly, a 150-year storm event: It was a “double whammy,” back in 2010 because the ground was saturated. 8 inches of rain had already fallen in the days leading up to the flood. Around 3 a.m. Dec. 22, another 1.5 inches fell in approximate 20 minutes.

With climate change, no one knows and no one can guarantee  that same situation won’t be repeated before it should.

TODAY:

If anything, the VEP soil into which they’re going to dig deeply, widely and invasively, that “Money Pit,” has more and not less groundwater contamination today. Those significant rainy events subsequent to 2001 brought more inland pollutants that carry a wider spectrum of other listed impairment constituents. The terminus at Main Beach is already on the highest priority category of enforcement remediation, the Federal Impaired 303 d Water-body List.

The soil is very loose, a type known as “sandy loam” in the Canyon, so water (and attendant pollutant contributions) percolated and continue to penetrate down quickly and thoroughly.

Due to the increased saturation levels like in December of 2010, they’re insinuated wider and deeper. Most of the contributions originate miles upstream in the greater Laguna Canyon Creek Watershed or basin (approximately 8.5 sq. miles). That’ll expand the radius of soil and relatively shallow, perched aquifer contamination.

The depth and sheer size of the excavation necessary to build such a monolithic, 4 level parking structure for the VEP will of necessity create an enormous crater. Which will not only fill up from above (rain) but also from below (aquifer as it recharges).

And if there’s one or two El Niños during the excavation and foundation installation phases? Hey, you’ve got a self-inflicted, gargantuan, muddy sinkhole. The EIR notes that the aquifer, basically a subterranean stream is only 10 feet thick (13-23 feet down from street level), and we’ll be perforating it to sink massive stabilizing caissons.

One of the lessons learned from the former flood control project I’ve already explained: There’s nowhere to send contaminated surface discharges without being fined, the infrastructural evacuation plumbing is under-valued (capacity too small) so it can’t be sent to the treatment plant, and there’s no way that we could physically, endlessly, keep pumping out that glorified bathtub. It could refill itself continuously for days, weeks and even months.

Trying to dig this cavity during the Cal/EPA defined dry season (May 1—September 30) would normally be the optimal construction time and require fewer, less expensive water quality protection Best Management Practices (called BMPs). It would go faster and have a chance of being less disruptive to businesses, residents and tourists alike, meeting projected timelines and budgets. Except that’s exactly when we hit our peak or prime season for visitors.

The parking structure must be able to take a strong, calamitous seismic event. Being positioned in an aquifer, liquefaction’s motion effects, like a rippling waterbed or jell-o, could shake and deconstruct the massive edifice into a pile of useless rubble. Not to mention render adjacent city infrastructure unavailable indefinitely.

The EIR admits that this is of great concern and more research is required. Kind of a “Geo-technical IOU”, or not very comforting “To Be Determined Whenever.” Maybe when it collapses?

As of May 8, 2013, Cal/EPA now defines wet weather as 1/10th of one inch of rain within a 24-hour period, therefore during construction the more expensive and complex BMPs must be in place October 1—April 30 regardless of actual rainfall.

The California Toxic Rule (CTR) substance list has grown since 2001. It cites the prohibitions, the metrics and the high standards for disposal of the hazardous waste detritus we’ll likely find in the soil. No mention of this is made in the EIR, hence no analysis, no cost, and no mitigations or remediation projections.

As scientists discover more about biological impacts, they’re demanding that lower concentrations of these contaminants be tolerated, be allowed in our surface or groundwater. Historically acknowledged, unaddressed contaminated soil and water issues are very disturbing and big ticket item omissions.

So there’s a glimpse into a few elements of the proposed VEP, aspects that got short shrift, and little if any attention by City officials and proponents.

Akin to Boston’s nightmare, the “Big Dig,” once the hole is dug we’re on the hook to complete it regardless of over-runs. That’s a blank check we’re being required to sign without a public vote.

As for those who believe the length of the time and effort it took to get this far equals a better project, I give you former UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood: “Never mistake activity for achievement.” 

Roger E. Bütow is a 41-year resident and local builder. He’s also a land use and regulatory compliance advisor. He can be reached at rogerbutow@me.com or at his home office: 949.715.1912.