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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDocumentation_Environmental Advisory Committee_Tab 06_4/14/2021Agenda Item #6. Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) STAFF MEMO Meeting: Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) -Apr 14 2021 Staff Contact: Thomas Bradford, EAC Chair Department: Environmental Advisory Committee Review of Draft Recommendations to the EAC on the Utilities Element, Sub Elements Sanitary Sewer and Solid Waste, of the Comprehensive Plan for Consideration of the Village Council and Staff This document and any attachments may be reproduced upon request in an alternative format by completing our Accessibility Feedback Form, sending an e-mail to the Village Clerk or calling 561-768-0443. Backup Memo Utils Ele Sub Ele San Sew & Sol Waste w Map 041421 Page 17 of 57 Agenda Item #6. Memo To: Environmental Advisory Committee Members From: Thomas G. Bradford, Chair, EAC rR cc: NA Date: April 7, 2021 Re: Review of Draft Recommendations to the EAC. on the Utilities Element, Sub Elements Sanitary Sewer and Solid Waste, of the VOT Comprehensive Plan for Consideration of the Village Council and Staff VOT Resolution No. 24-19, which created the EAC, requires the EAC "...to within the bounds of the Village's Comprehensive Development Plan, develop recommendations for goals, objectives and policies relative to sustaining and improving the environment of the Village of Tequesta." To this end, the EAC is now reviewing the Utilities Element of the VOT Comprehensive Plan. The Utilities Element contains four sub elements entitled Sanitary Sewer, Solid Waste, Potable Water and Stormwater Management. In order to keep the review process manageable only one or two of the sub elements will be reviewed at each EAC meeting. This memo addresses the Sanitary Sewer and Solid Waste Elements. Items highlighted in yellow are noted places where an environmental matter is stated in the Element or sub element. You are encouraged to review the Element or sub elements and propose where you see environmental issues requiring EAC review potentially overlooked in this memorandum or make suggestions on how to modify or add to the comments and options provided herein to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff. The link to the Comprehensive plan is as follows: htt 2://tequesta.org/84/Communily-Development Pertinent sections pertaining to environmental issues within the Utilities Element, Sub Elements Sanitary Sewer and Solid Waste of the VOT Comprehensive Plan and my comments are as follows: Page 18 of 57 Agenda Item #6. UTILITES ELEMENT, SANITARY SEWER SUBELEMENT Goal: 1.0.0- Ensure the provision of sustainable and quality wastewater collection and treatment systems. TGB Comment: A sustainable sanitary sewer system is designed to meet certain criteria and to work well over the long-term. Sustainable sanitation systems consider the entire "sanitation value chain", from the experience of the user, human waste and wastewater collection methods, transportation or conveyance of waste, treatment, and reuse or disposal. The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) includes five features (or criteria) in its definition of "sustainable sanitation": (1) Systems need to be economically and (2) socially acceptable, (3) technically and (4) institutionally appropriate and (5) protect the environment and natural resources. Policy: 1.2.3 - The Village shall encourage LRECD to identify sanitary sewer facilities and collection and disposal infrastructure at risk from sea level rise and other related impacts and update this assessment every 5 years. EAC Proposed Options: Options to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff are: The District's wastewater system includes more than 1,325,000 feet or 250 miles of gravity sewer lines, 430 low pressure pumping units, 195 pumping stations and 584,400 feet of major force mains. The following known (by my field observations) sanitary pumping stations, aka, lift stations, are located in the Village of Tequesta: 1) 501 Seabrook Road, west side of Tequesta Pines landscape area. Lift Station (LS) # unknown (UK). 2) 331 Tequesta Drive. LS#UK. 3) 122 Buttonwood Circle, on Riverside Dr. LS#UK. 4) 841 Old Dixie Hwy. LS#UK. 5) NE Comer of Tequesta Dr and Old Dixie Hwy intersection. LS#UK. 6) 355 Beacon St. LS#UK. 7) Dover Rd and Dover Circle intersection. LS # 143 8) South Gate g TCCC El Portal entrance. LS#UK. 9) SE comer of Tequesta Country Club, near maintenance shop. LS# 75. 10) Tequesta Country Club parking lot adjacent to wall next to Eastwinds Landing. LS# 71 11) River Drive and Point Circle north intersection. LS# 76 12) Golfview and Fairway North intersection. LS#UK. 13) 48 Coconut Lane, south side of cul-de-sac. LS# 141 14) 425 Beach Road @north end of property. LS# 66 2 Page 19 of 57 Agenda Item #6. A number of these lift stations could be impacted by sea level rise. In addition, gravity sewer lines could be inundated with infiltration from flooding rendering them useless during the event. The Village should map locations of lift stations and other pertinent sanitary sewer infrastructure and overlay various sea level rise maps to determine the level of risk when coordinating on this subject with the LRECD to ensure proactive steps are taken. Different website links are provided below to ascertain current sea level rise risks for your home, Tequesta and the LRECD service area. A copy of the LRECD service boundary is attached to this memo as Attachment "A." https.-//ss2.climatecentral.org/#14/26.9613/-80. 10 0 0? show= s atellite&proj ections=O - K14—RCP85-SLR&Ievel=2&unit=meters&pois=hlde hqp://citizeneyes.org/app/#tab3 https://bit. ly/3vrMid2 Policy: 1.2.4 - The Village shall coordinate with LRECD the design for additional capacity in accordance with Section 62- 600.4051 FAC; and the impacts of increased coastal flooding, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, and other potential future impacts, and plan for infrastructure replacement and relocation as needed. EAC Proposed Options: Options to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff are: On matters pertaining to additional sewage treatment capacity and what type that might be, please see comments below under Policy 1.3.1 of this Element. In regard to the impacts of sea level rise and saltwater intrusion see previous comments and note that some sea level rise maps indicate that the LRECD regional sewage treatment facility could be affected by sea level rise. Policy: 1.2.5- The Village shall coordinate with LRECD retrofit of existing and construction of new sanitary sewer facilities and collection systems in coastal areas that are identified to be potentially impacted by sea level rise by 2040. EAC Proposed Options: Options to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff are: See previous comments on sea level rise. Policy:]. 3. 1 - The Village, in coordination with LRECD and to the extent appropriate and feasible, shall incorporate into local plans, codes and ordinances various land use and wastewater systems design and construction criteria that will minimize point and non -point discharges into surface waters in accordance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES). EAC Proposed Options: Options to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff are: 3 Page 20 of 57 Agenda Item #6. Septic tanks have been deemed to be point discharges into surface waters. Tequesta may no longer have any areas using septic systems. This should be confirmed. Tequesta's drainage system and its discharges into water bodies are the subject of the Stormwater Element Management Sub Element soon to be reviewed by the EA.. LIED has two primary means to dispose of treated waste water. First, is through Irrigation Quality (IQ) recycled wastewater used to irrigate local golf courses and all of Abacoa. The second method is by way of deep well injection into the ground up to 3,500 feet below grade and 0 below the Floridan Aquifer. Therefore, in theory, there is no point discharge into surface waters from the LEI sewage treatment process. For the future, in order to develop sustainable wastewater treatment, one must view the wastewater treatment systems in a broad sense. In addition to cost and treatment performance energy aspects., recycling and social issues are important when evaluating sustainability of a wastewater treatment system and selecting an appropriate system for a given condition. This requires a multidisciplinary approach where engineers cooperate with. social scientists, economists, biologists, health officials and the public. Wastewater contains organic matter and the three main nutrients for plant production: nitrogen,, phosphorus and potassium. Theoretically speaking, the nutrients in domestic wastewater and organic household waste are nearly sufficient to produce enough food for the world population. Nitrogen fertilizer is energy consuming to produce and phosphorus is a limited mineral resource. Recycling and energy aspects are thus important factors of sustainable sewage treatment system design. Scandinavia is pioneering sustainable solutions to wastewater treatment. I As population increases, minimizing the carbon and energy footprints of wastewater treatment, while properly managing nutrients is crucial to improving the sustainability of waste water treatment facilities. Integrated resource recovery can mitigate the environmental impact of wastewater treatment systems (e.g., water reuse,, energy recovery and nutrient recycling). Tequesta should encourage the LRECD to pursue integrated resource recovery to aid in managing facility costs and resulting user rates, reduction of greenhouse gases and the recycling of valuable nutrients. UTILITES ELEMENT, SOLID WASTE SUBELEMENT Goal.-1.0.0- Ensure the provision qfsustainable, adequate and qfficient solid waste services and ,fticilities meeting the needs of thepopulation andproviding.for their health, sqpty and general welj�re. Policy: 1.3.2 - Continue to implement recyclingprogram s in accordance with all applicable laws. TGIF Comment (Goal 1.0.0): There are at least six types of solid waste management programs. These are: ' Jenssen, Fetter & Vra'le, Lasse & Lindholm, Oddvar. (0002). SUSTAINABLE WASTEWATER TREATMENT. Lq Page 21 of 57 Agenda Item #6. 1. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) 2. Hazardous Wastes 3. Industrial Wastes 4. Agricultural Wastes 5. Bio-Medical Wastes 6. Waste Minimization The goal of sustainable waste management (item number 6 above) is to reduce the amount of natural resources consumed, confirm that any materials that are taken from nature are reused as many times as possible and that the waste created is kept to a minimum. Tequesta contracts for municipal solid waste collection and recycling services currently from Waste Management of Hobe Sound and is part of the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) service area for disposal of collected solid wastes and recycling. EAC Proposed Options: Options to consider for recommendation to the Village Council and staff are: Solid Waste Disposal and Collection 1. Palm Beach County SWA, the disposal side of the equation, has built an award -winning integrated system of facilities that combines recycling, diversion, renewable energy and landfilling to effectively manage the county's waste. The SWA's system includes seven Home Chemical and Recycling Centers, six transfer stations, two waste -to -energy facilities, a Recovered Materials Processing Facility for recyclables, a Biosolids Processing Facility, and two landfills as a last resort for disposal. This is difficult to improve upon currently, but the Village should keep an eye on new trends that SWA could consider, particularly within the realm of improving the rate of participation for recycling. 2. The collection services provided by Waste Management are efficient and effective. Tequesta has some of the lowest rates for the cost of solid waste collection services in this area. Is there more Waste Management could be doing to become more environmentally friendly? Perhaps there is. Have you noticed that all of their collection vehicles are burning diesel fuel? By the time Tequesta has to again update its Comprehensive Plan it would be advantageous for the Village to implore Waste Management to convert or purchase only vehicles that operate on: o Hydrogen • Natural Gas o Electricity © Bio-Diesel 2 Biodiesel can be made from nearly any feedstock (raw material) that contains adequate free fatty acids. Most of U.S. biodiesel production uses raw vegetable oils, used cooking oils, yellow grease, and animal fats as feedstocks for transesterification. Vegetable oils are the main feedstocks 5 Page 22 of 57 Agenda Item N. o Ethanol o Combinations (hybrids) of the above Hydrogen fuel cells provide an inherently clean source of energy, with no adverse environmental impact during operation as the byproducts are simply heat and water. Hydrogen has the highest energy content of any common fuel by weight. with almost no emissions, hydrogen fuel cells do not release greenhouse gases, which means they do not have a carbon footprint while in use. The charge time for hydrogen fuel cell power units is extremely rapid, similar to that for conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Life electric cars, hydrogen powered vehicles are much quieter than those that use conventional internal combustion engines. A hydrogen vehicle has the same range as those that use fossil fuels (around Soo miles). The advantages of natural gas as an alternative fuel include its domestic availability, established distribution network, relatively low cost, and emissions benefits. An Ev has zero exhaust emissions, but still creates a degree of greenhouse gas emissions when it is charged from the electricity grid. The primary advantages of electric trucks are more torque, quiet operation, lower cost of fuel, and greatly reduced routine maintenance. Biodiesel combustion produces fewer sulfur oxides, less particulate matter, less carbon monoxide, and fewer unburned and other hydrocarbons. Biodiesel can be made from waste grease and oils and algae. Ethanol may be carbon -neutral because the plants that are used to make it, such as corn and sugarcane, absorb CO2 as they grow and may offset the CO2 emissions when ethanol is produced and burned. However, growing plants for ethanol and other biofuels is controversial because the land, fertilizers, and energy for growing biofuel crops could be used to grow food crops instead. In some parts of the world, large areas of natural vegetation and forests have been cut down to grow sugar cane for ethanol and soybeans and oil palm trees for biodiesel. The U.S. government supports efforts to develop alternative sources of biomass that do not compete with food crops and that use less fertilizer and pesticides than corn and sugar cane. The U.S. government also supports methods to produce ethanol that require less energy than conventional fermentation. Ethanol can also be made from waste paper. Recycling The benefits of recycling, a form of solid waste collection services, are clear. Growing and strengthening the U.S. recycling system to support domestic industries and enhance environmental and community benefits will likely require multi -stakeholder collaboration to address the challenges currently facing the system.. Current challenges include: for U.S. biodiesel production. Other feedstocks for Biodiesel production include waste animal fats from processing plants and used/recycled cooking oil and yellow grease from restaurants. 0 Page 23 of 57 Agenda Item #6. o Confusion about what materials can be recycled, which often leads to placing recyclables in the trash or throwing trash in the recycling bin or cart; o Outdated recycling infrastructure that is ill-equipped to keep pace with today"s diverse and changing waste stream; o Reduced export markets for recycled materials, requiring domestic markets to be strengthened; and o Varying methodologies to measure recycling system performance used across the country make it difficult to create effective goals and track progress. Specific actions for Tequesta to take independently, or in conjunction with the SWA, to address the challenges facing the U.S. recycling system are: o Promote Education and Outreach o Enhance Materials Management Infrastructure o Strengthen Secondary Material Markets o Enhance Measurement In years past Tequesta had high rates of recycling participation and collection of recyclables compared to others in Palm Beach County. Village officials should ascertain where Tequesta stands today and proceed from there. For more information on advancing America's recycling system, see the EPA publication entitled "National Framework for Advancing the U.S. Recycling System"' at the link below. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-1 I /documents/national—framework.pdf 7 Page 24 of 57 fear t i n Pa IM 8168CI4`1 V— "44 fto up 4 &8pund Sim, 7 1 �Mn OL J onathenti Isil. 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