CUPA-2022 Session Details

CALIFORNIAS UST AND SITE CLEANUP PROGRAMS DISCUSSION
03/30/2022    10am - 11am    1500 of 1500 seats available
F-3/30   Clean up
Location   VIRTUAL PLATFORM
Credits      REHS: 1.0
   Objective
The California State Water Board administers groundwater cleanup through two programs. This presentation will give an overview of the two programs and upcoming changes.
   Description
The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) administers groundwater cleanup primarily through two programs. One has had decades of robust funding to assist with cleanup and oversight. The other has had fewer resources even though the sites are often more complex and have had a greater impact on water resources. This presentation will give an overview of the two programs and updates about current changes. The Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program, which has been funded from a gasoline storage fee since 1991. Primarily small business owners and some major oil companies have had the benefit of nearly 4 billion dollars to assist with investigation and cleanup for over 39,000 LUST cases. The contaminant plumes emanating from LUST sites consist of petroleum products, and have a higher propensity to naturally biodegrade. This factor - along with the readily available funding for most cleanup and oversight - has resulted in LUST cases moving through cleanup more quickly, the number of open cases declining, and fewer impacts to water supply wells. The other program, the Site Cleanup Program (SCP), has had fewer revenues to assist with cleanup and oversight. For the vast majority of SCP cases, the discharger is required to finance the cleanup of their site in its entirety and pay for agency oversight under the State Water Boards Cost Recovery Program. Approximately one-half of the 4,900 open SCP cases are in the Water Boards Cost Recovery Program. The other half of open SCP cases had been subject to limited funds for administrative oversight or under local agency oversight. To help with some of the funding limitations, the Site Cleanup Subaccount Program (SCAP) has new authority to increase its funding from $17 million to $34 million per year to help insolvent RPs. SCP cases are typically more complex and higher risk than LUST cases in part to the high variability of contaminants (chlorinated hydrocarbons, metals, PCBs, etc), the wide variability in cleanup cost, the higher propensity for vapor intrusion, and the lower propensity for biodegredation - resulting in legacy groundwater plumes that are more likely to impact water supply wells. In fact, the number of impacted water supply wells indicates there are many more discharges out there than have been reported to date. The State Water Board promotes collaboration with sister agencies and water districts to identify and capture groundwater contaminant plumes, identify unreported sources of contamination, and to clean up contaminated groundwater in California.
   Speakers
Matthew Cohen - State Water Board
Cheryl Prowell - State Water Board

Moderator: Travis Flora
   Presentation
California's UST and Site Cleanup Update
Presentation Slides for California's UST and Site Cleanup Update