CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - On August 13, the Citrus Heights City Council held a Special Meeting study session (via Zoom) regarding the Trash Amendment to the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit—which is issued by the State Water Resources Control Board. Associate Civil Engineer Dirk Medema of the City’s General Services Department presented the Council with an overview of the new requirement, what the City has done to meet the requirement, and what still needs to be done.

Medema explained that the MS4 regulates storm water discharges, beginning with the roadside ditches and curbside gutters that flow into the piped storm drain system and ending when the water flows into local creeks. Creeks are part of the City-maintained stormwater system, but “from a regulatory perspective, they’re water of the state,” said Medema. “Trash in the waterways is a problem for everyone because it affects all the water; it affects the water that we all rely upon.”

The goal of the MS4 Trash Amendment, which was adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board in 2015, is to remove all trash greater than a quarter inch in diameter from local waterways. Medema explained that there are three ways trash enters the state waterways: airborne trash, direct trash deposits, and trash from stormwater runoff. Airborne trash, which blows directly into creeks, is relatively minor and hard to regulate. Direct trash deposits—which include dumping, littering, and refuse from homeless encampments—are a major problem but are also hard to regulate. The trash generated from storm drains and gutters is the easiest to regulate since it’s governed by the MS4 permit.

The City paid for an On-land Visual Trash Assessment (OVTA) in 2018, which assessed the amount of trash at local water sites. Based on the OVTA assessment, the City must demonstrate the annual removal of 22,174 gallons of trash from the waterways, either by collecting it directly from the waterways or by preventing it from entering. The City created a Trash Implementation Plan, which identified commercial, industrial, and multifamily housing as priority land uses. Medema explained that those categories constitute 24% of the city acreage; 76% of the city is single-family home properties, which are exempt from the plan.

The State Water Control Board has mandated that all agencies must be in full compliance with the Trash Amendment by December 2030. The City’s MS4 permit will be renewed in 2021, and the Trash Amendment specifics will be codified at that time.

To address the issue of trash polluting the waterways, the State recommendation was a structural approach: install full trash-capture devices to catch debris at each outfall before the trash enters the waterways. The City is pursuing an alternative approach: In addition to installing trash-capture devices, the City plans to institute program changes to reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the waterways: increased street sweeping, the placement of more public trash cans, outreach programs to increase awareness, creek cleanups, commercial development requirements, green streets infrastructure, landscape maintenance, possible product bans (such as plastic bags or plastic straws), interagency collaboration, more support for the interdepartmental homeless team, and working to develop underdeveloped properties.

The process will need to include a monitoring and documentation program to show the City is removing or preventing the required amount of trash from the waterways. The plan also includes reassessments at years 4 and 7 to evaluate the strategy’s effectiveness. Based on the data, programs may be added or modified to ensure compliance by 2030.

Compliance with the Trash Amendment is not currently funded by the City’s budget, said Medema. The costs of operations and maintenance, policy controls for trash reduction, management of facilities, and the design and installation of trash-capture devices and their maintenance are all additional funding requirements.

Possible funding sources could include collaborating on a regional facility through a Maintenance Assessment District managed by the City or implementing a trash franchise agreement to provide funding for the public program. The City’s proposed sales tax is another possible funding source. The City could also amend the municipal code to require private developments include trash-capture devices.

The Study Session was informational, so no Council action was required. But Medema said that within this fiscal year, staff will need guidance from the Council on how to move forward. Medema said the requirements will “benefit our community, region, nation, and world. Water connects us all.”

Vice Mayor Steve Miller asked about the cost of the full trash-capture devices and asked how many outfalls there are in the city.  Medema said there are 753 mapped outlets; some are from single-family residences, which would be exempt. There are access issues at many of the outfalls making maintenance work difficult, and many are on private property.

As to the cost, Medema said that small grates installed in a catch basin cost around $1,000, including installation. But end-of-pipe devices at outfalls with large pipes (for example, 30-inch diameters) can cost $100,000, plus an additional $100,000 for installation, plus maintenance costs twice a year.

Mayor Jeff Slowey said the mandate will be expensive, so it’s “good you’re getting ahead of it and giving us a heads up about some gray clouds that are down the road.”