MUNICIPAL MAINTENANCE
MUNICIPAL MAINTENANCE
QUALITATIVE RESULTS
Municipality: City of Pittsburg Permit Year: (2008/2009)
Introduction:
The goal of the City of Pittsburg’s (the City) Municipal Maintenance Performance Standards is to reduce the discharge of pollutants from stormwater discharges to the maximum extent practicable using an array of control measures including selecting and implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs).
The City uses general maintenance including street sweeping, storm drain facility inspections and maintenance, litter control, graffiti abatement, road repair maintenance, and general BMP’s for municipal maintenance facilities to optimize pollutant removal from the storm drain system. Each year the City evaluates existing BMP’s and methods of pollutant prevention and removal for effectiveness and any need for changes.
Throughout the year staff measures the effectiveness of the performance standards for the MUNI section of the NPDES permit. Although not all are measurable from a quantitative amount, it is easy to see the overall effectiveness in the general practice of employees and the way the City is run. The City continues with the Neighborhood Improvement team consisting of Staff from different departments dedicated to improving neighborhoods. In terms of Municipal Maintenance the team is most effective through education about illegal dumping and graffiti on their web site at the following worldwide web link/address:
http://www.ci.pittsburg.ca.us/Pittsburg/General/Neighborhood+Improvement+Team/blight_crime.htm
Although almost all municipal maintenance employees are responsible for implementing the NPDES program, there are a select few that take on a majority of the work. The following employees are directly related to the NPDES program and have several individuals that they manage:
o Matt Rodriguez, Public Works (PW) Director (925) 252-4936
o Walter Pease, PW Assistant Director (925) 252-4936
o Joe Barajas, PW Superintendent Corporation Yard (Water, Sewer, Storm Drain, Road Maintenance, Street Sweeping) (925) 252-4936
o Don Buchanan, PW Superintendent (Parks, Graffiti Abatement, Landscaping, Pesticide/Herbicide, Fertilizers) (925) 252-4000
o Doug Holcomb Golf Superintendent (Fertilizers, Pesticides, Pond Management) (925) 439-4048
o Laura Wright, NPDES Training Coordinator, Hazardous Waste (925) 252-4114
Many City employees attend workshops given by the City that cover hazardous waste, storm water and other NPDES related subjects. The workshops are directed towards understanding the NPDES permit, illicit discharges, and municipal maintenance.
Implementation & Evaluation:
Street Sweeping
Street sweeping removes dust, sediment, trash and other debris from the roadway for dust and pollution control purposes and disposes them in waste bins located at the corporation yard. The waste bins are then picked up on a weekly basis. Removal of the sediment before it reaches storm drain systems or streams has a large positive net effect on water quality elements.
The City of Pittsburg contracts with Delta Diablo Sanitation District for all public street-sweeping activities. The numbers we have for this fiscal year reflect sweeping activities from June 2008 through June 2009 (See Attachment MM-2). Residential streets are swept twice a month. Overall there were 5,364 miles of residential street sweeping, which collected over 1110 cubic yards of debris. Commercial streets are broken into Areas. Area “A” is swept twice a week and Areas “B” through “E” are swept once a week. Over 6,411 total miles of commercial streets were swept collecting over 1040 cubic yards of debris (street sweeping schedule and monthly summary are attached). From month to month the total curb miles swept may fluctuate. This can be caused by several factors including commercial route employee high turnover, construction, pre-project sweeping, fall leaf drops, etc. Residents and Commercial Businesses can check via the city’s website for the street sweeping schedule:
http://www.ci.pittsburg.ca.us/NR/rdonlyres/DD0F52EA-0EE0-4C92-A88F-564E58BEC096/0/StreetSweepingScheduleJune06.pdf
Street sweeper maintenance is important for a successful sweeping program. Sweeping truck operators, or “Sweepers,” check their equipment daily to ensure sweeping equipment is in proper working order to allow for maximum efficiency of debris removal. Inlets are avoided by lifting the brooms over or maneuvering around the storm drains so as to not force debris into the storm drain system.
During FY 2008/2009, the City again targeted neighborhoods (8th, 9th, 10th Street and 15th, 16th, 17th Street) that were deemed to have a higher concentration of debris and/or automobiles were not allowing for efficient street sweeping. The police department continues to heavily enforce parking restrictions during scheduled sweeping times. The results have allowed for more efficient sweeping. The City will continue to evaluate neighborhoods for ways to more efficiently street sweep.
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Storm Drainage Facility Inspection & Maintenance
The goal of this program is to keep drainage systems in good working condition. Storm Drain maintenance activities include removal of sediment from drainage features such as catch -basins and storm drains. Enclosed drainage systems and catch basins are cleaned using a vacuum flush truck, which is used to remove both solids (sediment) and liquids from drainage catch basins and pipes. This activity protects water quality by removing sediments and oils from the storm drain systems during cleaning of catch - basins, and pipes.
Currently, the City works on a zone-by-zone (12 zones) basis for cleaning. The crew consists of two employees and one truck. They inspect and maintain each zone systematically every day and report on a daily work log. Persistent problem areas are marked and identified on a zone map and cleaned on a more frequent basis. Staff has ongoing discussion regarding upgrades or more efficient practices to reduce the scope of the problem areas.
Litter Control
The City has the most problems with unfenced right of ways that have little lighting and frontage roads with no facing houses. Employees make daily rounds of right of ways, drainage areas, troubled areas, etc. where illegal dumping seems to be concentrated. Public Works also teams with volunteers each year to do creek cleanups. Creek clean ups usually result in a massive amount of debris removal from either within the creeks banks, or directly adjacent to the banks. It is not unusual to remove several grocery carts, mattresses, bags of old clothes, a bicycles, automobile tires, etc from a creek during clean up days. The debris is separated into recyclables and non-recyclables to eliminate the amount of trash sent to the landfill. It is common to gather a few cubic yards of debris from a few hundred feet of creek.
Chronic “Hotspot" locations of illegal dumping have been identified over the past few years and staff found funds to target these areas. A significant amount of dumping has ceased due to cameras being installed this year at these locations thus reducing manpower costs and waste accumulation. Signage with illegal dumping and fine warnings were added at other locations where funding was not available for cameras. The City Neighborhood Improvement Team is a community outreach effort making information available to the pubic for reporting illegal dumping. This outreach effort is conveyed through the City’s website and ongoing neighborhood meetings throughout Pittsburg. Residents are encouraged through this program to call and report dumping and are offered a $250 reward for the report and conviction of individuals caught in the act of illegal dumping. In addition, Laura Wright, the City’s PEIO coordinator continually distributes anti-littering literature to residents and businesses encouraging and enforcing anti-littering.
Graffiti Abatement Practices
Although graffiti is not a huge problem in the City, Public Works responds within 24 hours. Graffiti removal techniques include sandblasting, use of the name brand bio-products “Tagster” paintover, and “Gone” solvent remover. Employees are trained on all precautions and methods and use a hazmat cage for disposal of wastes at the Environmental Center. Since the City does not use water in graffiti removal, a non-storm water discharge to the storm drain system is very rare.
The City educates residents through the web site on the Neighborhood Improvement Team’s page.
General Practices for Road Repair and Maintenance
During road repairs, traffic loop installations, etc, City crews dry saw cut pavement. If any debris comes in contact with water or other fluid, or approached an inlet or catch basin, the City Vac Truck is on hand to alleviate the threat. Contractors cover the storm drain inlets while resurfacing to prevent any spills from entering the storm drain system. Contractors use a vacuum to pick up any debris while wet saw cutting.
General BMPs for Municipal Facilities
The preventive maintenance program is intended to address regular inspection and maintenance of storm water management devices, as well as inspection and testing of equipment and systems to uncover conditions that could cause breakdowns or failures resulting in discharges of pollutants to Waters of the State. Primary responsibility for the City’s overall pollution prevention program belongs to Joe Barajas, Public Works Superintendent. Some of the general BMPs for the City Corporation yard are as follows:
· Annual inspections by the Fire Department, and CUPA (Certified Unified Program Agency).
· Education and training once a year for a variety of subjects (See Attachment MM-1).
· Motor pool cars are taken to local car washing business. Fleet vehicles are washed on site with a sanitary sewer tie-in.
· Spill kits located around the fuel dispensing area.
· Chemical storage: Ventilated storage, HazMat storage.
· “Envector” picks up spent chemicals once a month.
· Fleet/vehicle areas are inspected daily along with using spill pans under vehicles while not in service.
· Training by outside source (Pest Control Advisor) for pesticide applications techniques.
· Pesticide usage is mainly rat bait.
· BMPs for applications as per manufacturers label.
· BMPs for Golf Course:
o Organic Fertilizers – Greens, Tees. (5 times a year); Fairways – 3 times a year.
· Use of Foliar Spray instead of fertilizers on greens (See Attachment MM-3).
The City continues tweaking the “Rain Master” irrigation control system to improve the efficiency of our system. The City continued the upgrades this fiscal year with the completion of the Centralized Irrigation Control System Project. The system serves as an essential best management practice for reducing non-point source pollution where situations arise where sprinkler heads, pipes, or mains break. In these instances, the control system will take corrective measures to prevent water runoff into the city’s storm drain system, bypassing the inoperative station and continuing with the watering cycle. The upgraded Rain Master system also boasts exceptional water savings and management capabilities by allowing real-time instant control and automated control of irrigation lines based on weather conditions, plant usage requirements, soil types, precipitation rates, and other factors during operation. When irregular conditions arise, the system will respond to adapt these changes to minimize water loss.
Modifications:
None.
Fiscal Year 2009/2010 Goals:
The City will use stimulus funds to rehabilitate and upgrade damaged storm drain inlets at various locations and return them to optimal working condition. In addition, the City will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs and refine, modify, correct, or replace deficient BMPs as necessary and initiate corrective actions and restore BMPs to full operation as soon as field conditions allow.
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Municipal Maintenance – quantitative results
Street Sweeping
Total number of curb miles within Agency’s jurisdiction / 231 / 104 / 335
Number of curb miles swept / 6411 / 5364 / 11775
Total volume of material removed through sweeping (cubic yards) / 1040 / 1110 / 2150
Preliminary Estimated Mass (Dry Weight) of Constituents Removed by Street Sweeping
Total PCBs (lbs) / .43
Total Mercury (lbs) / .60
Total Copper (lbs) / 270
Total Lead (lbs) / 98
Total Nickel (lbs) / 81
Total Zinc (lbs) / 431
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (lbs) / 5265
Total Oil and Grease (lbs) / 11487
Publicly Owned Storm Drain Facilities
Total Number of Storm Drain Facilities
Inlets / 2025
Culverts (miles) / 2.5
V-Ditches/Roadside Ditches (miles) / 3
Pump Stations / 8
Constructed Channels (1) (miles) / 1
Natural Watercourses (2) (miles) / 9
Trash Racks / 0
Number of Storm Drain Facilities Inspected/Cleaned
Inlets / 2025 (all)
Number of Storm Drain Inlets requiring more frequent cleaning / 20
Culverts / 5
V-Ditches/roadside ditches (miles) / 3
Pump stations / 8
Number of Pump Station Maintenance inspections / 562
Constructed Channels (1) (miles) / 1
Natural Watercourses (2) (miles) / 9
Trash racks / 0
Number of Illegal Dumping Hot Spots identified during Routine Inspections / 4
Volume of Material Removed from Storm Drain Facility Cleaning (cubic yards)
Inlets / 689
Culverts
V-Ditches/roadside ditches
Pump stations
Constructed Channels (1)
Natural Watercourses (2)
Trash racks
Preliminary Estimated Mass (Dry Weight) of Constituents Removed by Storm Drain Facility Cleaning
Total Copper (lbs) / 40
Total Lead (lbs) / 92
Total Zinc (lbs) / 366
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (lbs) / 2135
Total Oil and Grease (lbs) / 3693
Miscellaneous Municipal Activities
Number of Municipal Maintenance Facility Inlets Stenciled/Marked with the “No Dumping” Message / 12
Number of Municipal Maintenance Facility Inspections for Leaky Vehicles and Equipment / daily
Total Volume of Material Collected from Litter Receptacles
Pesticide/Herbicide Use
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied (lbs) / 98 / 98
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied (gallons) / 136 / 136
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied with copper as an active ingredient (lbs) / 0 / 0
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied with copper as an active ingredient (gallons) / 0 / 0
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied with diazinon as an active ingredient (lbs) / 0 / 0
Total quantity of pesticides/herbicides applied with diazinon as an active ingredient (gallons) / 0 / 0
Fertilizer Use
Total amount of fertilizer applied (lbs) / 25 tons / 25 tons
Total amount of fertilizer applied (gallons) / 0 / 0
Number of Employees Attending Municipal Maintenance Training/Workshops
Municipal training/workshops / 5
Program training/workshops / 75
Other / 0
(1) Constructed Channels – A constructed channel means a constructed pathway for conveying stormwater runoff. The constructed channel may be earthen, rock or concrete lined. It is differentiated from a “v-ditch” in so much as it has a defined bed.
(2) Natural Watercourses – A natural watercourse means a natural pathway for conveying stormwater runoff within defined bed and banks.
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