Frequently Asked Questions
Why are Selenium and Nitrogen
a problem?
What is Order No. R8-2004-0021 and how did it
come about?
What is the Nitrogen Selenium Management Program
(NSMP)?
Who is the Working Group?
What is the relationship between the County of
Orange and the Working Group in regard to this project?
What is a groundwater-related discharge?
Q. Why are Selenium and Nitrogen a problem?
Selenium is a naturally occurring element that is necessary
for life, but it is toxic at high levels and is unusual in that
the difference between essential and toxic levels is relatively
small. Selenium is a bioaccumulative pollutant, meaning that
it accumulates in the food chain through uptake and consumption
by plants and wildlife, and can cause adverse effects on fish
and birds. There are different forms of selenium, some more
harmful than others. Similar to selenium, nitrogen is an essential
nutrient, but it can cause harmful algal blooms when nitrogen
levels are excessive. Excessive algal blooms decrease dissolved
oxygen in surface waters (referred to as eutrophication) and
can result in fish kills.
In the Newport Bay watershed, selenium derived
from ancient marine sediments in local foothills accumulated
over the last several thousand years in an area known as the
Swamp of the Frogs. This ancient swamp, though now drained and
filled, has become an almost limitless source of selenium because
of the high water table in the area. Virtually any activity
that mobilizes groundwater to the surface has the potential
to increase selenium contamination of surface waters in the
Newport Bay watershed. During the 1980's and 1990's, large mats
of algae were common in Lower and Upper Newport Bay. These extensive
mats threatened beneficial uses by lowering dissolved oxygen
levels and impeding recreational boating. The peak bloom of
1985-1986 resulted in a fish kill in the Newport Island area.
Historically the major source of nitrogen in the watershed was
runoff from commercial nurseries. Improvements in nursery operations
have reduced this source, and the current primary source is
most likely groundwater, which has received nitrogen from agricultural
land uses.
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Q. What is Order No. R8-2004-0021
and how did it come about?
Until 2003, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality
Control Board (Regional Board) regulated discharges to surface
waters that pose an insignificant (de minimus) threat to water
quality through an area-wide NPDES permit. However, when this
permit was renewed in 2003 by Order No. R8-2003-0061, the Newport
Bay watershed was specifically excluded due to concerns that
elevated levels of selenium and nitrogen in short-term groundwater-related
discharges would not comply with established TMDLs in the watershed.
Therefore, the Regional Board developed and issued a separate
general NPDES permit specific to the Newport Bay watershed -
Order No. R8-2004-0021 (Order). The Order acknowledges that
while current groundwater levels exceed the California Toxics
Rule (CTR) limit of 5 ug/L selenium, a feasible treatment technology
does not exist to lower the levels in the discharges to the
CTR standard. Therefore, the Order incorporates an alternative
compliance approach by authorizing the formation of a Working
Group and the implementation of a Work
Plan to develop a comprehensive understanding of and management
plan for selenium and nitrogen groundwater-related inflows in
the watershed.
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Q. What is the Nitrogen
and Selenium Management Program (NSMP)?
Order No. R8-2004-0021 for the Newport Bay watershed includes
numeric effluent limits that may be difficult or impossible
to meet since there are no feasible treatment technologies for
selenium for short-term groundwater-related discharges. To recognize
this problem, the permit allows for an alternative compliance
approach that consists of implementing a Work
Plan to investigate selenium and nitrogen sources and impacts
as well as potential treatment or reduction methods. The NSMP
is the effort by a stakeholder Working Group to implement this
Work
Plan.
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Q. What is the NSMP Working Group?
The NSMP Working Group consists of staff
level technical representatives of watershed stakeholders that
include state, county, and city agencies, water districts, and
private entities that have agreed to fund and implement a Work
Plan to address selenium and nitrogen groundwater-related
inflows in the Newport Bay watershed. The Working Group was
created in response to Order No. R8-2004-0021 regulating short-term
groundwater-related discharges. Since the adoption of the Order
in December 2004, the Working Group has met frequently to launch
the compliance effort, known as the Nitrogen and Selenium Management
Program (NSMP). As of October 1, 2005, the NSMP Working Group
consists of eighteen (18) Members and three (3) Participating
Members.
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Q. What is the relationship between the
County of Orange and the Working Group in regard to this project?
The County of Orange (through its Watershed & Coastal Resources
Division and Flood Control District Departments) is a member
of the Working Group, because it conducts groundwater-related
discharges just like the other stakeholders who are Working
Group members. The County is also serving as the Chair of the
NSMP and as the "lead agency" to coordinate the activities
of the Working Group, including management of the consulting
team (RBF Consulting, CH2M HILL and Larry Walker Associates)
and other technical resources needed to implement the Work
Plan.
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Q. What is a groundwater-related discharge?
The groundwater-related discharges regulated by Order No. R8-2004-0021
are:
