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02-10-88SpMtg 393 FEBRUARY 10, 1988 A Special Meeting of the City Commission of the City of Delray Beach, Florida, was called to order by Mayor Doak S. Campbell in the First Floor Conference Room at City Hall at 6:16 P.M.,Wednesday, February 10, 1988. Roll call showed: Present - Commission Member Richard J. Dougherty Commission Member Marie Horenburger Commission Member Mary McCarty Mayor Doak S. Campbell Absent - Commission Member Jimmy Weatherspoon Also present were - City Manager Walter O. Barry and City Attorney Herbert W.A. Thiele. Mayor Campbell called the meeting to order and announced that this meeting has been called for the purpose of (1) Receiving , report from CH2M Hill on well field impurities. 1. The City Attorney reported this meeting has been called to bring the Commission up to date on the well field matter and to give the Commission the opportunity to hear from the experts the City has retained in this regard. Also, for the City Attorney's Office and the City Manager's Office to let the Commission know what they have been doing on the situation and get some input from the experts on the problem and the solution, long and short term. The City Attorney advised there is going to be, potentially, some heavy duty litigation involved in the operation, either by the State of Florida, the Federal Government or the City; probably at least by the City in the not too distant future, so some of the things that are going to be said obviously have to be couched in terms of what may come back when and if we need to litigate the issue. The City Attorney reported they began to gear up on the subject matter once they received certain information in December; they then had joint meetings with people from the Palm Beach County Health Department, the DER and staff people. Subsequently, because of the information received and what appeared to be a contamination issue that could involve DER regulations and even EPA regulations, they felt the need to go forward and retain who they considered to be experts in the field; the Commission approved the contract with CH2M Hill last evening. They have also retained as a consultant to the City Attorney's Office, the law firm of Crowell and Moring who have helped them in other cases on environmental law. He stated they have asked CH2M Hill to (1) assist the City Attorney's Office in preparing for ultimate litigation which may occur to enforce a citizens' action for cleanup and for recoupment of funds, (2) to assist in review of both the government's regulations and review, as well as the private businesses in the area, submissions to agencies about what they believe to be the problem and their solu- tions, and (3) ultimately to become involved jointly or severally with enforcement actions after the fact. DER and the Health Depart- ment have been involved in looking at both the well field situation and the contamination issue. They got the feeling that DER was working toward an enforcement action that the City would at least be able to work within and they are not going to do anything that would hurt the City's ability to, (if we have to) subsequently go after the responsible party to recoup the monies that are being expended now and into the future. The City Attorney advised that DER has had discussions with a corporation in the area called Aerodri. Part of the process is that they do an assessment to assess who is responsible, what is the responsible substance and what is going to be done about it in 394 its impact. The assessment process could take as long as a year or more and that is why it is not only important to become involved in the ultimate solutions but to get the experts involved in what should be.done in the interim to make sure the City has a sufficient source of water that meets statutory and regulatory criteria. The City Manager added that the City is in contact with Boynton Beach and will be receiving about 1.3 million gallons of water per day and building our reserve at night. They have also been in contact with the City of Boca Raton relative to establishing a linkage to our system. With the approval of the Commission last evening to bring Well No. 17 back on line adding another million gallons a day will, with careful management of the water system, allow the City to meet its demands; at the same time they will be asking for voluntary water restrictions on the part of the public. Bob Wright of CH2M Hill reported they were asked to examine information starting back in December of 1987 concerning water quality when the City first learned of a potential problem. As background he advise~ that in August 1987 DER identified one business, that has been mentioned, and a couple other potential responsible parties that had been handling chemicals in an improper way and possibly diSposed o~ chemicals on their sites in an improper way; they had been given notices of violation. In November samples of soil and water, as part of the routine procedure after the violations, were taken from the one property and high levels of chemical contaminates were found in the soil and ground water from monitoring wells. These chemicals, which were primarily perchloro- ethylene and trichloroethylene, are commonly used in dry cleaning, parts degreasing and metals manufacturing operations. In December these same chemical species at lower levels were found to be present in laboratory analysis of some of the City's water supply wells, the wells referred to as the 20's Well Field, of which there are about seven wells. This water going through the treatment plant and being sent out in the distribution system contained in a couple of analyses from one to six parts per billion of these chemicals and at this time the City took the appropriate action of shutting down those wells which were contaminated. Mr. Wright stated the 20's Well Field is a primary source of water for the City and the shutting down of these wells could result in a shortage of water if certain steps are not taken. The short term reduction of water usage is warranted in this case; the things that the City can be doing to provide water supply are (1) reliance on the clean wells (Well 917), (2) interconnection with the neighboring water supply systems and (3) installation of more wells. The use of contaminated water equipment from the well fields is possible through a treatment system which would remove the chemical contaminates and provide clean water to the distribution system and they will be focusing their efforts on this. Tim Shar~e of CH2M Hill gave a zelar presentation depicting ground water movement, general location of the well fields, proposed well fields, and graphs of present water supply and demand. He advised for planning purposes it is important to plan the water supply on firm capacity; last year's demand showed the average daily demand was 11.5 million gallons, the maximum day was approxi- mately 14 million gallons. If the City were to take out the 20 Series wells there would only be 10 or 12 million gallons which would not make the average, and never the maximum. Mr. Sharpe also reported that the North and South well fields are very limited on capacity because of the threat of salt water intrusion. Mr. Sharpe presented a series of slides depicting the contamination as they see it from the information received from DER and the City and showing the flow of water across the contaminated area. Upon question, he advised that as long as it continues to rain in South Florida that water is going to percolate down into the ground; until this area is remediated we are going to continually have contaminates - 2 - 2/10/88 395 flowing into the ground water. The City Manager advised there will be an excavation in the consent order of a certain amount.of soil which will be barreled and trucked off to a disposal site; in addition, he would presume, the responsible parties would be required to sink a well of their own to pump the water back up and strip it. If they do what they are supposed to do the City could be looking at a summertime initiation of cleanup. Mr. Sharpe stated that one of the solutions would be to put the 20 Series wells back on line, pump them and treat the water before it goes into the water treatment plant. First, however, the City needs to get some extra water. Upon question as to an estimation of the costs involved in pumping out the wells and treating the water, Mr. Sharpe stated at this point this is still undefined. The City Manager advised they fully expect all of these costs to be recovered in the future; however, it will be upfronted by the City. Discussion followed with regard to the stripping of the water and the contaminates found. Cal Johnson, Manager of the Water Treatment Plan, advised there was an early indication that the wate~ had exceeded the contaminate level of 3; a test was taken, sent away for confirmation and the test came back at a 1.9 level, which is the confirmed highest level that was shown. Art Williams, Palm Beach County Health Department, stated they have been taking readings in their laboratory practically every day since December 9th; there has been nothing in the water exceeding 3 parts per billion since they have been looking at it. They have been assuring the press and the residents that there is no problem with the drinking water; the problem is with the wells. The City Manager stated it was impor- tant to emphasize that the reason they have a concern about the water supply is to protect the quality of the drinking water and maintain its safety. Upon question by Mr. Dougherty, concerning using activated carbon, Don Haley, Operation Supervisor at the plant, advised they experimented with this before at an expense of $28,000 per filter and they have eight filters. The activated carbon exhausted its ability to absorb anything in eight months. Mr. Dougherty stated he was talking about using it as a solution feed into the primary tanks in a powdered form. Mr. Sharpe advised you are talking about a lot of materials and handling equipment, a fairly high expense on carbon and a fairly long lead time in getting that type of equipment in the system. Mrs. Horenburger stated that since Delray Beach is a little over the average for daily water consumption it makes a good case for looking at some conservation, particularly with regard to irrigation. The City Manager advised they will be having some media messages on the water bills and providing at least weekly updates on conservation goals to keep the public abreast of the types of measures that can be taken. The City Manager commented that it is important in responding to the public that the problem we are facing now was caused by an industrial chemical spill and not by any operating failure or neg- ligence by the City at the plant. They are inviting members of the press to the water plant tomorrow for an orientation of that facility and to view the well field in question. Mayor Campbell declared the meeting adjourned at 7:05 P.M. ~ City Clerk ATTEST The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of Delray Beach and that the information provided herein is the minutes of the - 3 - 2/10/88 396 meeting of said City Commission of February 10, 1988, which minutes were formally approved and adopted by the City Commission on_~.~ _~. 3;./~f g · ±ty Clork NOTE TO READER: If the minutes that you have received are not completed as indicated above, then this means that these are not the official minutes of the City Commission. They will become the official minutes only after they have been reviewed and approved which may involve some amend- ments, additions, or deletions to the minutes as set forth above. - 4 - 2/10/88