From: "Ward, Ron (PWA)" <rgward@oaklandnet.com>
Date: May 19, 2005 3:54:53 PM PDT
To: 'Mark Brest van Kempen' <mbvk@sbcglobal.net>, Friendsof2Creeks@yahoogroups.com, "Osalbo, Faustino Jun" <fosalbo@oaklandnet.com>, 'Barbara Sutherland ' <IMCEAMAILTO-bsutherland+40ucdavis+2Eedu@oaklandnet.com>
Cc: "Brooks, Desley" <DBrooks@oaklandnet.com>, "Nadel, Nancy" <NNadel@oaklandnet.com>, "Uzegbu, Marcel" <MUzegbu@oaklandnet.com>, "Estes, Lesley" <lcestes@oaklandnet.com>, "Schwarz, Alison" <aschwarz@oaklandnet.com>, "'klichten@waterboards.ca.gov'" <klichten@waterboards.ca.gov>, "'friendsof2creeks@yahoogroups.com'" <friendsof2creeks@yahoogroups.com>, "'nannystu@pacbell.net'" <nannystu@pacbell.net>, "Neary, Mike" <mjneary@oaklandnet.com>, Office of the Mayor <OfficeoftheMayor@oaklandnet.com>, "'gantenbein@n-h-i.org'" <gantenbein@n-h-i.org>, "'chiye@cazuma.com'" <chiye@cazuma.com>, "Ward, Ron (PWA)" <rgward@oaklandnet.com>, "Lau, David W" <dwlau@oaklandnet.com>, "Sweiss, Fuad" <fssweiss@oaklandnet.com>, "'jean@jeanquan4council.org'" <jean@jeanquan4council.org>, "'cityochang@aol.com'" <cityochang@aol.com>, "Madison, William" <wmadison@oaklandnet.com>
Subject: RE: Chimes Creek issues continue
Mark:
In reply to your May 12, 2005 e-mail message, I offer the following account of events surrounding your complaint of "opaque and quarry colored" water in Chimes Creek.
Since Tuesday, May 10, 2005, the water stored in the detention pond of the Leona Quarry development site has been consistently clear, with turbidity measurements below 50 NTU. Tests conducted between May 10 and May 12, 2005 measured NTU readings of 10.3, 16.8, and 9.4.
When Jun Osalbo, the Public Works Agency Construction Inspector, received your call at 10:00 am Thursday, May 12, 2005, reporting opaque and quarry colored water in Chimes Creek, he did not believe the turbid water was from the Leona Quarry site since the water in the pond was clear. Instead, he thought there may have been an accident on the site, such as a broken water line, or possibly that there was an undetected discharge occurring. For these reasons, Jun called the Leona Quarry developer to confirm that there were no accidents at the site. This is our standard protocol in situations such as this. The report from the developer was that there was nothing unusual occurring, and the site was not discharging water from the detention basin.
When Jun arrived at the site within 30 minutes of his phone call, he witnessed the stored water to be clean, and the area around the discharge hoses from the detention pond to be dry. I believe Jun took the correct approach to the situation because he could have averted an incident the developer might not have been aware of.
Although it is not recommended that the developer leave the pumps running unattended, there are no regulations prohibiting the contractor to discharge clean water at night. Since there was no urgency in releasing water from the detention pond to increase storage capacity, the developer has been directed to discharge during the day while crews were present. We do not have a violation of the grading permit, and no citations will be issued.
Regarding our conversation about the release of water at night being a violation, I was speaking on the premise that if someone surreptitiously dumped polluted water late at night to evade detection by the City inspector it would be a finable violation of City ordinances.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 238-6606.
Sincerely,
Ronald Ward
Public Works Agency Supervisor