Article 6 — ADVANCED PROTECTION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

a.

An advanced protection management program is the minimum required management program for all new, replacement and expansion OWTS located within identified areas suspected or known to be impaired by discharges from OWTS that require specific design restriction, operation or monitoring. Those areas to be included in the advanced protection management program include the following:

Those specific areas as may be determined by the Board of Supervisors as impaired areas based on evaluation results of cumulative impact evaluations consistent with this chapter. Such impaired areas may require additional protections related to OWTS design, installation, and reporting.

Those lands within six hundred (600) linear feet from the natural or levied bank of creeks and rivers, high water for lakes and reservoirs, and the mean high tide line for tidally influenced water bodies, of any impaired water body or segments thereof that are identified by the State Water Board and by US EPA pursuant to Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act.

Those lands addressed by a specific TMDL issued by a CRWQCB.

b.

A description of all impaired areas as described in subsection a. which are considered to be within the Advanced Protection Management Program, will be included in San Mateo County Environmental Health's Local Agency OWTS Management Program on file with the CRWQCB and published in the Onsite Systems Manual.

(Ord. No. 04754, § 1, 1-5-2016)

a.

For those lands addressed by a specific TMDL, any advanced protection management program requirements for OWTS may be defined by the TMDL implementation plan. For those impaired water bodies that do have an adopted TMDL addressing the impairment, but the TMDL does not assign a load allocation to OWTS, no further action is required unless the TMDL is modified at some point in the future to include actions for OWTS.

b.

For those specific impaired areas determined by Environmental Health based on cumulative impact evaluations, any advanced protection management requirements for OWTS will be defined as to mitigate the specific impact(s).

c.

For those areas without an adopted TMDL within six hundred (600) linear feet of 303(d) listed water bodies impaired for either pathogens or nitrogen, the following requirements apply:

Operating Permit Required as Alternative OWTS: New, replacement and expansion OWTS shall apply for and maintain an operating Permit as an alternative OWTS, subject to all the requirements of this chapter and the Onsite Systems Manual.

Supplemental Treatment for Pathogen Impairment: New, replacement, and expansion OWTS must provide ongoing supplemental treatment for pathogens as specified in the Onsite Systems Manual.

Supplemental Treatment for Nitrogen Impairment: New, replacement, and expansion OWTS must provide ongoing supplemental treatment for nitrogen as specified in the Onsite Systems Manual.

(Ord. No. 04754, § 1, 1-5-2016)

a.

Cumulative impacts mean persistent and/or increasing effect of OWTS resulting from the density of such discharges in relation to the assimilative capacity of the local environment. Examples include, but are not limited to, nitrate or salt additions to ground water or surface water and rise in groundwater levels (mounding of the water table) that interferes with the performance of an OWTS, causing drainage problems or resulting in other adverse hydrological or soil conditions affecting public health, water quality or public safety.

b.

Where OWTS may have cumulative impacts on groundwater and/or watershed conditions due to such factors as the constituent levels (e.g., nitrogen content) in the wastewater, the volume of wastewater flow, the density of OWTS discharges in a given area, and/or the sensitivity and beneficial uses, as defined in the CRWQCB Basin Plan, of water resources in the discharge area, Environmental Health may require additional technical studies (also termed "cumulative impact studies") or other information demonstrating, to the satisfaction of Environmental Health, that use of the proposed OWTS will not create adverse cumulative effects on water quality, public health or safety. Such cumulative impact studies will be as prescribed in the Onsite Systems Manual.

c.

Based on results of cumulative impact evaluations or consideration of factors affecting OWTS placement and performance, including, but not limited to, area-wide soil and drainage characteristics, flooding and seasonal water table, developmental density, and proximity to surface water, the Board of Supervisors may establish impaired areas. Such impaired areas shall have clear geographical boundaries, be established by Resolution after a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors, and may require additional protections related to OWTS design, installation, and reporting consistent with this chapter and Onsite Systems Manual.

(Ord. No. 04754, § 1, 1-5-2016)