Willie L. Brown, Jr. Mayor E. Dennis Normandy President Victor G. Makras Vice President Frank L. Cook Ann Moller Caen Ashok Kumar Bhatt John P. Mullane, Jr. General Manager

December 21, 2000 Ms. Susan Gladstone Senior Environmental Specialist SF Bay RWQCB 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1400 Oakland, CA 94612 Subject: Lake Merced Water Replenishment Project -- December 12, 2000 meeting Dear Ms. Gladstone: Thank you for meeting with us on December 12th.  It was a productive meeting and we look forward to continuing our discussions on how to utilize storm water to replenish Lake Merced.  This letter summarizes the key points of the meeting, outstanding issues for continued discussion, identifies the action items, and presents the proposed project schedule.   Key Meeting Points The project has strong potential benefits for providing a reliable source of water to replenish Lake Merced while simultaneously improving flood management for the City of Daly City and the County of San Mateo.  Other water sources available to San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, such as potable water, may not be available for discharge to Lake Merced after the SFPUC converts to chloramination in 2003.  Daly City's storm water system is significantly constrained at its discharge tunnel during peak storm events thus preventing Daly City from addressing other upstream flooding issues. The proposed project may include structural and non-structural treatment strategies, such as best management practices, physical treatment devices or treatment wetlands. Storm water quality sampling is on-going in Vista Grande Canal. The RWQCB has expressed aninterest in the project because of its integrated watershed management approach. The diversion of storm water to Lake Merced is recognized as a potential strategy for integrated resource management Outstanding Issues What is the proposed storm water quality for discharge to Lake Merced? The RWQCB wants to evaluate existing Lake Merced data before indicating water quality goals for diverted storm water. What monitoring would be required? The RWQCB is not ready to identify which parameters, and the sampling frequency, for which monitoring would be required. What would be the water quality impacts to groudwater quality? The RWQCB expressed concerns regarding the addition of storm water to Lake Merced.  Daly City and the SFPUC will furnish a summary of existing data for Lake Merced and Daly City's storm water to RWQCB. Is a permit required? The storm water in Vista Grande Canal is permitted currently under a countywide permit for San Mateo County.  The countywide NPDES storm water permitisunder appeal before the State Water Quality Control Board.  Further discussion is needed to determine what, if any, approvals are needed to replenish Lake Merced with storm water. What additional constituents require analyses in the current sampling program for Lake Merced and the  Vista Grande Canal storm water? Dissolved oxygen, nutrients, PAHs, organics, pesticides, and bioaccumulative metals such as mercury, zinc, lead, copper and selenium. Action Items Joan Ryan to coordinate with Steve Moore regarding obtaining historic water quality monitoring and limnological surveys at Lake Merced.  Possibly consider a meeting with Dave Dingman. Toni Pezzetti to identify and review other situations in southern California where storm water is diverted to an inland lake without an outlet. Toni Pezzetti to review the detection limits for the pesticide and organics sampling of Vista Grande Canal storm water conducted during the past two wet weather seasons, and to determine if the detection limits are comparable to other storm water sampling programs. Schedule The ooverall project objective is to have a pilot test site designed, constructed, and installed prior to the 2001-2002 winter.  To meet this goal, the following milestones are identified:   March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 May to July 2001 Aug. to Oct. 2001 Complete storm water sampling and evaluate data. Determine treatment requirements for diverted storm water. Identify treatment and diversion strategy approach.  Identify permit requirements. Design pilot test facilities. Construct pilot facilities. This is an agressive, but achievable, schedule.  Strong coordination with the RWQCB will be necessary to meet this schedule.  We look forward to working with you on implementation of this project. Sincerely,   (signed) Michael Carlin, Manager Bureau of Strategic and System Planning San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (signed) Patrick Sweetland, Director Dept. of Water and Wastewater Resources City of Daly City  STRATEGIC AND SYSTEM PLANNING 1212 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 TEL. (415) 554 9100  FAX (415) 554 9535