Item 6-F

Council Meeting: 10/14/97                        Santa Monica, CA

TO:       Mayor and City Council

FROM:     City Staff

          SUBJECT:  Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to
          Negotiate and Execute an Amendment to Continue the
          Contract with the City of Los Angeles for the Dry-
          Weather Runoff Diversion from the Pico-Kenter Storm
          Drain to the Sanitary Sewer System  

INTRODUCTION
This report recommends that the City Council authorize the City
Manager to negotiate and execute an amendment to the contract
with the City of Los Angeles to continue diverting dry-weather
low flow runoff from the Pico-Kenter storm drain into the
sanitary sewer system.  The original diversion agreement has been
extended two times and the current agreement term will expire on
October 31, 1997.  This amendment will extend the agreement to
October 31, 2000.    

BACKGROUND
For many years, the Pico-Kenter storm drain has been a source of
concern because its dry weather flow contains high concentrations
of biological and chemical contaminants.   When released into the
Santa Monica Bay, these contaminants pose a potential risk to
public health.  The flow is highly variable and difficult to
quantify, but for the purposes of this contract it is assumed
that one-half of the flow originates in the City of Los Angeles
and one-half originates in Santa Monica.

In 1991, the City of Santa Monica, the City of Los Angeles, and
the County of Los Angeles constructed a temporary "by-pass line"
to carry dry weather low flows from the Pico-Kenter storm drain
six-hundred feet out into the ocean.  This project prevented the
accumulation of low flow storm water at the outlet of the Pico-
Kenter drain which over the summer months becomes stagnant and
unsightly.

In an effort to further reduce pollution from entering the Santa
Monica Bay, on January 13, 1992, the Cities of Los Angeles and
Santa Monica entered into an agreement (contract number 84370) to
temporarily divert dry weather urban runoff flows from the Pico-
Kenter storm drain into the sanitary sewer system to be
transported to and treated at the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment
Plant.  As a result of this agreement, diversion pump facilities
were constructed at the terminus of the Pico-Kenter storm drain. 

One condition of the diversion agreement is that the City of
Santa Monica must continue to pursue the design and construction
of the dry weather runoff reclamation facility for the Pico-
Kenter storm drain.  It is anticipated that the design of the
facility will be complete by early 1998 and construction will be
complete by mid-1999.  Staff is currently negotiating a cost
sharing agreement for the construction of the facility with the
City of Los Angeles.       


BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
According to data received from the City's Wastewater Division,
approximately thirty-nine (39) million gallons of dry weather
flow are diverted to the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant each
year.  This results in a sewage treatment cost of approximately
$140,000 per year, of which  one-half is paid by the City of Los
Angeles and one-half is paid by Santa Monica per the agreement. 
Santa Monica's share ($70,000) is already budgeted in account
number 31-500-661-00000-5512-00000.  

RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager
to negotiate and execute an amendment to continue the agreement
with the City of Los Angeles to divert dry weather runoff from
the Pico-Kenter storm drain into the sanitary sewer system.