10.8 SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

In response to an increasing demand being placed upon landfill resources and recently adopted legislation by the State of California, local jurisdictions have prepared management plans for solid waste disposal, management and reduction. The cities of Yuba City, Live Oak, Marysville and Wheatland along with Yuba and Sutter Counties entered into a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) in 1990 to form the Regional Waste Management Authority (RWMA). The City of Gridley, in Butte County, joined the RWMA in 1994. This is the only multi-county solid waste planning agency in the State of California. The JPA vests the RWMA with the power to prepare the Regional Agency Integrated Waste Management Plan. The Plan is comprised of the Source Reduction and Recycling Element (SRRE) , the Household Hazardous Waste Element (HHWE) , the Non-Disposal Facilities Element (NDFE) , the Siting Element , and the Regional Agency Integrated Waste Management Summary Plan. This plan is considered locally approved and expected to be approved by the state in 1996.

Within the Bi-County area, there are no existing, permitted solid waste disposal facilities in the cities of Live Oak, Wheatland and Yuba City, or within the unincorporated area of Sutter County. Solid waste from the bi-county jurisdictions is collected by Yuba-Sutter Disposal, Inc. (YSDI) under franchise contract agreements and is disposed of at the YSDI Landfill, located in Marysville. Selected loads of solid waste from these jurisdictions are processed through the YSDI Integrated Waste Recovery Facility (IWRF), located adjacent to the landfill in Marysville. Recyclable solid wastes are separated from the solid waste loads, the residual waste is disposed of at a YSDI landfill.

Solid waste collection is not required in Yuba City, Live Oak or unincorporated Sutter County.

The YSDI landfill has a remaining site capacity of approximately two to three years. YSDI received approval for a new landfill site located on Ostrum Road also in Yuba County that will provide landfill capacity for 45 to 50 years. (For additional information regarding solid waste disposal please refer to Section 5.7.)

HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT

The Department of Health Services defines hazardous waste in the following manner:

A waste, or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may either:

1. Cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or

2. Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or environment when improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of, or otherwise managed.
According to Sutter County's Hazardous Waste Management Plan (HWMP) completed in January 1990, the County's hazardous waste production is about 2,500 tons per year. Wastes managed on-site are not included in this figure, however, the figure does include manifested one-time cleanup wastes. Waste oil is the largest volume of waste produced, accounting for some 71% of the quantifiable waste stream with Small Quantity Generators (SQG's) generating most of the oil.

Sutter County relies on State enforcement of hazardous waste regulations, but certain programs exist at County and City levels regarding hazardous materials storage and emergency response procedures. Additional requirements based on changing state law have increased the work load on several local departments. In most cases meeting these new requirements has proved to be a challenge due to limited financial and staff resources. Federal, state and local agencies maintain a variety of periodically updated information with regard to hazardous waste handling, contaminated sites, hazardous materials storage and emergency response. Below is a list of public agencies and areas of responsibility with respect to hazardous waste/material (it should be noted that hazardous waste regulations and areas of responsibility are constantly evolving which often result in a shift of responsibility between agencies):

* Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board - Toxic Pits, Underground Tank Tracking System.

* City of Yuba City - Regulates industrial discharges into municipal sewage system.

* Feather River Air Quality Management District - Enforces State and Federal Outdoor Air Quality regulations.

* Department of Health Services - Abandoned Site Program Information System Facility Profile Report and Medical Waste Management Program.

* Cal EPA, Department of Toxic Substances Control - Preliminary Assessment/Site Investigation sites (ASPIS List); the Annual Report on Active Site Cleanups.

* City of Live Oak - Regulates industrial discharges into municipal sewage system.

* Sutter County Agriculture Department - Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) and Proposition 65.

* State of California Environmental Affairs Agency - Hazardous Waste and Substances Site List.

* Sutter County Community Services Department, Environmental Health Program - Proposition 65 (Toxics and Safe Drinking Water Initiative) reports.

* Sutter County Community Services Department, Office of Emergency Services Program - Partial inventory of business and property owners having threshold quantities of hazardous materials (above ground); Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Plan.
* Governor's Office of Planning and Research - Hazardous Waste and Substances Site List (quarterly).

* U.S. EPA, Region IX - U.S. Superfund Sites, National Priority List

Yuba Sutter Disposal, Inc. operates a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility on Burns Drive in Yuba City which is utilized by bi-county residents to dispose of household hazardous waste and also available for use by Small Quantity Commercial Source Generators. Most of the 2,500 tons of hazardous wastes generated annually in Sutter County is shipped out of the County for disposal or treatment. In FY 1994/95, approximately 73 tons of household hazardous waste was disposed of at this facility.

The County does not have any Class I landfill disposal or treatment facilities. The Sutter County Hazardous Waste Management Plan identified that the current amount of hazardous wastes produced in the County cannot economically support the development of a Class I facility within Sutter County. The Plan proposes that Sutter County will cooperate with other counties in the north central region of California to develop regional facilities for the management of hazardous wastes.

10.9 AIRPORT SAFETY

Air transportation in Sutter County utilizes 1 public, 1 special use, 6 private and 3 restricted (not open to public available for emergency use) airports serving both general and agricultural users. Other airstrips and heliports are located throughout the County and are either used as private use air strips or airstrips for agricultural users. Only 1 facility provides public access, and state law requires that facility to develop a Comprehensive Airport Land Use Plan, designating airport vicinity land use and clear zones. The Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) in each county adopts these plans (Sacramento Area Council of Governments functions as the ALUC for Sutter County). The goal of each ALUC is to attain compatible land uses surrounding airports. However, the ALUCs are without jurisdiction to alter previously developed lands in order to avoid uses that are incompatible with airport uses.

SUTTER COUNTY AIRPORT

The Sutter County Airport is located on approximately 170 acres of land, and is operated by the Sutter County Public Works Department. No commuter airlines utilize the Sutter County airport. Due to Sutter County's proximity and convenience to the Sacramento International Airport directly south of Sutter County, commercial service has not expanded into Sutter County.

The airport has a single paved runway 3,040 feet in length and 75 feet wide. No control tower is located at this airport. A major portion of the airport operations are a result of agricultural aircraft involved in crop dusting activities. The County adopted a master plan for airport operations in 1968.

The airport has a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) which establishes height, noise and safety planning boundaries for the airport and defines compatible land uses. The Sutter County Airport is located on an island of unincorporated Sutter County land, surrounded to the north, south, and west by land incorporated by Yuba City. The primary land use to the north and west of the airport consists of low to medium density residential, with some commercial and industrial use. The Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds is also located to the north. The Richland Housing Center, a Sutter County Housing Authority project, is located west of the airport. South of the airport is largely vacant at present, and is predominantly zoned for industrial use. Land further south is zoned for residential use. Much of the land immediately surrounding the airport itself is owned by the airport, and is zoned for industrial use. Land to the east between the airport and the Feather River is a flood plain area.

TABLE 10.9-1
TOTAL OPERATIONS
Sutter County Airport

Year Total Operations

1990 58,000

Source: Draft CLUP, June 1993

10.10 RADON

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas. It comes from the natural decay of uranium that is found in nearly all soils. It typically moves through the ground to the air above and into homes and other buildings through cracks and openings in the foundation. Any home, school or workplace may have a radon problem regardless of whether it is new or old, well-sealed or drafty, or with or without a basement. Nearly one out of every 15 homes in the United States is estimated to have elevated annual average levels of indoor radon.

A driving force (reduced atmospheric pressure in the house relative to the soil, producing a pressure gradient) and entry points must exist for radon to enter a building from the soil. The negative pressure caused by furnace combustion, ventilation devices, and the stack effect (the rising and escape of warm air from the upper floors of the building, causing a temperature and pressure gradient within the structure) during cold winter months are common driving forces. Cracks and other penetrations through building foundations, sump holes, and slab-to-foundation wall joints are common entry points.

Radon levels in the basement are generally higher than those on the main floor or upper floors of most structures. Homes with basements generally provide more entry points for radon, commonly have a more pronounced stack effect, and typically have lower air pressure relative to the surrounding soil than nonbasement homes. The term "nonbasement" applies to slab-on grade or crawl space construction.

The Great Valley is underlain by surficial materials of Quaternary alluvium derived largely from the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west. Equivalent uranium values for rocks and soils in the Great Valley are influenced greatly by the uranium content of material supplied by the nearby mountains. The northernmost part of the Great Valley has eU values (estimated uranium from aerial radiometric survey) that generally range from 0.5 to 2.5 parts per million (ppm), except for the Sutter Buttes area which has values of as much as 5.5 ppm eU.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepared a map of Radon Zones which assigns each of the 3,141 counties in the United States to one of three zones:

Zone 1 Counties - have a predicted average indoor screening level greater than 4 pCi/L (radon to air unit of measure, see glossary)

Zone 2 Counties - have a predicted average screening level greater than or equal to 2 pCi/L and less than or equal to 4 pCi/L

Zone 3 Counties - have a predicted average screening level less than 2 pCi/L

The EPA map of Radon Zones shows Sutter County in Zone 3. Zone designations were determined by assessing five factors that are known to be important indicators of radon potential: indoor radon measurements, geology, aerial radioactivity, soil parameters, and foundation types.

Elevated indoor radon can be expected in several geologic settings in California. Uraniferous granites, uraniferous Tertiary silicic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, uraniferous dark marine shales, and residual soils and alluvium derived from these units are likely to result in significant percentages of homes with indoor radon levels exceeding 4 pCi/L. The most likely areas for such rock formations to occur are those where elevated eU values occur in the aeroradiometric data. Where structures are sited on excessively drained soils or steep slopes, the radon potential is higher. Extreme indoor radon levels (greater than 100 pCi/L) may be expected where structures are inadvertently sited on uranium occurrences. In those areas where the eU values are moderate to low, excessively well-drained soils or soils with unusually high emanating power may locally cause some indoor radon levels to exceed 4 pCi/L. The presence of steep slopes may also influence radon potential because, in many cases, the structure is built partly below grade. The below-grade parts of the house are more likely to draw soil-gas radon indoors. Where the slope is accommodated by placing the structure on stilts rather than cutting into the hillslope, the radon potential of the structure is low.

Because of the complex nature of radon reduction methods, and because the method used in any given home will depend on details of the construction of that home, advice on specific reduction methods is not described herein. It is best to evaluate the need for reducing radon in your home before you decide on the details of how it can best be accomplished. The Environmental Protection Agency produced a booklet entitled Radon Reduction Techniques for Detached Houses. That booklet will provide suggestion of reduction methods based on your particular home construction.

10.11 FINDINGS

Seismic Hazards

* Sutter County is not in an area of active earthquake faults or recent seismic activity.

* Potential earthquakes on active regional faults could cause moderate seismic shaking in Sutter County causing damage in the County.

* A series of small potentially active faults are located within the Sutter Buttes.

* Portions of the County paralleling the rivers have a generally high potential for liquefaction or amplification of ground motion during a major earthquake.

Geologic Hazards

* The identification and assessment of geologic hazards is in the public interest.

* Geologic hazards limit land development capabilities.

* Erosion of surface materials depends on slope, soil, vegetation, precipitation and development.

* High water levels during flooding can cause significant erosion and other problems for valley farming areas.

* Subsidence of ground surfaces can cause damage in areas where there are extensive withdrawals of groundwater and gas.

* Landslide hazards depend on slope, soil, bedrock, vegetation, precipitation, and proximity to areas undergoing rapid erosion.

* Basins and basin rims in the County in which the soils contain large amounts of clay may result in structural damage from soil shrinking and swelling with changes in moisture content.

Structural Hazards and Critical Facilities

* The County is subject to several hazard types that could affect public safety to varying degrees. These include flooding, structural and wildland fires, potential fault movement, earthquake induced ground shaking and expansive soils.

* As development increases, greater demands will be placed on the County's Community Services Department, Building Inspection Program for the full range of permit, plan review, and construction inspection activities.

* The County adopts the latest recommended versions of various codes governing structural safety and maintains a Building Inspection Program to assure the code requirements are met.

* The cities of Yuba City and Live Oak maintain their own building inspection departments.

* Other agencies outside of the County have major influences on the safety of selected structures and buildings in Sutter County. These include the State's Office of the State Architect (for public schools), Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (for hospitals), the Department of Water Resources for some flood control projects, and others. Some federal agencies, especially the Corps of Engineers (for flood control projects), General Services Administration (for federal buildings), and others share the responsibility for structural safety in Sutter County.

Fire Hazards

* The Sutter Buttes and the "riverbottoms" are susceptible to wildland fires, however, neither pose unreasonable fire risks to any rural community or urbanized area within Sutter County.

* Growth in the urban area will not necessarily result in "new" fire hazards but most likely an increase in the demand on existing fire protection services.

* Residential development outside the urban area has the potential to degrade fire protection services.

* Based on consultations with the State Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, neither the Sutter Buttes, nor the river bottoms pose an unreasonable risk from wildland or urban fires.

Flood Hazards

* Sutter County is located between the Sacramento River and the Feather River and is bisected by the Sutter Bypass.

* Sutter County has experienced flooding that has resulted in loss of property and crops.

* There are 10 large dams on various rivers within Northern California that have the potential to cause significant flooding in Sutter County if any were to fail.

* Most of Sutter County is at risk from flooding should levee and flood control systems fail. Measures outlined in the County's Dam Evacuation Plan, Slow Rise Flood Threat Plan, and applicable sections of the Sutter County Emergency Response Plan will be applied to address various flood related episodes.

Airport Safety

* The Board of Supervisors has adopted a master plan for the County's public airport operations.

* The Board of Supervisors has considered safety for the County's public airport and has a plan and facility commensurate with their current types of aircraft and numbers of aircraft operations.

* Airports serving only agricultural uses are exempt from regulation by the Airport Land Use Commission. These airports may have significant operations and should be considered when reviewing development proposals.

Hazardous Waste Management

* With the additional burden on County Government due to new and changing regulations in Hazardous Waste, Hazardous Materials and Emergency Response, current financial and human resources are inadequate to deal with all of the requirements associated with these programs.

Radon

* With the exception of the Sutter Buttes, Sutter County has low levels of radon.

10.12 PERSONS CONSULTED

Boyer, Bob. Sutter County Building Inspection Department

Boyer, David. Sacramento Area Council of Governments

Engle, Christa. California Department of Transportation, Office of Local Planning

Hart, Tom. Sutter County Public Works Department

Kraus, Gary, Fire Services Administrator. Sutter County Office of Emergency Services

Martin, Keith. Regional Waste Management Authority

Michael, Jim. California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics

Mussallam, George. Sutter County Public Works Department

Toor, Surjit. Soil Conservation Service

10.13 GLOSSARY

Aerial radiometric, aeroradiometric survey: a survey of radioactivity, usually gamma rays, taken by an aircraft carrying a gamma-ray spectrometer pointed at the ground surface

Braccia: a fairly indurated (hard, cemented) volcanic rock consisting of coarse angular ejects within a fine tuff matrix

Ci/L (picocuries per liter): a unit of measure of radioactivity used to describe radon concentrations in a volume of air. One picocurie (10-12 curies) is equal to about 2.2 disintegrations of radon atoms per minute. A liter is about 1.06 quarts. The average concentration of radon in United States homes measured to date is between 1 and 2 pCi/L

Holocene: about the last 11,000 years

ppm (parts per million): a unit of measure of concentration by weight of an element in a substance, in this case, soil or rock. One ppm of uranium contained in a ton of rock corresponds to about 0.03 ounces of uranium. The average concentration of uranium in soils in the United States is between 1 and 2 ppm

Quaternary: a period of geologic age within the last 1.6 million years

Tuff: a rock comprised of compacted volcanic fragments

Volcanic Rocks: igneous rocks extruded or deposited on the surface of the earth

10.14 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfors, J., John Burnett and Thomas Gay Jr. Urban Geology A Master Plan for California, California Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 198, 1973.

Bailey, E.H. 1966, Geology of Northern California, California Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 190.

Bi-County Integrated Waste Management Authority. Bi-County Integrated Waste Management Plan, Source Reduction and Recycling Element, June 1992.

Butte County. Butte County General Plan Background Report, March 10, 1993.

California Department of Water Resources. Division of Dam Safety, Dams Within the Jurisdiction of the State of California, June 1993.

EMCON Associates for Yuba County Health Services Department. Report of Disposal Site Information, Yuba-Sutter Disposal Incorporated, Sanitary Landfill, Yuba County, California, December 1989.

Environmental Science and Associates. Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Proposed Ash Landfill, September 25, 1992.

Gowans, K.D. and John Lindt. Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Sutter County, University of California Agricultural Extension Service, 1965.

Hart, E.W. Fault-Rupture Hazards Zones in California, Alquist-Priolo Special Studies Zones Act of 1972 with Index to Special Studies Zones Maps, California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 42, Revised 1992.

Hausback, B.P. and T.H. Nilsen. Sutter Buttes Field Trip Guide, In: Sloan, Doris and David L. Wagner (eds.) Geologic Excursions in Northern California: San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada, California Division of Mines and Geology Special Publication 109, 1991.

Hausback, Brian. The Sutter Buttes, flyer from the Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, 1991.

Jennings, Charles W. An Explanatory Text to Accompany the 1:750,000 Scale Fault and Geologic Maps of California, California Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 210, 1985.

Jennings, C.W. Fault Map of California with Locations of Volcanoes, Thermal Springs and Thermal Wells, 1:750,000, California Division of Mines and Geology, 1975.

Mualchin, L. and Allen Jones. Peak Acceleration from Maximum Credible Earthquakes in California (Rock and Stiff-Soil Sites) (Prepared for Internal Use by Caltrans), California Division of Mines and Geology, 1992.

Norris, R.M., and R.B. Webb. Geology of California, 1976.

Real, C.R., Toppozada and Parke. Earthquake Epicenter Map of California, showing event from 1900-1974 equal to or greater than magnitude 4.0 or intensity V., 1:1,000,000, USGS and University of California Berkeley, Map Sheet 39, 1978.

Regional Waste Management Authority. Regional Agency Integrated Waste Management Plan (Summary Plan and Siting Element), 1995.

San Francisco Sectional Aeronautical Chart. Scale 1: 500,000.

Steinbrugge, K.V. 1982, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tsunamis, an Anatomy of Hazards.

Sutter County Airport Draft Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Airport Land Use Commission, June 1993.

Sutter County. Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Jaeger Ash Landfill, September 25, 1992.

Sutter County General Plan, 1983.

Sutter County. Hazardous Materials Incident Contingency Plan, May 1989.

Sutter County Hazardous Waste Advisory Committee. Sutter County Hazardous Waste Management Plan, January 1990.

Sutter County Office of Emergency Services. Dam Failure Evacuation Plan, July 1980.

Sutter County Office of Emergency Services. Slow Rise Flood Threat Plan, September 1987.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Draft Sacramento River Flood Control System Evaluation, Phase II - Marysville/Yuba City Area, November 1992.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. SACRAMENTO RIVER FLOOD CONTROL SYSTEM EVALUATION Initial Appraisal Report - Marysville/Yuba City Area, January 1990.

U.S. Army Crops of Engineers. Sacramento River Flood Control System Evaluation Phase III - Mid- Valley Area, Draft Environmental Assessment/Initial Study, May 1995.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Soil Conservation Service, Soil Survey of Sutter County, California.

Wakabayashi, John and Smith, David L. Evaluation of recurrence intervals, characteristic earthquakes, and slip rates associated with thrusting along the Coast Range - Central Valley Geomorphic Boundary, California: Seismological Society of America, v. 84, no. 6, p. 1960-1970, 1994.