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Report regarding an Ordinance adding Chapter 14.06 to the South San Francisco Municipal Code to manage polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during building demolition projects. (Andrew Wemmer, Environmental Compliance Supervisor)
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council introduce an Ordinance adding Chapter 14.06 to the South San Francisco Municipal Code to manage polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during building demolition projects, and waive further reading.
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BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
PCBs have been detected in elevated levels in certain sportfish within the San Francisco Bay (Bay). To make the fish safer to eat, PCBs sources to the Bay need to be identified and controlled. Urban stormwater runoff is considered a significant pathway for PCBs into the Bay. Accordingly, regulatory agencies are requiring that Bay Area municipalities address sources of PCBs in stormwater runoff discharged to the Bay from municipal separate storm sewers systems (MS4s). This regulation targets selected priority building materials that may contain relatively high levels of PCBs, especially in buildings constructed or remodeled from January 1, 1950 to December 31, 1980.
During demolition, these building materials and associated PCBs may be released to the environment and transported to the Bay by stormwater runoff. The priority building materials are caulking, thermal/fiberglass insulation, adhesive/mastic, and rubber window gaskets (BASMAA 2018). To identify these materials, an initial literature review was conducted to identify the full list of known PCBs-containing building materials and reported PCBs concentrations. The materials were then prioritized by developing six factors that relate to the load or mass of PCBs associated with the materials, the likelihood of the material to get into stormwater during the demolition process, and the relative difficulty to remove the material from the building. A spreadsheet was used to assign a score ...
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