B08_Attach_8_Discussions_Permitting_Agencies.pdf

D

Discussions with Environmental

Permitting Agencies

Rehabilitate/Replace Water Well #4 at Sandy Hook

NJDEP Conference Call

September 13, 2021 (2:00 ET)

GATE 225953 | Contract No. 140P2021D0003 | Task Order No. 140P2021F0100

Meeting Minutes

• Attendees:

Member Organization Phone Attend Email

Walt Graham DSC - PM X

Amy Sebring GATE - SH Unit Manager X

Luis Aguilar GATE – Project Management X

Vik Desai VHB X

Tim Hogan VHB X

Ed Whatley W-P X

Taylor Gray W-P X

Greg Smith W-P X

Peter Quern W-P X

Nasir Butt NJDEP X

Meeting Start at 2:00 PM EST

• Ed Whatley went through an introduction and then asked the rest of the team members to do so.

• Nasir Butt from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) was on the call to discuss the project at Sandy Hook.

• WP then went through an overview to give Nasir a background of the design project for the Sandy

Hook Water System.

o Construction of a redundant well (Well 6) with the continued operation of Well 5A.

▪ Well 5A and Well 6 will be interlocked so only one can run at a single time. Well 6 will serve as redundancy to meet Water Allocation Permit guidelines.

▪ Proposed Well 6 will be near 5A.

o Proper decommissioning of abandoned Well 4.

o Final deliverables are schematics for design-build (DB).

o Project with then go out to a DB contractor who will take project through final design, permitting and construction.

• One of the goals of the project call is to make sure proper steps are being taken to align the design with permitting requirements.

• Greg Smith then went through well-related technical items.

o Existing Well 5A depth is 878 ft.

o Proposed Well 6 will be installed adjacent to existing Well 5A and will use the same aquifer.

o Strata under Well 5A contains several confining layers of clay.

o Well screen is below saltwater-freshwater interface.

o Well 5A pump and Allocation Permit are rated for 500 GPM.

▪ Sandy Hook is using considerably less.

o Greg mentioned he wanted to talk about testing requirements for redundant Well 6

▪ Wanted to get understanding for pump test durations.

• Nasir o For the well to be considered a replacement or redundant well, the well has to be within

100 ft of well it is replacing or backing up.

mailto:Walt_F_Graham@nps.gov mailto:Edward.Whatley@wright-pierce.com

September 13, 2021 (2:00 ET) Meeting Agenda

▪ Well must be drilled by a New Jersey licensed master driller.

o Only one well may be operated at a time.

o For the pump testing, you can select one of two options:

▪ 24-hour test at 120% well design capacity

▪ 72-hour test at 100% well design capacity

▪ Well level must be stabilized to a maximum drawdown of 0.2 ft/hr for a minimum of 6 hours.

o Nasir asked if the well location is proposed in a consolidated or unconsolidated formation.

▪ Greg confirmed that the well will be in an unconsolidated formation.

o If there is already an existing Water Allocation Permit, the permitting will include a minor modification to the permit to incorporate the redundant well.

▪ Minor modification process is relatively straightforward.

o If you move the proposed redundant well more than 100 ft, it is no longer considered a minor modification, rather it is considered as a major modification.

▪ The project team should contact the Bureau of Water Allocation (BWA) to discuss the project and constraints.

▪ The major modification process takes considerably longer than the minor modification.

o If stabilization is not reached, what happens?

▪ Can do 180-day extrapolation.

o Redundant well has to mirror the existing well for it to be considered redundant.

▪ Proposed well must utilize the same aquifer.

o When Water Allocation Permits are issued, they are issued for a 5-year period.

o This permitting process involves two permits:

▪ The first permit issued by NJDEP is the permit to construct the proposed redundant well.

• Well drilling/construction cannot begin until permit is issued.

• Post-construction, a well pump capacity and water quality test must be performed by the contractor to confirm parameters and appropriate treatment required.

o Parameters measured include bacteria, inorganics, general chemistry parameters, VOCs, radionucleotides, PFAS o Testing must be performed by a New Jersey state licensed laboratory.

o Tests must meet all state and federal drinking water standards.

▪ Whenever construction is completed, NJDEP must be notified.

• Upon notification, NJDEP will test the water quality of the well independently.

• The DB contractor and NJDEP will compare measured water quality results.

• Once NJDEP has confirmed and received proper documentation, a permit to operate the new well can be issued.

September 13, 2021 (2:00 ET) Meeting Agenda o Ed asked if the team needs to consider obtaining matching samples from Well 5A and Well

6 to make sure the treatment plant can handle both.

▪ The team must check with the BWA on specifics for testing. They may or may not require additional testing based on water quality of new well and type of existing treatment.

▪ Jennifer Myers at the Bureau of Water Allocation should be contacted regarding the project. She should be contacted as soon as possible to be introduced to the project so specific discussions can begin.

o Water Supply Engineering (Nasir) and the BWA typically work together on projects like this and should be included future meetings of similar nature.

o Modification to the current Water Allocation Permit will occur with collaboration by the DB contractor and the BWA.

• Nasir o Looked up Sandy Hook PWSID (#1331001) and went over the existing information for the system that NJDEP has on file.

o Water system has 1 treatment plant with several steps of treatment:

▪ 1st treatment step is aeration.

• Aeration achieves the oxidation of iron and manganese.

• Also achieves the de-gassing of certain gasses.

▪ 2nd treatment step is a pH adjustment.

• Adjustment is achieved in the form of a lime slurry.

• pH adjustment helps with the removal of lead and copper.

▪ 3rd treatment step is filtration through sand filters

• Existing filters are sand and gravel, could only be sand.

• Normally, filters contain three layers: anthracite, sand, and gravel. This system could be old fashioned system which would explain only 1-2 layers.

• Filtration achieves the removal of iron, manganese, and suspended solids.

▪ 4th treatment step is addition of orthophosphates.

• Chemical is used for corrosion control.

• Note: Orthophosphate addition is not referenced in the Standard

Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Sandy Hook water system.

▪ 5th and final treatment step is addition of sodium hypochlorite.

• Chemical used for post disinfection.

o With the current treatment system in place, NJDEP should have no problem issuing initial permit to construct.

o There is currently no treatment for Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and no record of a demonstrated need. Typical PFAS treatment can involve:

▪ GAC filter

▪ Reverse osmosis

▪ Ion exchange

• Ed o Initial plan will be to get permit to construct.

September 13, 2021 (2:00 ET) Meeting Agenda o After construction, discussions could occur on modifications to the existing treatment plant, if required, based on water quality testing.

▪ Future projects may be geared towards addressing existing treatment.

• Ed then went over other general site components that the current design level entails.

o Nasir suggested holding off on discussion about specific design components until the meeting with Jennifer Myers.

o Large UG tank adjacent to existing well cuts off some space to meet the 100 ft distance requirements.

▪ Project team will check with Jennifer Myers to see what the most efficient solution is to satisfy distance requirements.

• Nasir o Water system must own all land within a 50-ft radius of the proposed well.

o The decommissioning of wells is mostly handled by the BWA and can be part of the discussion with Jennifer

▪ Done by licensed well driller

▪ Steve Reya at the BWA can also be included with discussions on decommissioning.

• Ed then closed out the meeting.

o When Nasir sends over contacts, the project team will get in touch with Jennifer to set up a call to discuss the project.

Meeting end at 3:00 PM EST

September 20, 2021 (2:00 ET)

GATE 225953 | Contract No. 140P2021D0003 | Task Order No. 140P2021F0100

Meeting Minutes

• Attendees:

Member Organization Phone Attend Email

Walt Graham NPS - DSC - PM X

Luis Aguilar NPS - GATE – Project Management

X

Vik Desai VHB X

Timothy Hogan VHB X

Ed Whatley W-P X

Taylor Gray W-P X

Greg Smith W-P X

Jacob Ducharme W-P X

Peter Quern W-P X

Nasir Butt NJDEP X

Steven Reya NJDEP X

Barbara Ware NJDEP X

Jennifer Myers NJDEP X

James MacDonald NJDEP X

Meeting Start at 2:00 PM EST

• The call was joined by NPS, VHB, Wright-Pierce and New Jersey DEP (water supply engineering and permitting).

• Ed Whatley started with an introduction of the project.

o The existing sole water source for the Sandy Hook Unit is Well 5A.

o In recent years, NJDEP notified NPS that a new redundant well needs to be installed to meet state and federal requirements.

o Part of the project also includes the proper decommissioning of the abandoned Well 4.

o Final deliverables of project are schematics for design-build and a design-build request for proposal o The design-build contractor will then take the schematics and get into well drilling, permitting, well development.

• Greg Smith discussed well-related technical items.

o Existing Well 5A depth is 878 ft.

o Strata under Well 5A contains several confining layers of clay.

o When calculations were performed, it was found that the saltwater-freshwater interface is around 400 ft, which is well above proposed finished well depth.

o The Sandy Hook Unit is on a peninsula, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. When the proposed well is constructed, it will be tapping into cretaceous age sediments in a confined aquifer, which is the same aquifer that Well 5A taps into.

o Older coastal plain deposits are generally deep.

o Freshwater recharge of aquifer is coming from mainland.

o When the proposed well is constructed, it will need to be done so carefully and with proper sealing as to avoid saltwater intrusion.

mailto:Walt_F_Graham@nps.gov mailto:Edward.Whatley@wright-pierce.com

September 20, 2021 (2:00 ET) Meeting Minutes o When choosing a location for Well 6, the team wants to get far enough away as to not impact the existing Well 5A, but close enough to meet the 100 ft minor modification guidelines.

• Ed then went over a figure of the existing and proposed site layout.

o Initially the team was looking at areas nearby the existing Well 5A for the proposed Well 6, but not in the 100 ft radius.

o There is an existing 250,000-gallon underground storage tank adjacent to Well 5A that poses as a constraint to the potential well locations.

o Well 6 layout0 will account for the area required for drilling equipment.

o There is a potential that demand on the peninsula could be met temporarily from existing storage in the aeration tank and finished water elevated tank, enabling Well 5A to be turned off during Well 6 testing to avoid overworking the aquifer. The project team will coordinate with NPS staff to determine feasibility.

• Greg o Meeting with NJDEP last week said that for well capacity testing, they require either:

▪ 72-hour test at capacity @ 100%

▪ 24-hour test at 120%

• Jennifer o Requirement for well capacity testing is only required from water allocation’s perspective if you are doing major modification to the Water Allocation Permit.

o For it to be considered a minor modification, the well must tap into the same aquifer, must be the same approximate depth, and have the same pump capacity.

o If you can’t meet the minor modification requirements, you could look for a waiver for special conditions, however there are no provisions for such.

o There are no requirements on timing or seasonality for well capacity testing.

o Jennifer provided a web link to the minor modification application (below).

▪ Want to provide well permit # as soon as possible to give NJDEP enough lead time to process the application (approximately 3 months).

▪ https://www.state.nj.us/dep/watersupply/pdf/bwa-001d.pdf o A major modification to the Water Allocation Permit involves a more lengthy and complex permitting process and would take over a year.

• Ed o Asked if the new Well 6 will go through the same water quality testing standards by the design-build contractor and NJDEP based if this is a minor modification.

▪ Nasir clarified that DEP will not issue a permit to operate until testing is complete and water quality meets state and federal guidelines.

▪ Once the DB contractor and NJDEP have both taken samples and tested, they can compare notes, and then NJDEP can issue permit to operate.

▪ Even though the Bureau of Water Allocation doesn’t require well capacity testing for a minor modification, Nasir said the NJDEP Bureau of Water System Engineering still requires a 24-hour test at 120% capacity or 72-hour at 100% capacity, despite the modification falling under the minor category.

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/watersupply/pdf/bwa-001d.pdf

September 20, 2021 (2:00 ET) o Based on this discussion, the project team will revise the site layout figure with new well locations within short time so NPS can revise limits of investigation for clearance.

• Vik o Asked if there is a limit on how close you can get to the existing well without impacting it.

▪ Steve said the regulations do not state a minimum distance limit.

• From an engineering standpoint, you want to make sure you don’t get too close as to disrupt the normal operation of the existing well.

• Ed then briefly discussed water quality.

o Raw water goes through a series of treatment processes as discussed in the meeting minutes on 9/13/2021.

o The monitoring reports and water quality records have been well recorded and were reviewed.

▪ There have been little to no violations in terms of effluent water quality.

o Currently, under the present project scope, no modifications to treatment plant are proposed.

o Ed then asked if has DEP identified any future changes to the permit that the team or NPS should be aware of.

▪ Nasir said existing treatment is not going to change. If there is no violation, the current treatment process is sufficient to meet guidelines.

• Vik o Is there anything we need to clarify on well 4 decommissioning?

▪ Greg said there are no outstanding questions or concerns. The current guidelines clearly state what needs to be done in terms of decommissioning.

• Driller will have to submit well decommissioning plan for approval by

NJDEP.

▪ Well 4 was originally decommissioned because part of the well casing broke off.

o How long will the minor modification to the Water Allocation Permit take?

▪ Nasir said for well permits, his team must review and approve within 90 days (3 months).

▪ Steve said review of the decommissioning plan takes approximately a few weeks.

• Steve o Asked if the project team has any specifications, information, or logs on the abandoned

Well 4.

o Greg said currently, Well 4:

▪ Has 8 in diameter well screen and casing.

▪ Is drilled to a depth of approximately 481 ft.

▪ Has 155 ft of 8 in screen.

o Steve asked the project team to email any information they have on well 4 to him. This information would be helpful for future reference.

o Asked whether the proposed Well 6 is mirroring the existing Well 5A.

▪ Greg said yes, it is. Well 6 is planned to be similar in construction and depth.

• Nasir

September 20, 2021 (2:00 ET) o When the design-build contractor goes to submit construction permit for Well 6, NJDEP requires a 5-minute post disinfection contact time for the effluent water.

▪ Will have to submit calculation on 500 GPM for 5 minutes of contact time.

o Ed said he’s not sure of whether the current treatment system on Sandy Hook contains the required contact time but can check with NPS staff to review current situation.

o Nasir said that if you do not have the sufficient contact time, you can provide construction scope for installation of contact tank/contact pipe under the same well construction permit.

• Walt o Said he was unsure whether the park would be allowed by NPS to modify the scope to include plant modification and he let DEP know that a future project will address issues with the plant.

• Ed o Project team is going to continue through schematic design process that the team would like to have a follow up call in a few months to review the progress and ask any remaining questions.

Meeting end at 2:45 PM EST