V
V,
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THE MT. VIEW WETLANDS PROJECT:
A COMMUNITY SUCCESS STORY
t. View Sanitary District
(MVSD) provides wastewater
treatment for approximately
16,000 people living in and around
Martinez, California. This community,
led by an independent-minded Board
of Directors and a forward-thinking
engineer, created the first wastewater
wetlands on the West Coast. The
project saved the rate payers millions
of dollars and established a valuable
wildlife habitat in the process. This is
the story of how Mt. View Sanitary
District created a wastewater wetland
for the enrichment of both the commu-
nity and wildlife.
Sewage treatment plants, by their very
nature, are often located at the fringe
of development. The year Mt. View
Sanitary District was established —
1923, it was located outside the City
of Martinez, in rural Contra Costa
County, California.
Mt. View was created as a special
district to treat the wastewater from the
rural portions of the county surrounding
Martinez and was to be governed by a
board of five publicly elected directors.
The board was an independent
group and did not easily accept the
Regional Water Quality Control
Board's (RWQCB) idea in the late
'60s of consolidating all of the small
treatment facilities into a large regional
plant. The result would have required
pumping MVSD's wastewater to a
neighboring facility to be treated,
effectively dissolving their district.
Not only would it have usurped their
control, but it also was going to cost
over $6 million. The District decided to
search lor an alternative.
MVSD tried to sell its water to
neighboring industrial plants and to the
highway department for irrigation. The
District considered constructing its own
deep-water diffuser in nearby Carquinez
Straits, at a cost of $2.38 million. Warren
Nute, the District s engineer at the time,
observed that the regulations the
RWQCB were using stated that if the
treated effluent was creating an environ-
mental benefit, then the District would
not have to remove its effluent discharge
from Peyton Slough, a small creek,
influenced by tidal action along part of its
length, that delivers the District's effluent
to Carquinez Straits and San Francisco
Bay. The District then set about creating
the first wetland on the West Coast using
secondary treated effluent, to provide
environmental benefits.
Mt. View Sanitarv District
Wetlands are located adjacent
to large industrial facilities.
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THE MARSH BEGAN TO GROW
In 1974 the District began with a
simple 10-acre wetland divided into
two sections. The area that was
created by scraping away the topsoil
became a shallow, open-water pond.
The other area, whose topsoil was not
disturbed, was quickly colonized by
emergent vegetation, such as cattails.
In 1977 the marsh was expanded to
include 10 more acres of land divided
into three marsh areas. One was
constructed as an open-water pond
with islands to provide protected
nesting habitat for waterfowl.
A second marsh was seeded with
plants to provide food for waterfowl,
such as water grass and alkali bulrush
(Echinochloa crusgalli and Scirpus
robustus). The third area was designed
in a serpentine fashion to provide
maximum water/plant contact to
enhance treatment effectiveness.
The Mt. View Sanitary District
marshes are located in an urban
environment and the marsh is bisected
by an interstate highway. The next
22 acres, added to the marsh system in
1984. were located across the interstate
to the north. This area had been season-
ally flooded and the District merely had
to make minor changes to water control
structures to allow the marsh's inclusion
A variety of habitat types
and controlled public access
promote wildlife use of the
wastewater wetland.
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in the system. The most recent addition
to the wastewater wetland complex is a
43-acre section that also is located to
the north of the interstate and adjacent
to the previous 22 acres.
The wetlands area totals 85 acres.
This bountiful wildlife habitat includes
plants, animals, fish and invertebrates.
Some of the animals are permanent
residents of the marshes, while others
are temporary visitors that stop along
their migratory journey. Plants grow in
the marshes as well as on the levees
surrounding the marshes and a riparian
corridor is beginning along Peyton
Slough. There are emergent plants
rooted in the bottom muds as well as
submerged plants.
Wetland plants provide food and
shelter for marsh biota and improve
water quality. Birds, mammals, reptiles
and amphibians eat plant leaves, seeds
and roots of the more than 70 species
of marsh and riparian vegetation.
Dense growths of marsh bulrushes
provide nesting sites for songbirds as
well as ducks.
The most visible animals at the
marshes are the more than 123 species
of birds. The diversity of aquatic
habitats attracts mallard and cinnamon
teal to rest and feed in the open-water
areas; avocets and black-necked stilts to
probe for invertebrates in the mudflats;
and red-winged blackbirds to nest
among the cattail stands. There are
resident birds in the wetland, such as
song sparrows and American coot, in
addition to migrant birds, as exemplified
by sandpipers and pintail.
Bird us age from 1989-1991
in Ml View Sanitary
District Wetlands
Birds Observed in the Waterfront Road Marshes,
North of Interstate 680
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Birds Observed in the Marshes,
South of Interstate 680
500
450
400
350
300
W
"E
3
s- 250
O
0 200
3
150
100
50
0
• 11 irn in i ••
• • 11 • i • i i i i • i
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
11989 11990 11991
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There are more than 15 species of
birds that nest in the wetland. The area
provides valuable nesting sites for
waterfowl, shorebirds and songbirds.
The wetland is also important because
fresh drinking water is a requirement
for ducklings. Later, as the ducklings
mature, they develop salt glands that
allow them to drink saline water. How-
ever, until that time, they must be
reared in a freshwater environment.
In an area such as San Francisco Bay,
which has lost nearly all of its fresh-
water wetlands, appropriate nesting
habitat is a valuable resource provided
at the Mt. View wastewater wetland.
Fish also inhabit Peyton Slough and
the marshes. Small fish eat midge and
mosquito larvae to help keep the marsh
free of these nuisance insects, and in
turn they are preyed upon by herons
and egrets. The discarded carapace of
a crayfish is evidence of the raccoon's
evening meal. Other marsh wildlife
includes everything from pond turtles
to striped skunks and an occasional
river otter. A total of 34 species of fish,
mammals, reptiles and amphibians
have been observed at the wetland.
Schematic of the Mt. View
Sanitary District marsh
creation project.
43 acres added in 1987
22 acres added in 1985
20 acres original 1977
Wastewater treatment plant
A-Weir
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WHERE DOES THE WATER COME FROM?
It. View Sanitary
District provides
I secondary treatment to
approximately 1.3 million gallons per
day of wastewater from approximately
16,000 residents in the Martinez, Calif.,
area. Although there is some light
industry and commercial development
within the Districts service area, the
primary source of the wastewater is
residential. The District maintains strict
pretreatment standards and prohibits
the discharge of heavy industrial waste
into its sewerage system.
The treatment train includes
comminution, primary sedimentation,
biological treatment by a two-stage,
high-rate trickling filter, a biotower for
ammonia removal, secondary sedimen-
tation, effluent chlorination, dechlorina-
tion with sulphur dioxide, and sludge
processing. A flow equalization basin
assists in equalizing storm flows to the
treatment plant to maximize efficiency.
Monitoring is conducted on the treat-
ment plant influent, effluent, marsh
discharges and the receiving water.
Although the primary purpose for
constructing the wetland is to create
wildlife habitat, it also improves water
quality for some parameters. There are
numerous processes by which plants
contribute to water quality improve-
ments, including direct uptake of
nutrients by algae and some rooted
vegetation. The plants foster settling
of particulate matter by slowing water
movement and greatly increase the
contact with microorganisms that live
on the surfaces of emergent plants.
Ml View Sanitary District
treatment plant.
These microorganisms metabolize
pollutants, decreasing their dissolved
concentrations in the water. Monitoring
shows that wetland nutrient concentra-
tions follow a stable seasonal cycle that
varies little from month to month, but
clearly shows a difference between the
cold, wet season (November through
April) and the warm, dry season
(May through October)
The concentration of nitrates
decreases in the wetland during the
summer months. There is limited
evidence to suggest that the wetland
is removing cadmium, copper, silver and
zinc. In addition, periodic special moni-
toring studies are undertaken to answer
specific questions concerning the
processes or biota within the wetlands.
Studies at the marsh have included an
ammonia study and a fisheries and
benthic invertebrate study.
Doubtless the largest special study,
however, occurred after the 1988 spill
of 440,000 gallons of crude oil into the
marsh from an adjacent refinery. The
cleanup efforts included picking up oily
water bv vacuum trucks, rototilling of
contaminated soils and hand-cutting
vegetation in less inundated areas of the
marsh. The recovery of the marsh's vege-
tation and soils was monitored closely
and eight months later this section of
the wetland resumed operation.
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KEEPING THE WETLAND WET
In 1974 MVSD created its wetland
and, as with other man-made
environments, routine operations
and maintenance are required. Tasks
required on a weekly or monthly
basis include removing debris that
collects behind weirs, examining levees
for erosion and inspecting for animal
burrows that could lead to levee failure.
The frequency of vegetation
harvesting in the shallow marsh areas
has proven to be related to its surface.
Smaller marsh plots need to be
harvested more frequently than larger
areas. Marsh A-l is approximately one
acre and has had vegetation removed
a number of times during the past 18
years. Similarly, a three-acre marsh
plot that had internal levees subdividing
it into smaller waterways also was in
need of harvesting and levee rearrang-
ing after 10 years. Whereas the larger
Marsh A-2, approximately four acres,
is only now ready to be harvested after
18 years of operation.
Early maintenance activities included
stocking the marshes with mosquito fish
as predators for mosquito larvae. The
mosquito fish population became self-
sustaining after the first few years. There
were so many of the small fishes that for
a period of time, the MVSD marshes
supplied fish to a local natural history
museum to feed their live exhibits.
The original 10-acre marsh construc-
tion project cost only a few thousand
dollars, and the first 10-acre expansion
cost $85,000. The District already
owned the land for these segments of
the marsh creation project. The first
•WBBPJM^pPw '"wPPpKlplP* ,
Plant Effluent
pH
Total Ammonia
M
M
Q
2/W
2/W
M = Monthly Q = Quarterly Y = Yeariy W = Weekly
2/W* Twice per Week 2/M = Twice per Month
Pfo, H0,-Aft, Cd, Cr
BOD
TSS
Avian Census
W
W
W
M
2/&I
2/M
M
M
Y
Marsh Water Quality—1991 Averages
Marsh Influent Marsh Effluent
BiocNiwnciaJ Oieygtrt
$us
Oil
25
28
2i
17
Cadmium
Ghromtuifj fS)
Copper
,0006
m
.029
MS
m
Nickel
Silver
Zine
,00?
It (4*
70
72
18
17
3
2
12
5
8
12
9
mo/I
12
18
14
36
.003
(2)
.007
.001
,004
'»
.01
,001
,07
n
12
12
17
17
3
1
12
6
10
12
1
noted.
(4) n* Number of
concentrations above the detection limit.
ntt, ' ;. ' -' '
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22 acres to the north of the interstate
were acquired by the California State
Department of Fish and Game and is
managed by MVSD. The 43 acres
acquired in 1985 were purchased for
$204,887. It is likely that more acreage
will be added to the wetland in the
future as a result of the settlements
from the oil spill. The annual operation
and maintenance budget includes
labor for marsh monitoring, special
research studies, vegetation harvesting
and levee repair. These costs average
$30,000-$50,000 annually.
The total cost of the marsh over
the past 18 years is less than one-third
the cost ratepayers would have had to
contribute to the neighboring treatment
plant's deep-water diffuser.
N
I ot only has the experiment been
I cost effective, but the marsh
itself boasts a long list of contri-
butions to the community. Visitors
spend hundreds of hours enjoying the
marsh and its wildlife. Bird watching
and nature photography are favorite
pastimes of local, regional and inter-
national visitors. Students from elemen-
tary through college come to observe
and do research projects at the wetland.
The wetland provides open space in
a rapidly developing county. The fresh-
water habitat is a link on the Pacific
Flyway used by migratory birds. The
effluent is viewed as a resource
creating wildlife habitat and maintain-
ing a small, freshwater surface inflow
to San Francisco Bay, which has lost
most oi its freshwater tributaries.
The creation of Mt. View Sanitary
District's wetland system is a community
success story. The independent District
was willing to question regional policy
makers and in so doing pioneered the
creation of wetland habitat using
secondary treated effluent, saving
local citi/ens millions of dollars.
The wetland serves as an
outdoor laboratory for
learning. Students from local
elementary schools as well
as college students are
interested in the marsh.
This brochure is dedicated to the
memory of J. Warren Nute, who
pioneered the development of waste-
water wetlands on the West Coast.
This brochure was created with funding from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Requisition No. A22190
Robert Bastian—
U.S. EPA, Project Officer
Francesca Demgen, Woodward-Clyde Consultants-
Projcct Manager
Dick Bogaert and Francesca Demgen—
Photography
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