To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Transportation and Public Works/ Department of Emergency Management
Staff Name and Phone Number: Johannes J. Hoevertsz 707-565-2231/ Chris Godley 707-565-1152
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): All Districts
Title:
Title
Disaster Debris Management Plan
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Accept Update on Development of Debris Management Plan
end
Executive Summary:
Disasters often produce substantial volumes of debris, creating hazardous conditions that endanger the public and disrupt the essential daily lifestyle and economy of the community. Disaster debris operations can result in large expenditures of labor, equipment, materials and supplies at substantial cost. It is critical that the County of Sonoma (County) and the cities, special districts and other public entities within the County are prepared to provide an early, safe, and quick response to restoring environmentally safe and economically viable conditions to disaster-affected areas.
The County will develop a Disaster Debris Management Plan (DDMP) that will enable the County to effectively coordinate debris response operations, establish key policies, outline relevant authorities, identify roles and responsibilities for stakeholder agencies, provide a model concept of operations and incorporate public information messaging.
Discussion:
The amount of debris from a catastrophic earthquake may overwhelm local government resources and could require assistance from regional, state, and federal partners. In such a scenario, debris from damaged infrastructure may injure and trap people, block critical transportation routes, prevent first responders from quickly reaching those needing assistance, impede timely damage assessment, and pose a threat to public and environmental health. Removing large quantities of disaster debris in a safe, efficient, and cost-effective manner is critical to disaster recovery and often becomes the most visible recovery function.
Disaster debris may include construction and demolition debris, vehicles, large electrical goods used domestically such as refrigerators and washing machines, food waste, soil, sediment, and vegetation, and household hazardous waste. The rapid diversion and disposal of large amounts of disaster debris can also pose unique challenges. In addition, disaster-impacted areas may contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead and mercury. Though the short-term goal is to remove such debris from the impacted communities as quickly as possible, care must be taken to ensure that the methods used do not pose a threat to human health or to the environment.
Depending on the scale and scope of the disaster and the resulting debris generated, debris management operations may be addressed utilizing local resources and existing contract services or may require the use of specialized contractors or even state and federal assistance. Debris collection, processing, and disposal/recycling operations can take place in both the short and long-term phases of disaster recovery. These functions can take weeks or even months to complete. In extreme events, operations could continue for years.
As recent experiences in Sonoma County have demonstrated, the volume, variety, and unique nature of debris generated by a disaster can pose significant logistics, safety, and operations management challenges. To provide some frame of reference, a summary of the amount of debris generated by recent Sonoma County disasters is detailed below along with an estimate of the amount that could be produced by a major 7.3 or 7.9 magnitude earthquake on the Hayward and Roger Creek faults:
2017 Wildfires 1.9 million tons
2019 Floods 4 thousand tons
Earthquake models 800,000 tons - 2.5 million tons
Proper disaster debris collection, removal, and disposal can also be extraordinarily expensive. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) estimates that debris management costs average about 45 percent of the total cost of a disaster.
Current Efforts
In addition to addressing the immediate disaster debris management efforts from the 2019 floods and the Kincade Fire, County staff are working to develop a disaster debris management program that will support future response operations. These current efforts include the creation of a comprehensive Disaster Debris Management Plan (DDMP) and establishing contingency contracts with vendors for debris hauling and collection monitoring in the event of a major disaster.
Disaster Debris Management Plan (DDMP)
The County Departments of Emergency Management and Transportation and Public Works (TPW) are entering into a project funded by the San Francisco Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) to develop stand-alone pre-disaster Disaster Debris Management Plans for the counties of Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano. Marin County is the lead agency and work will begin in January. Staff will bring the completed plan to the Board for review and approval in the summer of 2020.
Local governments have increasingly adopted DDMPs, as they enable public entities to effectively direct activities and expedite coordinated debris response operations. The new DDMP will assist the County in addressing several program elements, including:
• Establish debris management and related fiscal policies
• Identify potential response strategies
• Detail applicable policies (federal, state, and local)
• Establish authorities and the organizational structure
• Identify roles and responsibilities
• Outline reporting processes
• Address safety, legal, and environmental considerations
• Estimate potential debris quantities by event
• Provide a model concept of operations
• Establish criteria for prioritizing clearance, collection, monitoring, and disposal efforts
• Provide public information content and messaging
• Incorporate hazard mitigation strategies
Additionally, having a DDMP approved by Cal OES and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will allow the County to be eligible for a one-time, increased federal cost-share of two percent for debris removal in a presidentially declared disaster.
Contingency Contracting for Disaster Debris Collection and Operation Monitoring
TPW is expecting to issue an RFP the week of December 9, 2019 for disaster debris removal services, with an operations monitoring RFP to follow in the near future.
Proposals are due in January 2020 and contracts will be presented to the Board in February 2020. The RFP in broad terms solicits competitive proposals from qualified firms, businesses or individuals to provide Disaster Debris Removal and Disposal Services to assist the County in times of Disaster. A broad range of desired services were identified based on past and anticipated disaster events including:
• Debris Removal
• Temporary Debris Staging and Reduction Services
• Household Hazardous Waste Removal and Disposal
• Large Electrical Goods Handling and Removal
• Electronic Waste Handling and Removal
• Security
• Traffic Control
• Landfill Disposal Sites and other Disposal Facilities
• Disabled Auto Removal
• Incineration Facilities
Once service contracts have been established, the County will be better prepared to deal with future disaster events. The RFP selection and award process has been set up to meet Federal and State standards relative to reimbursement requirements when a disaster is declared. In the interim, the County will continue with its historic procurement practices until the DDMP is completed and approved and the long term emergency contracts can be put in place.
Interim Disaster Debris Management Strategies
In responding to a local disaster it is important to point out that the degree of response and resources deployed will vary based on the size and type of event. Events can range from small and localized to significant or catastrophic spanning across County and City lines. Illustrated below is the typical tiered response that the County has implemented to manage flood debris, where the local franchised hauler is deployed to assist local residents in various degrees of assistance depending the severity of the event. Under a different type scenario, such as a fire, the franchised hauler is unlikely to be utilized in the manner described below because the debris requires special handling and thus different service providers must be deployed. It is the intent of the County to have a flexible and dynamic response so that resources can be applied expediently and are efficiently tailored to the disaster at hand. Interim measures include collaboration between the County Administrator’s Office, Department of Emergency Management, TPW, Permit Sonoma, Health Services, and County Counsel to triage and manage the recovery operations as was recently done with the Kincade Fire.
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Tiers |
Projected Debris |
Strategies |
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Tier 1 - |
<100 Tons |
Franchised Haulers provide extra service to property owners for disaster debris |
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Tier 2 - |
101-500 Tons |
Debris Box Drop Off Locations established for disaster debris |
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Tier 3 - |
>500 Tons |
Curbside Collection for disaster debris |
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Public Assistance Alternative Procedures Pilot Program for Debris Removal, FEMA Recovery Policy FP 104-09-12, (Washington, DC, 2019), 45, accessed November 14, 2019, https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1566415013468-ef2ae682ccafb18f32ca687e53046626/PAAP_Debris_Guide_V7_6-28-2019_508.pdf
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
There are no fiscal impacts associated with this item.
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
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Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None