Present:
Syed Ali, State Water Resources Control Board
Cort Anastasio, Director Atmospheric Science Program, Dept. of LAWR UC Davis
Richard Bode, California Air Resources Board
Steve Book, Department of Health Services
Tom Gelzleichter, Genentech
Jackie Hale, TSR&TP Administrative Assistant
Tobi Jones, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
John Knezovich, TSR&TP Director
Steve Macaulay, California Urban Water Agencies
Marion Miller, UC TSR&TP Associate Director
Myrto Petreas, Department of Toxic Substances Control (for Bruce LaBelle)
Lisa Stevenson, TSR&TP Program Manager
Leslie Stewart, League of Women Voters
Mika Pringle Tolson, TSR&TP Technical Support Coordinator
Zach Wong, Chevron Texaco Energy Technology Company

Not Present:
Martin Bloes, Geomatrix Consultants
Dang Chang, UC Davis
Arthur Fong, IBM
Bruce LaBelle, Dept. of Toxic Substances Control
Charles Lapin, Lapin & Associates
Cathie Magowan, UC Office of the President
Suzanne Paulson, TSR&TP Associate Director
Shankar Prasad, Cal/EPA
Winona Victery, US EPA Region 9
Kip Wiley, CA Senate Office of Research

The Fall Meeting of the TSR&TP Advisory Committee was called to order at 10:10 a.m. October 4, 2005 at the California Urban Water Agency Building, 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 705 by TSR&TP Director John Knezovich.
Introductions and Approval of Minutes. Steve Macaulay welcomed the Advisory Committee and asked everyone to introduce themselves. Steve Book moved and Marion Miller seconded approving the Spring 2005 minutes.

Selection of a New Chair. Knezovich noted that the workload is not large, no formal reports are due, and the chairing of this meeting is only twice a year. Richard Bode nominated Steve Macaulay as the new chair for the Advisory Committee and Tobi Jones seconded. All were in favor.

Emerging State Issues. Macaulay spoke how pharmaceutically active compounds and their impact on drinking water continues to be a focus of his organization. Steven Book agreed on the importance of drinking water, but mentioned the concerns of DHS are about wastewater and recharge projects. He says there is a need for analytical methods that are widely available and not expensive. He noted that with all the recent hurricanes the current focus is on how well levees are holding together and disaster related exposure to toxic materials but didn’t think this would fit in this program. Myrto Petreas from DTSC spoke about the mobile laboratory they acquired with Homeland Security funding and how they are testing out different types of equipment to use in the field as 2nd responders. She commented that the emergency preparedness takes a lot of their resources. They also provide analytical expertise for other departments and universities. She noted that brominated flame retardants are a big issue and the concern over what we can do to prevent exposure. Petreas said that there will be a ban on certain types of flame retardants in products sold after January of 2006. She mentioned there are high levels in e-waste and all the plastics in computers and auto-shredders have flame retardants. Petreas said the possible replacements are proprietary at this point.

Macaulay commented that there seems to be more and more focus on emergency response and the growing threat of e-waste and asked what areas of research can the UC help with. Leslie Stewart said due to the result of legislation there are firms being contracted to pick up e-waste. She spoke of the difficulty of disposing styrofoam blocks that many electronics are packed in. She mentioned that Sony has done some research on the extract of orange peel (limonene) to dissolve the styrene. Marion Miller suggested and everyone agreed that it would be beneficial to have someone from Waste Management as a member on the committee. Knezovich asked for recommendations. Petreas recommended Howard Levinson, and Patty Wohl was recommended by Bode.

Stewart said that there are several waste recycling concerns about biosolids. Macaulay mentioned the concern regarding groundwater contamination with the land applications and basins. These basins are becoming a central composition of the state’s water supplies in urban as well as rural areas. He said that some of the issues are the clean up of the basins and trying to avoid the contamination in the first place. Stewart said there is concern about heavy metal contamination and other things such as pharmaceuticals and the long lasting effects if the sludge is spread out and there is no treatment.

Syed Ali informed the committee that the State Water Board is cosponsoring a conference in Sacramento on the 25th & 26th of October. There will be a several sessions regarding the issues relevant to this committee’s discussions. There is more information regarding the conference on both the Water Resources (www.waterresources.ucr.edu) and the Groundwater Resources Association of California’s (www.grac.org) web sites. Petreas mentioned that next September there will be a special symposium on toxic chemicals at the American Chemical Society national meeting in San Francisco. She will send more information to Stevenson.

Book noted that as dairies become larger and more concentrated, researchers are looking at methane and groundwater contamination. Knezovich mentioned that a proposal for a lead campus in this area was not funded this year, but it may be submitted again. Book said there is some concern regarding blue-green algae in the Klamath River because of some health risks associated with mycrocysitis for recreational users and tribes who fish and have rituals on the river. In Humboldt County on the Eel River these algal blooms have caused deaths of dogs. There have also been some reports of behavioral issues in cats in Clear Lake. Stewart asked if there is a need for pesticides or herbicides to get rid of the algae. She talked about the problem in the delta with water hyacinth and the trade-offs of getting rid of it.
Macaulay mentioned attending a conference on climate change. Richard Bode said the ARB has done a lot of work on global climate change in California, how it will effect pollutant concentrations, ozone and particulate matter, and the health effects. There was a discussion of ozone levels as a result of global emissions especially in China and some of the other Asian economies with their coal-fired power plants.

Bode informed the committee of acrylonitrile as the #2 risk factor (behind diesel exhaust) in California. He mentioned this is showing up in ambient air monitoring, there is no hot spot and it is found throughput the state year round. The third compound on the list is benzene coming out of tailpipes. Bode said manganese is also on the list. They know it is airborne, and has been found in high levels in Riverside and San Bernadino.

Zach Wong commented that in every area, government, industry, academia, etc., there is not enough data to develop models for more effective risk assessment. He mentioned the emerging legislation, REACH (in Europe) is TOSCA-like regulation. It calls for exposure assessment and chemical safety reports. He spoke of the importance of knowing the full life cycle of a product and the exposure to people and the environment. The committee agreed that exposure assessment should become a priority area for the TSR&TP.

The committee broke for lunch at 12:08 p.m. and reconvened at 12:35 p.m. Knezovich introduced Cort Anastasio as the PI of the new lead campus at UCD and UCM. Anastasio gave a power point presentation on Atmospheric Aerosols & Health and the goals of the new lead campus program.

Report from the Director’s Office UCOP Report. (In the absence of Cathie Magowan) Knezovich reported that our budget is basically stable. He noted that UCOP intends to do five-year sunset reviews for all MRUs beginning in 2006 (TSR&TP review date TBA). He will be soliciting AC members to provide letters of support. The decline in the budget has caused the elimination of one lead campus so we are at three instead of four. The remainder of the funding gets competed across three categories: student fellowships, investigator grants, and team grants. Continuation of the team grants will be addressed at the Fall Executive Committee meeting. Knezovich also asked the AC to perform ad hoc review of proposals for new lead campuses.

Knezovich wants to explore how the TSR&TP can fund more students through alternate fellowships - the internship idea - and is particularly interested in attracting more students to the policy arena. The Water Board, DHS and Chevron/Texaco all would like to participate in a possible internship program.

Spring Symposium: Dick Jackson was suggested as a speaker (again). Knezovich welcomed the AC to email him with any other suggestions. He also welcomed all to come to the meeting in San Diego in April.

Old and New Business. We will solicit a new member from Waste Management. Shankar Prasad was suggested to speak on e-waste at our next meeting. Book mentioned there was public interest in the area of food safety and suggested that the TSR&TP might want to interface with new Food and Drug Administration Western Center for Food Safety and Defense on the UC Davis campus that was just awarded $1M from the FDA.

Meeting adjourned at 1:41 p.m.

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