Frequently Asked Questions (LOP)

Frequently Asked Questions (LOP)

FAQs

How Can I Find and Select a Consultant?

  • Consider – Internet search, word of mouth, and etc.
  • Search the San Mateo County List of Consultants
  • Look up and check license status for Professional Engineers
  • Look up and check license status for Professional Geologists
  • Inquire about Consultant experience performing applicable work, i.e. UST removal, soil, and groundwater characterization, soil and groundwater remediation, electronic file uploads

 

Consultant websites may refer to prior projects—these should be reviewable on Lead agency databases in California:

 

Check the Better Business Bureau for complaints

 

How Do I Review the Project Files for a Case?

Alameda County Health, Environmental Health Department (ACEHD) maintains all case files in electronic form; there are no paper files. The electronic case files can be reviewed on the State Water Resources Control Board GeoTracker website. Files can also be reviewed on the ACEHD website. Enter the site address or case ID and click “Search.” The ACEHD case files include documents submitted prior to 2001.

 

How Do I Claim my Site in Geotracker?

To claim your site in GeoTracker, go to the GeoTracker Electronic Submittal page, review the information, or call the phone number in the upper right corner of the page.

 

What are the Document Submittal Requirements? How Do I Submit Documents to ACEHD and to Geotracker?

Documents are required to be submitted to the State Water Board’s GeoTracker website. Documents are submitted in electronic form as PDF documents to the GeoTracker website. To submit documents to GeoTracker you must first claim your site at the GeoTracker website. Otherwise you can access GeoTracker here. ACEHD reviews documents submitted to GeoTracker.

 

What Are the Requirements for Uploading Reports and/or Correspondences Electronically?

Reports submitted as attachments to electronic mail are not accepted.

  • Entire report, including the cover letter, must be submitted to the GeoTracker website as a single portable document format (PDF)
  • It is preferable that reports be converted to PDF format from their original format (e.g., Microsoft Word) rather than scanned
  • Signature pages and acknowledgment statements must be included and have either original or electronic signature
  • Each page in the PDF document should be rotated in the direction that will make it easiest to read on a computer monitor
  • Reports must be named and saved using the following naming convention: RO#_Report Name_Year-Month-Date (e.g., RO#5555_WorkPlan_2005-06-14)
  • A PDF copy of these requirements can be downloaded here
  • Suggested File Naming Conventions are available here

 

Where Do I Get Soil Boring, Well Installation, or Well Destruction Drilling Permits?

There are four agencies that issue subsurface drilling permits in Alameda County. Alameda County Water District (ACWD) issues drilling permits for subsurface drilling in Fremont, Newark, and Union City. Zone 7 Water Agency (Zone 7) provides this service east of the East Bay Hills in the cities of Pleasanton, Dublin, Sunol, and Livermore. The City of Berkeley issues drilling permits in their city, and Alameda County Public Works Agency (ACPWA) issues subsurface drilling permits in the remaining areas of Alameda County, which includes Alameda, Albany, Castro Valley, Emeryville, Hayward, Oakland, Piedmont, San Leandro, and San Lorenzo.

 

When Can I Reuse Soil at a Site?

In general, ACEHD follows the October 20, 2006 San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board draft Technical Reference Document Characterization and Reuse of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Impacted Soil as Inert Waste (pdf) and ACEHD’s Soil Import/Export Characterization Requirements document. Site by site differences can occur; however, the documents are a common starting point for site-specific considerations.

 

What Does a Tank Closure Mean?

An underground storage tank (UST) closure is when a UST is taken out of service and will not be used again. A partial list of actions associated with this event includes obtaining a UST removal permit, removal of the contents of the USTs, triple rinsing, inerting the UST, excavating and removing the UST system (inclusive of product piping and other appurtenances), collection of soil and groundwater confirmation samples, sending the UST to a recycler for disposal, and back-filling the excavation with clean material. All of these actions (and possibly more) are conducted under permit and under regulatory oversight by the local Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) program. Be sure to communicate with the CUPA in your jurisdiction for proper permitting. Under certain limited conditions (structural threat, limited clearance, overlying utility lines, etc.), a UST may also be closed in place.

Generally, upon receipt of final analytical results without detectable concentrations of contaminants, a tank closure letter may be issued by the CUPA program. If contamination is detected, an Unauthorized Release Form (URF) is filled out and submitted to the CUPA. The CUPA program will then transfer case oversight to the environmental contamination oversight program. At that time the site becomes an environmental contamination case. In most of Alameda County, oversight is provided by Alameda County Environmental Health Department’s Local Oversight Program for Hazardous Materials Releases. For more details on tank closure, please contact the local CUPA Program. The Alameda County CUPA program can be accessed at this link.

 

What Does a Site or Case Closure Mean?

Site or case closure of an environmental contamination case is provided at the completion of site investigations and any appropriate remedial activities that demonstrate that the site no longer poses a potential risk to human health and the environment at the time of closure.