May 03, 2021 Committee on the Environment on 2021-05-03 9:00 AM

Thank you. Good morning. And welcome to this meeting of density Council's Committee on the environment. I apologize for the late start. Uh it is nine or nine and we have a quorum present. So, uh, Seeing seeing that let's dive into our agenda for today. First on the items for consideration is item a considering approval of the April 5th 2021 minutes. I'll entertain a motion. Anyone second it? Myself. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Minutes are approved. Um item B, Receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff direction on the proposed changes to the mosquito response surveillance plan. MS R P. You have the floor. Good morning, Council member. This is Deborah Vera with environmental services, and I will be presenting to you the proposed changes to the mosquito surveillance response plans this morning. The first plan was actually put together around 2002 as a response to the human, the first human cases of West Nile virus that we had in the in this North Central region. The driver of the plan itself is just to the control of the West Nile virus in the human population and the plans, even though has was first put together in 2002, it has been revised on a regular basis. Um it is important to to to note that the plan is not intended to control mosquitoes from a nuisance standpoint, but only to control the West Nile virus, uh, the spread of West Nile virus in the human population. Uh, the plan is broken down into two big sections. The first section pretty much talks about all the information about West Nile virus mosquitoes and so on and the framework that it was used to actually put the action plan together, which is the second part of the plan. Just diving into the to the action plan. Uh, the plan is divided into five risk levels, each level having conditions, triggers, recommended responses and control measures. And all those, uh, triggers are based on the, um, data that we collect through trapping of mosquitoes throughout the cities. And also is based on any West Nile virus human epidemiological data that we get from Denton County Public Health Department. The plan is is a succession of levels and where the readers, I'm sorry, reduction of breeding grounds are the main goal here. Without breeding grounds, we will control better the mosquito population. So there's a big emphasis on the source reduction. Uh, the next step in in controls is pretty much, uh, targeting the larvae, which is are the, um, baby mosquitoes that are found in water. And at that point, if source reduction, uh, seems to be problematic, then we will start putting BTI, which is a pesticide that we put in the water is a bacteria that is very specific to the mosquito, and it targets the mosquitoes in the water. Um, when you target mosquitoes in the water and you reduce the population, then the amount of adult mosquitoes that will be able to, uh, emerge from water and actually be, uh, flying mosquitoes, uh, would be reduced as well. And the third control, uh, level is spraying, and that stage only happens when we reach, uh, risk level five, which is the highest of all the risk levels that we have. It requires the approval by council by resolution. So it's not an automatic steps that we take to make sure that the mosquitoes don't fall into it. Uh, there are a lot of considerations that staff will take, uh, when we recommend spraying, not only, uh, the human cases that we are, uh, experiences, but also aware in the mosquito, uh, season we are and so on. Um, last year, we change the pesticide that we use. In the past, we have used the pesticide to contain in the MSRP itself. Uh, so last year, we moved to Marist 3.0, and we are proposing to continue the use of that, uh, pesticide and, uh, staff has updated the map. I'm sorry, the plan to reflect that. Uh, it's also important to, to highlight that staff have made all the changes that they need to make more on the, uh, introduction part of, of the document just to update the information with new citations, new information that is available through, uh, research paper and such. So Marist, uh, just to go a little bit into what Marist is, uh, it is actually the first, um, organic pesticide that obtains the NOP, which is the National Organic Program Standards, and also to the, um, it is OMRI, which is the Organic Materials Review Institute. So it is the first one and the last and, and the, and the only at this point who actually have, uh, be able to obtain those credentials. Um, it is formulated by pyrethrin, which is, uh, comes straight from, uh, flowers and doesn't control and doesn't contain any petroleum distillates. So, um, that's, that's the big, um, characteristic of Marist. Um, staff is recommending, uh, the changes to the mosquito surveillance response plan. We are, uh, planning to go as a work session, uh, to bring this as a work session item to council, uh, in, in few weeks. We are also doing a survey among other cities to see how, uh, how common is the use of Marist, uh, throughout the Metroplex and provide that information to you when we, um, when we have the work session. And at this point, um, I stand for any questions. Um, you're going to take the slide down. Uh, yes. My only question is, I'm trying to remember about what time we hit, uh, mosquito level one, uh, last year. I'm trying to remember amid all the COVID stuff, um, what level we got to last year and about what time of the calendar year we hit it. Uh, last year, we usually start at level two, level one of the plan is if we go by, uh, we know, uh, was not virus activity whatsoever for a couple of years. And we usually start at level two. So last year we started at level two and then we reached, um, the, the peak, I would say probably if memory serves me well, uh, sometime in October, September. And that's when we have the three human cases, uh, two of them were unfortunately, uh, were deceased and all of the three versions of the, uh, the forms of the West Nile virus, uh, they were the, um, the one that affects the brain. Okay. So we just kind of live at level two, knowing it's in our area, it's active in our mosquito population when they get going in the summertime. And, um, but presumably if those folks that, that we know had it last year passed away, then the measures that we take to control the mosquito population are, uh, helping to keep people from getting sick, probably saving lives. Correct. And again, the, the, the big emphasis is the source reduction, which is something that not only the city, uh, is actively doing through putting BTI in drainage channels and so on and in parks and, and so forth, but also the population, the residents, the, uh, business owner, the property owners that have a big role into it. Uh, it is a joint effort because, uh, unfortunately we cannot get into private property to treat those areas. So we, uh, try to educate and to make BTI available for free to the residents. So any, in any way that we can partner up with the, with the, uh, community members, uh, is the best way to go. Thanks. I have a couple of questions. Um, first of all, I now understand better from the presentation that the move, or correct me if I'm wrong, the move from Duet to Maris is because it's the only one with the organic credentials? The council had a preference last year or have expressed preference to use organic pesticide, uh, to be aligned with the IPM that was put together by, by, um, the Parks Department managing, uh, city property. Just keep in mind, the MSRP is outside the, uh, IPM because we are treating right of way and things of that nature, which is a little bit different from actually managing, uh, city property per se. Okay. So it has its own characteristics. So, uh, based on that preference that council have shared with us, um, we moved into Maris. Just keep in mind, we haven't sprayed for three years before the 2020. Okay. And Maris became NOPs, uh, certified and only listed in the past four years. So this is a fairly recent, uh, um, pesticide that is available to the market. Uh, one of the some of the languages that I included is because I'm expecting for more organic products to become available through other, uh, manufacturers. Uh, the, the statement currently state that we will continue to use Maris or any organic certified pesticide that become available because, uh, at this point, we, our selection is very limited. Yeah. Well, you know, to the extent that all this body does is kind of help you prepare for going to council. Uh, I would say that, that, that would be a good perspective to share that you think there are other organic, uh, uh, alternatives, you know, uh, coming down the line. Uh, cause, uh, you know, I just doing a very cursory, uh, search, you know, I ran into the statement that the pest that Maris is toxic to aquatic organisms. I mean, good for people. That is the priority, but toxic to aquatic organisms, including fish and aquatic invertebrates, and then runoff from treated areas or depositions of spray droplets, droplets into a body of water, maybe hazardous to fish and aquatic invertebrates. So, uh, first of all, I'd be curious if that, uh, is factual to your understanding, if it's, uh, kind of on your radar and how do we mitigate? Okay. Oh, so, okay. I was, I'm asking you now, like, is there- Okay. I thought that you were taking me to- Well, cause I, I would have asked you what alternatives are there. Well, now I understand or clearly that the framing is we're looking for alternatives that are organic, and we're hoping to have more organic alternatives in the future than we're hoping and expecting, but so this is the one we have, and it's dangerous to fish and aquatic invertebrates. So, uh, if that's where we're focused, first of all, it does kind of make me wonder, like, uh, how, how toxic is the inorganic one? You know, is organic the highest virtue of, if the, if the organic one kills fish? Uh, you know, I mean, it gives me a little pause. Well, um, duet is, is, um, not soluble in water, so what, it's one of the, the benefits of duet, the, the previous pesticide that we had there for, uh, it would be less, um, available to aquatic insects itself, because remember, what we are doing with duet, or when we're doing the spraying, we are not trying to kill the mosquito in the water or the larvae. At that point, we are targeting the adults, the flying mosquitoes. Okay. So part of the answer is we, we target away from the water, the mitigation. Yeah. So you still have the runoff issue. Yeah. So pretty much the, the duet, it was, uh, it was not soluble or is not soluble in water. So that prevents being, becoming available to aquatic organisms. However, it is not organic. Duet is not an organic pesticide. So what are the environmental badnesses associated with duet versus the environmental badnesses associated with Maris? Well, they, yeah, they, they are different. They, they are, they are made different. You know, the, uh, or the duet is a pyrethroid, which is a synthetic, uh, molecule that is meant to resemble the pyrethrin, which is in Maris. Okay. But it's not quite, it's not the same thing. So it will have a side effects in different, uh, organism. Also keep in mind the, how the pesticide is applied, the time that is, uh, when it's applied during the night hours, when, um, most of residents are not exposed to it. When, for example, there was a concern about bee and beekeepers, uh, when you spray and you do it during the night hours, when the beehive are not active and so on, you try to manage those risks a little bit better. Okay. Um, with the Maris, we're still applying all those, uh, additional steps on how you apply the, um, the pesticide. So, uh, if you are interested, I can probably provide you a side-by-side comparison between Duet and Maris and see, you know, if that's something that, uh, that concerns, uh, council to, to take a step on that. I think so. I mean, because if I can find this concern so readily, others will too. Uh, and, uh, I mean, I'd be curious to know what just your, your opinion rather than just wanting to serve the express interest in using organics, which, you know, I shared, understand looking at it holistically, which do you think is the least bad, most effective, you know, optimal choice, uh, for these level five situations? Well, um, unfortunately it depends with what we're dealing. Oh, sure. It always depends. Okay. So, and I think that Duet has its, uh, pros and have its cons, the same as Maris, and, uh, we try to have, um, a, as many resources as, as our disposal just to, uh, you know, try to, to, to navigate potential scenarios, uh, when West Nile virus become actually present in human population. Um, just keep in mind that what you will be doing is making a decision on managing risk. Okay. And I'm going to lose a very loose comparison. Pesticides is very similar to, to the use and antibiotics. Doctors, they don't recommend the use on, uh, of antibiotic very, uh, freely. You know, you have to have certain conditions and the risk of using some of the, uh, antibiotics, uh, outnumbered the risk of actually letting the infection progress. It is very similar to pesticides. Okay. So why you are, what you will be making is a call about risk, managing that risk. Yeah. And I'm comfortable with that. I just want to weigh the two sets. Yeah. So I can definitely bring you a side-by-side comparison of do it versus, um, mayors for you to make that and, and walk you through what the risk are and what they mean. Okay. That'd be very appropriate. So I, I will make sure that I will provide that during the work session with council. Thank you. Um, uh, that, that, that's sort of enough direction for me because it, it kind of puts off ultimately the decision, which would ultimately be, I mean, we have an option here of having a solid recommendation to council that they can take or leave. Um, but I would say my direction, sorry to usually person chairing gives direction last, but I'm halfway into the sense. Uh, my direction would be not to give direction, but to, um, make sure the council has this side-by-side assessment or yeah, assessment of the differential risks. Um, but, uh, what, what's your direction? I agree with that. I think we'd be, I like the way that Deborah framed that as management of risk and mitigation of risk. Um, I think if we, if we thought that organic just meant blanket safe, that'd be kind of a naive way to look. I mean, tigers and Ebola are organic, right? It doesn't keep them from killing you. So, um, I, I think a whole holistic look at it in a staff has a recommendation, you know, certainly bring that forward as well, but giving council the information to make that choice that we don't, you know, blindly follow a label without knowing all the information. And it does say very much to me that you, you don't view them as, uh, or you do view them both as options. I mean, that it's not like clearly one is very bad and that's why I'm moving away from it. I'm not hearing you say that. Is that, is that fair? As I said, um, no product, no pesticides, perfect, uh, council member Maltzler. And so we, we try to be very objective on what they are and what they're good for and in what situations they are appropriate. So, uh, it's a, it's toxic. Well, I mean, this, it's a, it's a thing you do when lives are at stake and it comes at a, with risks. Well, and, and to be honest with you, it, it, I think it, it resonates with sections of residents who are, have concerns about the use of pesticide and because Amerus is recommended to even be used around, around agricultural fields and things like that. I think that give, um, residents a, a level of peace of mind. So that's also a component when you are making a decision is, uh, you know, what the residents wants and think is more appropriate. So, uh, again, we will provide those options to you side by side in that way you can make a, a consensus, uh, decision and, uh, hopefully we, we can get this approved. Not to extend this too long, but, uh, your, uh, analogy, you know, to, uh, something like antibiotics is very helpful where, I mean, ultimately in the assessment of risk, it's, it's treat or not also, right? Cause you're saying a certain percentage of the population will have adverse effects. Human population will have adverse effects from the treatment. And it's that, you know, how do you compare that to the, the quantity that, you know, the number of people who will, uh, be sick or, or perish from not treating. So the, I mean, the, the risk calculation ultimately goes that far too. Uh, okay. Thank you very much. I think we've said about what we can at this point. Any other, um, I provide a red line version. I also summarize table of all the changes. Would you like to see those in any other way provided for, uh, full counsel when we go to the work session? I like the way that's presented. I think a red line is helpful for those that will get into the text. I think that's helpful. Um, one of the things that's kind of occurred to me, we probably, you know, without overdoing it, we probably have a particularly attentive public for public health right now. And so this may be the year that we, I know we do a great job of publicizing in our PR, uh, our communication staff does a great job. Uh, talking about draining your standing water and all that kind of stuff. But maybe this is the year we really lean in, uh, even more, um, getting kids building bat houses to put in the backyard and, um, sharing with their neighbors that they're draining all their stuff, whatever we can think of to really get it out there. If we're not hitting, uh, fatalities until September or October, that's a long time that we can be working to control the population in ways that don't require spraying. Now I love that impulse. I think that's great. Yeah, we, we have a, um, an outline, uh, process for working with, uh, uh, public communication affairs and us is a joint effort where depending on the trigger, the different fridge levels, we, we send out information. So, uh, it is, is definitely the plan is, is, is in place and we can definitely look for alternative way to reach out the community. Great. And I, I, you know, that would be another suggestion would be to do a little, a little, include a little show and tell on the public communication side. I'm going to go to council. I think they would appreciate that. Great. Thank you. Uh, if there's nothing else, I'll close the item. Very good. Moving on. Thank you very much. And, uh, we're now going to item C management reports, uh, the action items matrix. And you have the matrix in your backup and if you have any questions, I can help or Brian burner is on the phone as well. I have, well, go ahead or 10 anything. Um, I, I guess my only real question is the, on the status of the commercial food diversion, it's pending solid waste strategy. So that kind of begs the question of, um, the solid waste strategy. How are we doing with that? Kind of where are we in the timeline? Um, because I know more than just that one action item, uh, kind of hinge on that strategy. Uh, uh, uh, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, uh, Brian burner, solid waste director for the city of Denton, uh, update you on the, the, uh, status of the comprehensive solid waste management strategy. In my opinion, it's going well. Uh, we have just finished last Thursday, the think tank portion of the public input for developing the strategy. And now the consultants are going back in and taking into account all the rules and regulations, the survey results, the think tank results, trying to mesh them in to put them in some sort of order that we can go to consider. Uh, over the next three or four months, what will happen is between the Council on the Environment, PUB, council, you'll start seeing draft information put in so we can have a final report back, uh, by September of this year. Now granted that pushes us real close to next year, but what that allows us to do is start putting into account sort of the low hanging fruit in next fiscal year while planning the larger, bigger rollouts. Uh, there is a north central Texas council government grant process that is going to be opening here very shortly. And what we're hoping to do is to actually focus a little bit on, uh, preparing for a commercial waste diversion program, recognizing that is possibly one of those low hanging fruit issues. Uh, identifying in the valley areas, uh, where we have a large concentration of, of food establishments, trying to again go back in, determine what kind of food we have, uh, working closely with our wastewater group to digest that material in the digesters and then, uh, compost, uh, the remaining material as a part of our beneficial reuse program. So again, uh, minimal infrastructure improvements using existing staff, existing programs to basically create a synergistic effect to manage some of this commercial, uh, food waste. Uh, based on the successes of, of that information, if we, uh, we could, uh, roll forward and, uh, uh, blow it up into, to bigger implementation across the city of Denton. Uh, and then, uh, other programs, uh, as, as the, uh, the, uh, uh, process rolls out. Glad you asked that question, though. Really interesting answer. I would argue that it's, uh, both low-hanging fruit and vegetable peelings. Anyway. Um, I think you're going to get a lot of attention this year, right? I, I agree. I agree. When, and, and hopefully, and that's a good thing, so. Yeah, yeah. You know what else to do. Anything else, Pro Tem? Um, I wanted to ask about an item that I didn't see on the list. It may never have been on the list, but I, I was, uh, a while back, I separately asked by Councilmember Briggs, uh, former Councilmember Briggs, where we stood on a request she had to assess changes to wooded areas of less than five acres. I, I suppose that, that's a trigger because, um, I think we, for reasons that are unclear to me, don't, uh, designate environmentally sensitive areas as such if they're less than five acres. And I think she was looking for, you know, sort of maybe how, uh, how permissive that, uh, ruling has been in terms of, you know, uh, actually creating a lot of change, uh, and, uh, you know, just giving us a better idea of what's at stake with that, with that, um, marker. So it, uh, I would just, I would go ahead and ask to, uh, if there is a way to do that assessment and if so, if we could put that on the list. I can reach out to planning and see what they have. And Depper's group may have some information on that as well that we can bring back. Thank you. And, uh, also, uh, just out of curiosity, I know we made the appointments. I'm pretty sure we, we voted on them. Uh, when does sustainability, the sustainability committee start their work? We are trying to find a date to have a virtual meeting right now. So getting everybody together and finding a two-hour block for a virtual meeting in May is proving a little bit difficult. So, um, but I think we can get a regular schedule starting in June. We may do a one-off sometime in May and then plug in a regular schedule in June. Somehow every other committee finds a way to do it. I'm confident that you can. I, I believe I can. Okay. Uh, I don't have anything else. So with that, are there any conc- I suppose these might have been, uh, that might have been a concluding item. So I'm going to open concluding items retroactively, recognize the question I just asked, and ask if there are any other concluding items. I've got one. Um, could we get an email or Friday report is just fine, I think, but an IPM update? Um, I, I don't necessarily want to open up the whole conversation again, but, uh, just an update on how we're doing at DENIA. Um, I was out there the other day and, uh, noticed quite a few fire ant mounds. And that's one, that's one particular, I guess I'm thinking entomology today with the, with the mosquitoes. That's one particular pest I think we're going to have a lot of trouble controlling with just the IPM in the future. We might even think about a carve out for fire ants and invasive and pretty dangerous little bug. So, um, the only thing I know that kills it is orthine and nobody likes putting orthine out in parks, but it's the only thing I know that kills them. So just an update on IPM, how we're doing, uh, how we're, uh, how we're evaluating ourselves and how it's working at DENIA and where it might be going next. All right. I'll work with Parks on that. Thanks. Okay. There's nothing else. Um, we'll conclude the meeting and, uh, I'll call us adjourning at 940. Thanks everyone. Thanks, sir. Thank you.