Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 10, 2007
4. Water Quality
SEWAGE PLANT:
Border sewage plant delayed; Commission suspends all Bajagua wastewater plans - San Diego Union Tribune
RECYCLED WATER:
Recycled water may come with incentives - Monterey Herald
Santa Paula eyes plan for water plant; Package deal could reduce overall costs - Ventura County Star
DRAINAGE SYSTEM:
RiverPark developer files claim against district; Builder wants watershed agency to sign off on culvert - Ventura County Star
SEWAGE PLANT:
Border sewage plant delayed; Commission suspends all Bajagua wastewater plans
By Mike Lee, staff writer
A major effort to improve treatment of
The International Boundary and Water Commission said in letters made public yesterday that it is “suspending all activities” related to the $600 million project pushed by Bajagua LLC of San Marcos.
The company aims to build a wastewater treatment facility in
Boundary commission chief Carlos Marin said that “a number of tasks remain to be accomplished” and that Bajagua would be unable to get the treatment operation running by a court-set deadline of Sept. 30, 2008. He said the company needed five more months.
In a letter Tuesday to the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, Marin outlined progress on the project but said his agency won't do any more work on it until a federal judge considers a deadline extension. He added that the commission also was looking at upgrading the San Ysidro plant instead of pursuing the Bajagua project.
Marin's letter was the first public comment his agency has made on Bajagua since May 2, which it set as the deadline for several pieces of the project to be in place. One such milestone – a signed construction contract – remains months away.
Bajagua representatives said yesterday that they still are pushing to get the facility running on time, and that they will keep working on the project at their own risk. Over more than a decade, they have invested millions of dollars in consultants, lobbyists and other costs.
“For someone now to say we should stop (and) consider another project is the height of irresponsibility and ignorance,” said Gary Sirota, a Bajagua lawyer.
Bajagua's opponents have complained for years about the company's lobbying efforts, and they question how much benefit the project would provide. They said yesterday that pushing back the construction deadline would only make a decades-old problem worse.
“Any request for delay opens the door for delay after delay,” said Imperial Beach Councilwoman Mayda Winter.
In 2001, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board took the unusual step of suing the boundary commission because the San Ysidro plant failed to meet water quality standards. Sewage regularly fouls ocean water in the area.
Last year, federal Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz rejected the water board's request to start fining the commission to compel it to meet deadlines.
Since then, the boundary commission has continued to fall behind, increasing the likelihood that Moskowitz will step back into the dispute. In his order in June, the judge said he would entertain the idea of shutting down the existing treatment plant – an option no one likes – or ordering the commission to formulate another plan.
“It cannot continue to discharge in violation of the law,” Moskowitz said.
Regional water board members took public testimony about Bajagua at a regular meeting yesterday, and they also discussed the issue in a closed session. The boundary commission declined to send anyone to the meeting, saying it preferred to talk during a formal “meet-and-confer” process outlined by the court.
The parties are expected to talk in coming weeks, although both agencies are keeping their strategies private.
“We look forward to cleaner water as soon as possible and that's about as much as I can say,” said Susan Ritschel, regional board chairwoman. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070510/news_1m10bajagua.html
RECYCLED WATER:
Recycled water may come with incentives
By Kevin Howe, staff writer
Incentives to encourage water users to convert their landscape irrigation systems from using potable water to recycled water may be in the works for customers of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.
During a meeting Wednesday of the district's water demand committee, manager Stephanie Pintar said current regulations don't provide an incentive for users to convert from using drinkable water to reclaimed water.
There are projects under way to provide recycled water for irrigation, she said. Use of recycled water would avoid drawing drinkable water from the system for watering lawns, gardens, crops and golf courses.
"Recycled water availability is likely to increase in the next decade," Pintar wrote in a report to the committee. "Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency plans to supply additional recycled water for use in city parks, roadway landscapes and golf courses."
Using Forest Lake Reservoir in
New subdivisions being built are including recycled water systems in their infrastructure, she said, and some, including Carmel Valley Ranch, Pasadera, Monterra and Ca ada Woods, are currently producing recycled water for irrigation.
The joint Carmel Area Wastewater District-Pebble Beach Community Services District water project, she said, is an example of a successful project that has saved more than 869 acre-feet of potable water between May 2006 and April this year. District staff members, Pintar said, are asking for direction on preparing an ordinance that would allow a water-use credit for conversion of potable irrigation to recycled irrigation water as an incentive for customers to invest in the conversion costs. #
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_5860877
By Sam Richard, staff writer
The city staff is looking into having the facility designed, built, operated and financed in one package.
The staff plans to update the City Council on the alternative July 16, said Cliff Finley, director of public works.
The city has spent about $2 million and months looking into the "valued engineered option" to finance the proposed water recycling facility.
The staff is considering an alternative that allows the city to go through the contracting process only once and that could potentially save millions of dollars, Finley said.
"It's important to us because we're having to make some decisions that are going to impact our community," Councilman Bob Gonzales said.
Customers, who will have to cover the cost for any new plant, currently pay an average of $43 a month, Finley said.
Fees could rise between now and when the plant has to be built by Sept. 5, 2010 and even after, he said.
Under the current option, residents could ultimately pay $60 to $80 a month for service, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said.
The city is not sure how much the bill would be for the design-build-operate-finance option, but there is an "indication" that it would be less, he said.
A conservative estimate for the facility's cost under the current approach is $83 million, Bobkiewicz said.
The second design option, which is not based on real engineer estimates, could lower the cost to $66 million.
"As long as it's not backing up in your living room, you don't really think about it," Bobkiewicz said, referring to sewage.
"The impact comes every month with the bill.
"Bottom line, the council wants to make sure the residents of
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board recently approved a permit that mandates the city meet certain requirements by September 2010.
Bobkiewicz said the council should have a better idea on what option will work at the July meeting.
Gonzales said he does not want the rising fees to "negatively impact the pocketbooks of our community."
"We owe it to the community to get the best deal to them," Gonzales said. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/may/10/santa-paula-eyes-plan-for-water-plant/
DRAINAGE SYSTEM:
RiverPark developer files claim against district; Builder wants watershed agency to sign off on culvert
By Charles Levin, staff writer
The developer of RiverPark in
At issue is the long-term viability of a lengthy underground box culvert built by developer RiverPark LLC. A district official said it doesn't meet the agency's safety standards and could burden taxpayers with maintenance costs sooner than planned.
RiverPark, a 2,800-unit village north of Highway 101 and west of
RiverPark also agreed to build a 1,750-foot extension to the culvert from El Rio, east of
The district agreed to reimburse the developer for about $4 million in construction costs, said Jeff Pratt, the district's director.
In its April 5 claim the precursor to a lawsuit RiverPark said district officials monitored the drain's construction every day, and the project passed muster with an independent third-party structural analysis.
If the district refuses to grant final approval of the culvert, RiverPark must assume the maintenance, said Kenneth Rozell, the developer's Santa Monica-based attorney.
Without a resolution to the dispute, "it will cost the RiverPark development and the residents money to maintain it," Rozell said, adding that the developer could add the cost to home prices.
Pratt sees it differently.
With the real estate market slowing down, "they were in a hurry to finish that box," he said.
Most drainage systems are built as ditches above ground, he added, but RiverPark opted to build one under the street system.
A final analysis found that the culvert was not built with enough concrete and steel to withstand continuous trips by trucks traveling on a street that runs lengthwise over the culvert, Pratt said.
He added that experts from both sides missed this during routine checks.
RiverPark has shown that the culvert meets safety standards in other counties but not in
More importantly, the culvert could require maintenance sooner than planned, a burden for the cash-poor district.
"It's not really as durable as we'd like it to be," Pratt said.
Both sides have been discussing ways to resolve the matter. Rozell called the negotiations fruitful.
According to Pratt, RiverPark has agreed to estimate costs to retrofit about 2,000 feet of the culvert.
"We're not going to take something on for maintenance that isn't going to last some period of time," Pratt said. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/may/10/riverpark-developer-files-claim-against-district/
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