Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 17, 2007
4. Water Quality
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Report urges new look at two border sewage ideas - San Diego Union Tribune
LOS OSOS:
Guest Opinion: Sewer group could join cause -
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Report urges new look at two border sewage ideas
By Terry Rodgers, staff writer
The
That was a major conclusion of environmental attorney Cory J. Briggs in a newly released report commissioned by the San Diego Foundation.
For decades, sewage and urban runoff from
After analyzing the Bajagua proposal for a year, Briggs is urging the commission to re-evaluate two plans for upgrading its facility in San Ysidro. The facility doesn't meet federal standards.
His 39-page report, released Tuesday, scolds the agency's officials for what he describes as a lack of leadership and foresight.
“Instead of leading the region out of the sewage crisis, the commission has allowed the Bajagua project – one of several possible solutions to a small slice of the overall problem – to become all-consuming to the point that it is impossible for any government agency at any level in either country to make any meaningful headway in solving the real problem,” Briggs wrote.
For more than a decade, Bajagua has been vying to build a sewage-treatment facility in
Bajagua intends to reclaim the wastewater and purify it enough to sell to manufacturing plants or to supplement
The company's officials recently missed deadlines for obtaining a site in
In his report, Briggs faults Bajagua officials for overselling the plan to politicians and the public as a “comprehensive solution” when it would only treat some of the sewage and none of the urban runoff.
Nevertheless, he argues that it would be premature to abandon the Bajagua project because it “remains the treatment proposal closest to completion.”
Briggs urges federal officials to act within 90 days to assess whether two other sewage-treatment technologies – activated sludge and aerated ponds – could be built in San Ysidro at a price and timeline comparable to Bajagua.
Sewage pollution from
The San Diego Foundation asked Briggs to evaluate the Bajagua proposal to help settle a feud among leaders of the region's environmental community.
Serge Dedina of Wildcoast and Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, D-San Diego, have denounced the Bajagua project. The company's legal counsel, Gary Sirota, a former president of the Surfrider Foundation, and Marco Gonzalez, an attorney for San Diego Coastkeeper, favor it.
In an interview, Briggs said he hopes his report will result in a “detente” between the environmentalists and prompt those in authority to spur the federal government into action.
“This project has languished under (the commission's) stewardship,” Briggs said. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070517/news_2m17bajagua.html
LOS OSOS:
Guest Opinion: Sewer group could join cause
By Lisa Schicker, elected to the Los Osos Community Services District board of directors in 2004
The Los Osos Taxpayers Watch group (aka “Save the Dream”) doesn’t clear up much in its latest Viewpoint (May 5).
While the rest of Los Osos is actively participating in a solution, they continue to misrepresent the views and actions of their locally elected Los Osos Community Services District board and the community. While we have asked for peace and a coming together of all sides, Taxpayers Watch is again throwing stones and looking for someone to blame. Some corrections to the information in the Taxpayers Watch Viewpoint are in order:
Four of the five current district board members were former members of two citizen groups called the Los Osos Technical Task Force and Concerned Citizens for Los Osos. The task force called themselves “Scientists and Engineers for a Responsible Wastewater Project” — hardly sewer obstructionists as Taxpayers Watch describes.
Beginning in 2004, members from these groups ran and were elected repeatedly in the last three elections on a “Move the Sewer” platform. (Where in “Move the Sewer” does it say “No Sewer”?)
These groups provided hours of public testimony at hearings across the state. They produced thousands of pages of analytical reports, educational workshops, information booth displays, videos and literature available to all in order to solve —not obstruct — the wastewater dilemma.
After the recall, even in the face of bankruptcy and with more than 15 lawsuits filed against them (because of the early start of construction just before the recall election), the district board managed to keep its campaign promises and produced a revised project report, peer reviewed by top sewer specialists in the state and committed to building an out-of-town project.
With AB 2701, the county is working on the sewer project again and has assured Los Osos of a fair process. Los Osos Technical Task Force, Concerned Citizens for Los Osos, Citizens for Clean Water and many others are participating 100 percent to ensure that Los Osos receives the environmentally superior, affordable, energy-conserving, sustainable project we have always wanted. It is now almost within our grasp.
Many who spent their day testifying at the water board hearing recently to support the county process were those same members of the task force, Concerned Citizens and all five from the district board, but Taxpayers Watch members were not there.
Where is Taxpayers Watch? Except for one member, they are a noshow, mysteriously AWOL, nowhere to be seen. Where are their efforts to ensure the county’s success? And now, thanks to the landmark decision made by the water board to hold off on enforcement against citizens, it appears that everyone currently living here wants to set aside differences for the future of our community, maybe for the first time in 30 years.
Unfortunately, Taxpayers Watch has neither saved any taxes nor watched much of anything when the district’s house was on fire from 2003-05. They formed only after the 2005 recall election and when the citizen initiative to move the sewer did not work in their favor. Only 1,660 signatures were ever verified in support of Taxpayers Watch, never the 3,400 number that is repeated by them over and over again in their Viewpoint, a number they know is false.
The group watched while the old district board became increasingly out of control, rapidly burning through $20 million of taxpayer money in a few short years.
They turned a blind eye to the California Constitution and the lack of the required Proposition 218 vote, allowing the state to attempt to lien Los Osos residents for a $135 million loan.
A Proposition 218 vote is also required before the county can build a project. See the county’s Web site for up-todate information on this process: www.slocounty.ca.gov/PW/LOWWP/DOCS /Public_Communication.htm.
Taxpayers Watch Viewpoint signers, please lay down your weapons, stop your lawsuits and join with us, your community, San Luis Obispo County, Los Osos Community Services District, Assemblyman Blakeslee and now the Regional Water Quality Control Board in working positively, together for Los Osos. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/182/story/43484.html
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