Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 23, 2007
4. Water Quality
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADE:
City OKs sewer plant upgrades; Council still looking at regional facility in Lincoln - Auburn Journal
REGULATION:
Toxic waste landfill to pay $725,000 fine;
DISCHARGE ISSUES:
State is revising water-cool rules for power plants; The regulations are a prelude to issuing new oceanic discharge permits for county’s two generating facilities - San Luis Obispo Tribune
LOS OSOS:
Homeowners have the most power in Osos sewer tax vote; They collectively hold 86 percent of the voting power in Proposition 218 election, a Tribune analysis discovers - San Luis Obispo Tribune
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADE:
City OKs sewer plant upgrades; Council still looking at regional facility in Lincoln
Auburn Journal – 10/23/07
Jenna Nielsen, staff writer
The city of
The Auburn City Council voted unanimously Monday night to work on finalizing the $732,000 upgrade plan at its local site to meet state and federal water quality improvement deadlines while still focusing on wastewater regionalization.
"I think there are a lot of unknowns with what the future holds," said Councilman Kevin Hanley. "We face a tight deadline on our plant and I think we need to focus on ensuring that our plant is upgraded to avoid penalties that will come down the way."
Come December 2009, the city could face fines upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, if guidelines such as reducing nitrogen, metals and pesticide levels, are not met.
The city is considering whether to upgrade its existing wastewater treatment facility or connect to a regional sewer plant in
Jack Warren, city public works director, said he has been communicating with representatives from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board to discuss the possibility of an extension.
Two construction seasons are needed to complete on-site upgrades so to meet the December 2009 deadline, a contract will have to be awarded by June of next year or the city must have an extension in hand.
Officials estimate connecting to
Ken Landau, assistant executive director of the state water quality board's
City single-family residential monthly sewer fees were increased in June to $52.50 to fund all necessary on-site improvements.
Future annual increases of $2 to $3 will also take effect each year until 2012 to compensate for inflation.
City officials said sewer fees would need to be increased again if the decision is made to connect to
Auburn resident Cheryl Maki, who also sits on the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, urged councilmembers to keep the regional plan in mind.
"No matter how much we raise fees or what improvements we make, there is always going to be new deadlines," Maki said.
"The state of
The city council also voted unanimously Monday night to adopt a new sanitary sewer system management plan and wastewater pollution prevention plan. Both of the plans are associated with the city's wastewater stream and collection system and are required by the state whether there is a regional sewer system or not.
The cost for preparing the plans has been estimated at $75,000. The cost for implementing the work plans is expected to cost $100,000 annually. The city's sewer enterprise fund currently includes funding for both the plans.
In other business Monday night, the council voted 4-1 to issue a letter supporting the status quo for power boaters on the Auburn State Recreation Area's
The Auburn Boat Club has been campaigning to keep regulations as they are since a proposal to eliminate or put additional limits on motorboats surfaced last spring in a list of issues presented at workshops on a revised state recreation area general plan.
Mayor Bob Snyder said he wanted to issue a letter of concern and ask for more information about the proposal, but after his motion died, he said he would sign the letter even though he voted against it.
The letter will be sent to state Ruth Coleman, Department of Parks and Recreation Director, supporting current regulations on the lake.
U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, state Senators Sam Aanestad,
Parks officials say no decision has been made and there is no organized effort to pull motorboats from the lake but that discussion has taken place at public meeting and stakeholder sessions on future uses of Clementine. #
http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2007/10/23/news/top_stories/03sewerplant23.txt?pg=3
REGULATION:
Toxic waste landfill to pay $725,000 fine;
Contra Costa Times – 10/23/07
By Denis Cuff, staff writer
A state agency has fined a closed
In a settlement with the state announced Monday, the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill agreed to pay the fine and improve the leak prevention system at its 28-acre toxic waste disposal area on
In making the deal, the company did not admit to a state allegation that the hazardous waste area was an "imminent threat" to the bay in February 2006.
"We are pleased that the
The waste dump along the
In a report last year, state inspectors said poor maintenance caused the failure of pumps used to extract the tainted water and ensure that any water penetrating a clay wall around the dump flowed into, not out of, the disposal area.
"All 28 extraction wells in the hazardous waste facility are currently not operating," the report said.
Hazardous waste had topped a clay containment wall and has "has migrated toward San Pablo Creek, a slough and
Lead and cancer-causing solvents were detected in ground water outside the disposal facility, investigators wrote.
The dump owners dispute that its closed landfill leaked.
The owners have invested heavily in pumps and other equipment to make sure the tainted water collection and cleaning system is working, said Sue Vaccaro, a spokeswoman for Republic Services Inc. The company in 2002 bought the toxic landfill, an adjacent garbage dump and a municipal dump in
"We do not believe there was any wrongdoing, and this agreement settles the issues with (state) DTSC," Vacarro said.
Paul Kewin, a manager for the toxic substances agency, said he is satisfied with progress on the leak prevention system since February 2006 when his agency declared the landfill an "imminent" danger to the environment or people.
"We believe the agreement sets the tone for protective measures," he said, "and should keep things on track." #
DISCHARGE ISSUES:
State is revising water-cool rules for power plants; The regulations are a prelude to issuing new oceanic discharge permits for county’s two generating facilities
San Luis Obispo
By David Sneed, staff writer
State water officials hope they will be able to draft new rules in June governing cooling systems for
In exchange for issuing these permits, state water officials could require various mitigations from the utilities. In the case of the
With
Rules regarding that cooling method have been up in the air since 2002, though, because of repeated lawsuits and unclear federal regulations.
“We don’t really have guidance on how we can proceed on once-through cooling,” said Peter von Langen with the regional board staff. “In 2002, there were mechanisms for minimizing the impacts of the cooling. But all of those laws were thrown out, and we don’t have a clear policy.”
Once-through cooling is a common method for condensing boiler steam in power plants. Water is circulated through condensers and discharged without reuse. The
Once-through cooling damages the environment by killing millions of fish and crab larvae. The larvae are killed by the rapid increase in water temperature or are eaten by mussels and clams that line the cooling water system.
Environmental groups — primarily the New York-based Riverkeeper group — have sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to force it to require that power plants use the “best technology available” in their cooling systems.
If they are successful, it could force old and new power plants to use less environmentally damaging cooling systems. These include closed-cycle recirculating systems, which use large towers to cool the water, and dry cooling, which cools the water using radiator-like coils.
Utilities argue that building new cooling systems at existing plants would be prohibitively expensive. They also say cooling towers and dry cooling systems would increase the footprint of the power plants and take up land that could be used for other purposes.
With money from the state Energy Commission, the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory is researching ways to reduce the impact of once-through cooling on aquatic ecosystems.
Staff members of the State Water Resources Control Board are writing a new policy to clarify once-through cooling rules. Regional water officials will attend a workshop on the subject in January.
Regional water officials hope the state board will adopt a new policy for once-through cooling in June. In the meantime, the
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/173502.html
LOS OSOS:
Homeowners have the most power in Osos sewer tax vote; They collectively hold 86 percent of the voting power in Proposition 218 election, a Tribune analysis discovers
San Luis Obispo
By Sona Patel, staff writer
The Los Osos sewer tax election that ends today will likely be decided by average homeowners, who as a group hold the most voting power and the biggest financial stake, according to an analysis by The Tribune.
Collectively, homeowners hold nearly 90 percent of the voting power in the Los Osos sewer assessment election — often referred to as the Proposition 218 vote. That includes single-family homes, condominiums and mobile homes.
Owners of single-family homes make up about 79 percent of the voting power, an analysis of county data on individual assessments found.
That’s because votes are weighted according to how much each property would be assessed. When the thousands of individual levies in the tens of thousands of dollars are added up, homes far outweigh commercial development.
Property owners must turn in their ballots by the end of a protest hearing set for this afternoon before the
The
Longtime opponents of building a sewer in Los Osos, as well as many critics of the county’s takeover of the project, have argued that the push for building a wastewater system in the town is driven by developers and other real estate and business interests.
Critics say commercial interests would benefit the most because construction of a sewer is expected to lead to a reversal of a ban on most building in Los Osos and spur growth.
Still, the owners of business properties, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District and some mobile-home parks could be a deciding factor if homeowners are sharply divided on the assessment.
Some of those owners of large properties have the biggest assessments, according to the county’s tax roll.
Owners of undeveloped properties are not voting mainly because they are not subject to enforcement and fines by state water quality regulators. However, they could be taxed in a future assessment.
The push for a sewer
For decades, state officials have been pushing the town of 14,000 to build a sewer in hopes of halting nitrate pollution in the groundwater and
In 1988, the regional water board created a “prohibition zone,” in which growth was halted and little new construction has taken place. That ban is supposed to be lifted when a sewer is completed.
The county plans to collect about $127 million to pay for the design and construction of a sewer. The vote-by-mail election that ends today is required by Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, approved by
The county took over the sewer from the Los Osos Community Services District under a plan brokered by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, and approved by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Several attempts to build a sewer included one that broke ground in August 2005 but was halted after two months when voters removed a majority of the district board in a recall.
The county would assess most homeowners about $25,000 if paid in a lump sum, according to a county engineer’s report. But officials expect most homeowners to pay in twice-annual installments of $960 on their property tax bills.
Larger home properties would be assessed several thousand dollars more, while condos and mobile homes would be required to pay less.
Individual taxes on commercial properties range through the hundreds of thousands of dollars, while the largest — more than $1.1 million — would be levied on
Combined assessments for the school district total more than $1.5 million for its three properties in Los Osos, making it the single largest voter. The San Luis Coastal school board unanimously voted in favor of the assessment Oct. 2.
San Luis Coastal owns three school sites in the affected area: Baywood Elementary, Monarch Grove Elementary and Sunnyside Elementary, which closed in 2002.
Small apartment buildings, duplexes and triplexes would pay about $1.8 million of the assessment combined.
An apartment complex owner in Los Osos with a nearly $172,000 assessment said he has steadily increased monthly rents for several months to offset the cost of a sewer.
The owner, who declined to be named, said he raised the monthly rent for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment to $1,245 from $1,150. Rent for a longtime tenant in a two-bedroom apartment went to $775 from $735. New tenants pay $800.
The Morro Shores Mobile Home Park is listed as a single parcel, while residents of Daisy Hill Estates—which is collectively owned — requested to have their assessments allocated based on individual shares.
A divided community
Gail McPherson— spokeswoman for a citizens group in Los Osos who has held public meetings for local residents to meet with county sewer project managers — believes that many voters are mainly concerned about project costs, the undecided treatment plant location and type of technology.
“I was surprised at the number (of people) who view the project without question — most have higher income levels and said they could afford it,” McPherson said. “They seem oblivious to the cost details, and most are not following the project information or assessment details.”
The citizens group Taxpayers Watch — whose members primarily support the county building a sewer — also thought cost was the biggest concern, but that the county would be the only agency capable of building a sewer.
“We are 100 percent behind the county,” Joyce Albright said. “There’s no use voicing concerns.”
Still, she said the community would constantly be “on watch.”
The Los Osos/Baywood Park Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 225 businesses and local residents, won’t take a position because the organization’s bylaws require that it be nonpartisan. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/173545.html
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