Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 23, 2008
4. Water Quality
INTERNATIONAL SEWAGE ISSUES:
Two options being pressed on treating sewage from Tijuana; Strategy decision still months away - San Diego Union Tribune
CLEAN WATER PROGRAMS:
Council approves clean-water programs; $320 million needed to fulfill mandates - San Diego
LOS OSOS:
Reclamator creator touts plan for Osos: Fix sewer woes and get services district out of bankruptcy; The maker of the purported toilet-to-tap device says a proposed partnership with the district will solve the town’s problems — including bankruptcy - San Luis Obispo
Osos sewer push goes on, despite denial of $5 million; Los Osos loses out on public works funding, but officials still hope to get $35 million from a water resources act - San Luis Obispo Tribune
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INTERNATIONAL SEWAGE ISSUES:
Two options being pressed on treating sewage from Tijuana
San Diego
By Mike Lee, staff writer
A lawyer for federal wastewater officials said yesterday that they are pressing ahead on two options to improve the treatment of sewage flowing from Tijuana into San Diego County
However, a final decision on which strategy they will use remains at least three months away, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Commission officials joined state regulators, environmentalists and representatives from the company Bajagua LLC in U.S. District Court to review progress on the two main upgrade proposals: enhancing the commission's existing sewage facility in San Ysidro or building a new plant in
“After years of uncertainty, we can now see a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Stephen Samuels, the Justice Department lawyer who represented the
In December, Congress agreed to spend up to $66 million on the problem, though it didn't settle the decade-old question of how best to do that. At yesterday's hearing, the parties could not agree on who is supposed to make that call – the boundary commission or Congress.
Expanding the current facility has been pegged at roughly $100 million. About a third of that money may come from
If a major wastewater plant was built in
Bajagua officials have said their plant would treat some 59 million gallons of wastewater a day. The company would finance the construction costs upfront, but
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is comparing the projects and is expected to report its findings by late April.
In the meantime, boundary commission leaders said in court papers that they have hired an engineering firm to update old designs for the San Ysidro upgrades and refine cost estimates. They also are looking at how to increase the treatment capacity of the existing plant to 100 million gallons a day.
At the same time, the commission has resumed negotiations with Bajagua, beginning with a three-hour meeting earlier this month.
Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz ordered the parties to keep working and report back in late March, although no final decision on the winning project is expected by then.
“Everybody has to go along in good faith with both options so that when one is chosen . . . it will be successful,” he said. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080123/news_1m23bajagua.html
CLEAN WATER PROGRAMS:
Council approves clean-water programs; $320 million needed to fulfill mandates
San Diego
By Jennifer Vigil, staff writer
San Diego
Council members supported the city's efforts, but Councilman Tony Young and a city budget analyst raised concerns about the spending.
“In light of the budget issues I think we'll be having for some time, where will the financing come from?” Young asked.
The budget analyst warned in a Jan. 4 report that while the city has established the programs that are needed to meet the requirements of a 2007 state water permit, little has been done to figure out where the money will come from to pay for them.
The enormous cost is another burden for a city already projecting budget deficits of up to $85 million in the next five years. Mayor Jerry Sanders warned of the shortfalls in his long-term financial plan nearly two weeks ago.
A report from the city's Public Works Department offers an estimate of the total costs of the program over most of the same period covered by Sanders' financial projections.
In the current fiscal year, the city is spending $43 million. That would rise to $54 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, and $57 million by 2013.
Concerns about the costs were expressed by the Independent Budget Analyst's Office, which advises the council.
In the short term, the analyst wondered specifically how the city will spend the additional $11 million likely to be budgeted in the new year. His report also noted that the city's estimated costs of compliance are confined to two programs, storm-water-pollution prevention and the street division.
That, he said, fails to account for further costs that will be incurred, and Young seized on that point, wondering if other community services will have to be cut back to meet further requirements.
Mario Sierra, director of general services, said other departments already have incurred those costs, but added that the analyst's concerns prompted the city to launch a study to determine if there will be effects on other city programs.
The city will monitor the watering of lawns and car washing in residential areas over the coming year, to see if the city's current efforts are making a difference.
To comply with new regulations, the city will conduct education campaigns and ramp up enforcement efforts to prevent businesses and residents from allowing pesticides, fertilizer, pet waste and oil to flow into drains, where they can contaminate local waters.
The city first obtained the urban runoff permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board in 1990 and renewed it once, 11 years later, before the latest version was released. #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080123/news_1m23water.html
LOS OSOS:
Reclamator creator touts plan for Osos: Fix sewer woes and get services district out of bankruptcy; The maker of the purported toilet-to-tap device says a proposed partnership with the district will solve the town’s problems — including bankruptcy
San Luis Obispo
By Sona Patel, staff writer
The creator of a device who claims it can turn sewage into drinkable water now has a plan he said would fix Los Osos’ sewer worries and bail the town’s services district out of a multimillion-dollar bankruptcy.
That plan includes working with the Los Osos Community Services District to provide the Reclamator to most property owners in the coastal town.
It’s the latest move by Tom Murphy of AES Central Coast Discharge Elimination Co. to persuade authorities to scrap the long-awaited sewer for his unconventional treatment system.
As part of the plan, Murphy sent petitions to property owners in two of the town’s neighborhoods asking them to support the partnership and “be indemnified of all liability” from a multimillion-dollar fine the district owes to the state Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The official-looking petitions surprised or confused some property owners and alarmed others. District and state officials have not recognized the petition’s merits.
The regional water board, the local arm of the State Water Quality Control Board, in early 2006 imposed a $6.6 million fine on the district for taking too long to build a sewer.
Water-quality regulators have been pushing Los Osos for decades to build a sewer. They blame nitrate pollution in the groundwater and
After multiple attempts to build a sewer failed, the county took over design and construction of the project under a deal brokered by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, and approved by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The district filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in August 2006 to stave off creditors while trying to figure out how to deal with an estimated $45 million in debts.
Murphy says that the petitions — sent to about 240 property owners in Bayridge Estates and Vista de Oro — would preclude them of an obligation to pay part of the $6.6 million fine and would acknowledge a partnership with the services district.
But Harvey Packard—the regional water board’s enforcement chief — said the petitions have no effect on property owners because the fine applies only to the district.
The district’s general manager, John Schempf, said the services district has not consented to a partnership with the company.
Murphy said the petitions were part of his company’s proposed plan of debt adjustment to bail the district out of bankruptcy.
Joe Sholder, one of the district’s bankruptcy attorneys, said Chapter 9 bankruptcy cases preclude anyone except the debtor from submitting a plan of debt adjustment to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Murphy said his proposed plan would be profitable for both agencies but did not say how. He also would not elaborate on the district’s role in a partnership with his company.
Some property owners said they worried that the language in the petition would mislead their neighbors.
“It kind of plays on fears of everything,” said Kay Blaney, a property owner in Vista de Oro. “There are older people who are being misled.”
Blaney said, and Murphy confirmed, that AES representatives were going door to door in her neighborhood a few days after she received the petition. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/254384.html
Osos sewer push goes on, despite denial of $5 million; Los Osos loses out on public works funding, but officials still hope to get $35 million from a water resources act
San Luis Obispo
By Sona Patel, staff writer
County officials said they would continue trying to secure millions of dollars to pay for a Los Osos sewer after being denied $5 million in a spending bill for public works projects nationwide.
Paavo Ogren, sewer project manager and county public works director, said his agency would continue to work toward getting money from the federal Water Resources Development Act.
Last year, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, obtained a $35 million authorization for funding toward a Los Osos sewer through that bill.
While the bill authorizes millions for Los Osos, the community isn’t guaranteed the full authorization. Local officials won’t know how much money Los Osos would receive for a sewer until future bills that would appropriate the money are approved.
The county was one of many agencies nationwide that didn’t get the much-requested public works funding.
Typically, there are more requests for this kind of funding than the amount of money available.
John Diodati, county administrative services officer, said the recently denied request would not delay the project or hinder future attempts at securing federal grants.
Diodati said county officials working on design and construction of a sewer will make another request to Capps and a key
Meanwhile, county public works officials are forging ahead on a draft environmental impact report on the sewer that’s expected to be completed by late August.
That draft report is expected to analyze about 22 potential sites for a sewage treatment plant—at least four of them in detail, according to Mark Hutchinson, county environmental program manager.
The final environmental report— which would identify a proposed project — is expected to be released in early 2009.
Final design efforts would be made in 2009 and final construction in 2010, according to county officials. #
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/254388.html
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