Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 27, 2008
4. Water Quality
SEWAGE ISSUES:
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Sewage fix for Dixon could linger - Vacaville Reporter
SEWAGE ISSUES:
By Michael Shea, staff writer
Municipal Services Director Dan Madden said the fines are part and parcel of the sewer business and for the past three years the city has budgeted about $30,000 a year in anticipation of them.
Environmentalists said the violations are symptomatic of a larger problem in the
The waste-water treatment facility on
The system exceeded limits for chlorine residual, pH, settleable solids, total coliform organisms, total suspended solids and turbidity, according to the water board.
The city is negotiating with the board on the number of violations, Madden said.
"To have 72 violations in an eight-year period, actually, isn't that bad," he said.
Some discharges from the sewer system have set minimums and maximums, such as 6.5 pH to 8.5 pH, Madden said. A probe floats in the river of treated waste and whenever the pH goes below 6.5 or above 8.5, regardless of duration, it counts as a violation, he said.
Plant employees collect samples, test them or send them to a lab, and the results are sent to the water board. Each violation is a mandatory $3,000 fine.
"It's virtually impossible to be 100 percent compliant 100 percent of the time," Madden said.
Eating tiny solids in the waste
At the South Walnut plant, 20-foot redwood grids -- much like a lattice available at a home and garden store -- act as a biological filter. Waste water is pumped over them in circular tanks. Green zoogleal slime -- the stuff that grows on river rocks -- covers every inch of the redwood and essentially eats tiny solids in the waste water, sinks and is then removed, making the water cleaner.
In October 2002, one of those towers collapsed, Madden said, and the treatment system went down. Once fixed, it took time for the slime to grow back, so even though the system was running, it wasn't at 100 percent, he said. After the tower collapse, the state recorded 16 violations in three months.
In May 2006, the treatment plant went from a secondary to a tertiary system where, after the biological process, waste water is pumped through a tertiary filter, another way to say a really fine screen. Any particles in the water larger than 5 microns are sifted out (for comparison, a period in this paragraph is 615 microns). When the new system was first turned on, the city racked up several more violations while employees worked out the kinks, Madden said.
Whatever the final number of violations and amount of the fine, state law allows for 50 percent of that money to be spent on a supplemental environmental project, Madden said. The city owns four acres on the
Also Wednesday, the water board proposed a $48,000 fine against
In 2004, Hilmar Cheese Co. racked up more than $4 million in similar fines for discharging liquid waste laden with four times the acceptable level of salts in a 120-acre dirt field next to the company's main building.
In 2006, the cheese giant agreed to pay $3 million, to be divided between the state and a Hilmar-commissioned study about ways to reduce salinity in waste water, enraging environmental groups, which called it a pay-to-pollute plan.
Hershey Foods Co. was told to expect $39,000 fines last month for 13 violations from January 2000 to 2008 in which 40 percent more effluent than allowed, including oils and grease, was pumped into the Oakdale Irrigation District's
Malfunctions behind violations
Equipment malfunctions and large amounts of toxic material entering treatment plants are the common reasons for most violations, said Jack DelConte, assistant executive officer of the water board. He couldn't speak on
"We regulate waste-water discharges to protect water quality, to protect the beneficial uses of surface water and on rivers, for domestic uses, business uses, fish and aquatic life, aesthetics," he said. "This is so the public has clean water."
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance closely monitors water issues across the state. Executive Director Bill Jennings went through the list of
- Chlorine residual: "Highly toxic to aquatic life," he said.
- pH: "Too low can be bad for aquatic life."
- Settleable solids: "To be expected."
- Total coliform organisms: "Pathogens, essentially. They potentially pose a hazard to people."
- Total suspended solids: "To be expected."
- Turbidity: "Not surprising."
"Its symptomatic of a larger problem through the
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/251088.html
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Sewage fix for
By Melissa Murphy, staff writer
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board continues to affirm the city's need to address key issues related to its wastewater treatment facility and wastewater.
A compromise with the state's water board still is being pursued by the city.
After not complying to a Cease and Desist Order issued in 2005, the city was fined $220,000 at the beginning of this year.
Since then,
City Engineer Royce Cunningham said the order consisted of a two-tiered set of effluent limits, with the requirement to meet the first set by April 30, 2010, and the second by April 30, 2012.
Cunningham said
"We would be setting ourselves up for failure,' he explained. "To agree to a Cease and Desist Order that we couldn't accomplish would be foolish.'
The city would be more successful, Cunningham said, if it set a goal of completed compliance of April 2014, and an Environmental Impact Report goal for necessary improvements to the wastewater treatment plant by 2011.
Several other milestones were outlined in the tentative revised order, including submission by August 30 of this year of an Effluent and Groundwater Limitation Plan that completely describes wastewater programs and an improvement project addressing salinity issues, and submission by Nov. 30 of this year of a complete Facilities Plan.
The public had 30 days to comment on the board's tentative order.
During that time, Cunningham, as well as wastewater consultants and staff from the city attorney's office prepared a response to the Water Board.
The 60-page response included more information on additional wastewater studies as well as a detailed response to the board's requests.
After the water board received the city's response, it postponed an April hearing until June in order to read thoroughly through the document.
"They couldn't adequately respond in such a short time," Cunningham said. "It's a good thing for them to pause and look at it adequately. Hopefully they'll see the value in the comments we've made."
The Cease and Desist Order process has been rather frustrating to city staff and the citizens appointed to the advisory Wastewater Committee.
"Salinity is a major issue," said Ourania Riddle, a member of the committee. "It's frustrating that we don't know where that level should be."
Cunningham added that although the two parties disagree, they've been able to conduct the meetings cordially.
Riddle explained that experts from the city's consultants and from the water board can't agree on findings from groundwater studies.
"There are some things that should have already been done," said Riddle, adding that some of the regular maintenance should have been completed. I can see why the regional water board wants it done now."
The Wastewater Committee will meet again April 7 and thereafter as needed. #
http://www.thereporter.com//ci_8714816?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com
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