Resolution 83-13, Apocalypse Then and Now

The resident turnover in Los Osos is probably low compared to other places. The only stats I could find was off this website http://www.city-data.com/city/Baywood-Los-Osos-California.html#b where 6.77% of this county's 2006 resident taxpayers lived in other counties in 2005. So what is correct for Los Osos today, I don't know.

The point being however, as it was with me when I got here, there is a certain percentage who know very little about about the sewer history in Los Osos and how it got that way. And there is a certain percentage of longer time residents who don't know either. Depending on who you talk to, there can be quite a variation in stories.

One good place to learn the still-relevant history, although it makes a difficult read due to funky typing and primitive and hideous scanning, is to read the actual Resolution 83-13 by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 3). What is the Prohibition Zone and why do we have one?

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast//water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/1983_09_27_memo_bp_amendment_res_83_13.pdf

The timetable for building a sewer was outlined thus:

• Begin Design November1, 1984
• Complete Design November 1, 1985
• Obtain Construction Funding December 1, 1985
• Begin Construction April 1, 1986
• Complete Construction November 1, 1988

Yikes. COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC!

The draft of 83-13, with a much easier map to see just where the PZ landed, is on this document.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/draft_res_83_12_000.pdf

The Staff Report for 83-13 is also illuminating, where the lot size to be excluded from "THE ZONE" was lowered to 1/2 acre.

Here is a tasty morsel from that report:

Adoption of this amendment will help prevent numerous problems that have resulted from on-site disposal systems. Water quality problems have resulted from systems located in sites unsuitable for on-site systems such as improper soils, areas of high groundwater, areas of high bedrock, or on lots that are too small. Inadequate design, inferior construction, inadequate operation and maintenance, inadequate local agency regulation, and a lack of consideration of the cumulative impacts of on-site systems have also contributed to such problems.

Also relevant is this document, Resolution 84-13, an amendment to 83-13. It adds that while the addition of 1,150 additional homes (but no more!) would increase the nitrogen in the groundwater, it would not result in the degradation of the quality of the lower groundwater aquifer.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/water_issues/programs/los_osos/docs/1984_01_19_res_84_13.pdf

Amazing how this lack of a sewer went on for so long. And how a lessening of the actual water supply from the lower aquifer was not though of at all with the addition to so many new homes prior to 1987. 

The whole story is pretty amazing. Not in a good way of course.