Well! An article coming in from a news feed, which in the avalanche of E-mail I get, I oddly chanced to open on my phone days ago (most of these go unopened, depending on the stuff-to-do load), the link to which I almost lost six times, has turned into a delightful discovery! Someone as sewer crazed as I, but unfortunately trapped in that special hell of septic tanks run amok, has written about it, and in a most entertaining way! This person lives in Stinson Beach.
Stinson Beach, a pricy, swanky community north of San Francisco, actually isn't so different from Los Osos. Tidal flats, off the beaten path, some parts beautifully fixed up, others not so much....I just took a Google Earth drive through it. It is greener. But not more beautiful. They built on their sandpit and ours is pristine. And Montaña de Oro is so breathtaking.... I could go on, but all two of you readers already know about that I'd bet.
Take a look at these blog quotes about Stinson Beach and see if you see any similarities to Los Osos:
“……a deliberate decision by the community of Stinson Beach to control population growth by declining to modernise their system of waste disposal.”
“The simple answer is that through the process of community meetings and a bond vote in a special election, the residents of Stinson Beach rejected over 10 different sewer plans and chose the alternative of onsite systems.”
"… which also happens to be a place where the sandy soil makes for an operating environment not ideal for septic systems – and increases the likelihood that they will fail?" *** (I know, I know, WE have MAGIC sand, not that ordinary kind! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!)
http://californiacoastdweller.com/a-new-page-that-does-not-move/
Do have a look at these particularly entertaining posts!
Catch them all here:
http://californiacoastdweller.com/tag/stinson-beach-septic-problems/
Recent improvements to the public beach part of Stinson are described here:
http://www.ptreyeslight.com/article/golden-gate-hears-concerns-over-stinson-beach-septic-overhaul
A Stanford Study can be found here:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/may/septic-wastewater-sea-052010.html
The colossal question is—why is their Regional Water Quality Control Board AND the Coastal Commission not all over them they way that they were with us? Maybe because they are only polluting the ocean, and we.....wee wee right into our water supply which sits below our septic tanks? But then, they have a population of a mere 632....and we a robust 14,200.
I checked out their water supply and I found that their situation is quite a bit different from ours:
The Stinson Beach water supply is provided by two types of sources: surface water and ground water. Surface water is supplied by the Fitzhenry, Black Rock, and Stinson Gulch Creeks. Ground water is supplied by Steep Ravine, Alder Grove, Ranch, and Highlands Wells, which operate intermittently. The collected raw water is piped to the Laurel Treatment Facility. The water is then processed by our New Pall Membrane Filters which consist of two parallel units, each rated at 100 gallons per minute. Sodium hypochlorite (chlorine) is added after filtration for disinfection purposes.
Happy Reading!!
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