Project Update for February 2014

You can find it at this link:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Feb2014.pdf

LO Item on Next Tuesday's BOS Consent Agenda

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Consent Agenda - Auditor - Controller - Treasurer - Tax Collector Items:

3. Submittal of a compliance audit of the Los Osos Water Conservation Rebate Program. District 2.

Find the relevant documents at this link:

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=3157

Had a BLAST!!

The party to celebrate and thank our sewer construction guys was a huge success! It really was a happy, lighthearted gathering, the way I have imagined Los Osos was before the sewer war took center stage (I can only imagine from what I've been told by old-timers, I came here in April, 2005). This event has started the cleaning out of the cobwebs, acrimony and muck from community sewer discourse.

There was an art show featuring construction scenes drawn and painted by adults and kids, thank-you cards from a school class, a slideshow with shots from various neighborhoods and a really cool video put together from a day's work compressed into a couple of minutes, THREE cakes (the server used a miniature shovel to dish out the pieces), lots of BBQ-ed hot dogs and a variety of sodas, table decor of succulents in sand pails, a wall of photos, a free raffle for some of the art, music by the Zongo Combo, the reading of a cool sewer poem, and some observations from key people on the project; Bruce Gibson District 2 Supervisor, Paavo Ogren Public Works Director SLO County, John Waddell Project Manager, Jim Brantley Construction Manager, ARB's Project Manager and W.A. Rasic's Project Manager (sorry, I failed to write down your names). There was a remembrance of a much loved ARB flagman Ramon Camacho.

The event was created by Los Osos artists Joan Sullivan, Barbara Rosenthal and Jan French. Celebrate Los Osos (Pandora Nash-Karner and Mimi Kalland) helped to organize the event and with getting the sponsors. And various worker bees, myself included, signed up for behind the scenes tasks.

As we used to say where I used to work (creating catalogs of products), "copy smells, pictures sell," so I will end the words with some photos that I took.

PS A much larger sewer art show will be held around the time of project completion.

Tuesday! Red Barn! Be There—Party Time!

Don't forget, this Tuesday March 25 is party time to thank our construction workers for doing a great job for us! I hope that you will be there! I certainly will and I printed up a few photos I took of the job as it went along—maybe you did too? Not too late to get them hung on the walls!

Anyone interested in submitting artwork should contact Barbara Rosenthal atBarbara@RosenthalArt.com or Joan Sullivan at Joan@JoanSullivan.com.

Dig Los Osos Posts a Project Update!

Pipelines, pump stations, water recycling facility, lateral connections! Use this link to read about where we are:

http://www.diglososos.com/2014/03/13/construction-update-collection-system-moves-forward-toward-completion/

Video of Town Hall Meeting Online

For those of you who missed the meeting or would like to revisit the event, you can go to this link and watch it on your computer:

http://media.slo-span.org/slospan/Video_Files/SM/SM_14-02-26/SM_14-02-26_Los-Osos-Wastewater-Project-Public-Forum.wmv

Apparently, the video is also available on Channel 20, but I have not looked for it.

RWQCB and the Ever Present Ken Berry

Who is Ken Berry? OK, I confess. I'm getting down into the sewer weeds with this post. But as I always do, I was looking at the agenda for our Regional Water Quality Control Board's meeting today (it's in Salinas). I do this just to see if any sewer-related Los Osian thing might pop up. And the usual closed session legal case was there,

"4.    Los Osos CSD v. Central Coast Water Board (San Luis Obispo County Case No. CV 060146 (TSO 00-131)."

Ho-hum. That has been on there for years. But then, I noticed this,

"6.    Ken Berry, et al. v. Central Coast Water Board, et al. (Sacramento Superior Court; CEQA Challenge to Los Osos CDOs)"

Apparently I have been very remiss in not noticing this, maybe because I have never read anything about this and who the heck is Ken Berry? I know all the known past Los Osos CDO players, but Ken Berry isn't even on the radar. I found the case listed in the Sacrament courts but there was no online access to actual documents. So I looked back to see where this all started, maybe there would be a clue. Here are the dates of this case on our Water Board's closed session agenda:

Thursday, January 30, 2014, 9:00 a.m.
Thursday, December 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013

Thursday, December 6, 2012

October 3, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Thursday, May 3, 2012

March 14, 2012

Wednesday February 1, 2012

OK, I got bored here and skipped around and just picked a date in a year.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Thursday, February 7, 2008

This one is special, so I did a copy and paste—Friday, December 7, 2007 

(SEVEN Los Osos cases on a 15 item closed session agenda.)

4.      Los Osos Community Services District v. Central Coast Water Board (ACL Order R3-2005-0137) (San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Case No. CV 060633);

5.      Central Coast Water Board v. Los Osos Community Services District (San Luis Obispo County Case No. CV-051074);

6.      Stephen Onstot, Gregory Murphy and Julie Tacker vs. Central Coast Water Board and State Water Board (San Luis Obispo County Case No. CV 060196; Second Dist. Ct. of Appeal Case No. B195375) (Public Records Act);

7.      Los Osos CSD v. Central Coast Regional Board (San Luis Obispo County Case No. CV 060146 (TSO 00-131);

8.      Los Osos Community Services District (Bankruptcy), Central District of California Case No. ND 06-10548-RR;

9.      Ken Berry, et al. v. Central Coast Regional Board, et al. (Sacramento Superior Court; CEQA Challenge to Los Osos CDOs);

10.  Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund, et al., v. Central Coast Regional Board, et al. (San Luis Obispo Superior Court Case No. CV070472) (Los Osos CDOs);

But I digress. To continue with Mr. Berry's footprints,

Friday, October 19, 2007

Ken Berry, et al. v. Central Coast Regional Board, et al. (Sacramento Superior Court; CEQA Challenge to Los Osos CDOs)

Berry was NOT on the closed session agenda Friday, September 7, 2007 or Thursday, August 23, 2007.

And here we finally are, the FIRST appearance,

Friday, July 6, 2007 Ken Berry et al.  v. Central Coast Water Board (Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 07CS00648).

So who the heck is Ken Berry? I did a bit of sleuthing and I will give a BRIEF rundown here, believe me, there is much more:

Spring 2003 Berry first appears online supporting an organization called "Recall Sanity." Its main concern was the plurality method of electing a new governor if California Governor Gray Davis was recalled.

(Next, and I have already listed this above, Friday, July 6, 2007 Ken Berry's case appears for the first time on the Regional Water Quality Control Board's list of closed session items: Ken Berry et al.  v. Central Coast Water Board [Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 07CS00648]).

October 2, 2008 Ken Berry writes to the Central Valley RWQCB his intent to comment and advance future actions on five projects in three different counties on three wastewater treatment plants, a landfill and the Port of Stockton all regarding Cleanup and Abatement Orders (CAOs) or Cease and Desist Orders (CDOs).

December 2008, Berry appeals the Amador Planning Commission's decision to certify an EIR for a subdivision project.

July 7, 2009 at the State Water Resources Control Board Berry files a petition on the City of Richmond's CAO.

September 2009 one finds Ken Berry In Pro Per against the City of Willits, Willits Environmental Remediation Trust, SWRCB - "Amendment of Petition for Review of Refusal To Enforce the California Water Code and the United States Clean Water Act , Darby Creek."

March 2010, Berry starts on the path to a lawsuit against a gravity water line project.

February 2, Ken Berry files a lawsuit in Amador County seeking Sutter Creek to rewrite it EIR for the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort.

March 12, 2012, Jackson, California residents Ken Perano and Ken Berry filed a lawsuit in Amador County Superior Court against the Amador Water Agency (AWA).

Listed in a news article for 2012 was a case Berry filed in Mendocino County but I couldn't find it searching the Mendocino court cases.

Mr. Berry's address and phone number are readily available online and I was tempted to call or write to him to ask why, WHY? My observations are that there appears to be time, money and a repetitive legal wish to have various public and private entities to see things the Ken Berry way. He did not vanish as did the PZLDF CDO case, which lost, was aced out, erased from the Water Board's closed session list NO! he hangs in there, year after year after year in a limbo, a stasis of simply appearing to have some bone to pick for Los Osos. The burning question remains of course, once the sewer is built, will this case live on to bolster the dicey reputation of the sewer story that would not die?

I prefer to let the mystery remain and leave it here, in pixels, an unfinished story in the many chapters of weirdness that populate the Los Osos sewer saga.

PS, link to more weeds (on a Writ of Mandate). And "California Citizens for Environmental Justice" is a dead end on Google. I didn't get into the Donna Avila part, that would be a whole other story.

Poop in the Garden!

Only in Los Osos would a phrase like that seem not out of place you might be thinking, but alas, not true!

Yes, we liquidize poop particles in our septic tanks and the liquidy parts flow out—well, depends on who you ask as to where they flow during flooding like in 1995, but generally to a leach field or a leach pit. I have attached a link to an hilarious video of poop in the garden, well, under it actually (sorry about the ad and be sure to watch the video until the end). Gross alert; you will witness what cleaning out a septic tank looks like. Thank heaven "smell-o-vision" is not enabled in your computer or hand held device.

Have fun!
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/septic-tank-cleaning.htm

Generally speaking, we do not have poop in our gardens unless you apply manure I suppose.

Provocative title though isn't it, "Poop in the Garden!" But alas, it is not mine. It belongs to the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden's event next Monday evening. Yes, that really is the name for the presentation. So here is the link to the page which will explain what this is all about:

http://slobg.org/poop/

The Meetings Were Packed!

Especially the first one, standing room only!

Wednesday, February 26, the County had two Town Hall-type meetings at the Middle School to give Los Osos an update on the wastewater project. I went to both of them. There was a ton of information. Here is a condensed version of information imparted in no particular order:

• 39 miles of pipe installed so far

• 3,3000 laterals in place so far

• 2016 the treatment plant will be done and the laterals will begin to be hooked up to the houses in phases

•Notices will be sent to each property; the speed of which these are sent will be adjusted as the hook-ups progress, but the total time will be one year

• 2017 all laterals will be connected (let the flushing begin!)

• Lateral connections require a plumbing permit and the County intends to streamline the process

• Your licensed contractor, if you have one, can pull the permit

• There will be an online permit you can do yourself

• Up to the BOS to approve or not, but John Waddell will present a plan to charge the normal plumbing permit costs to the project

• 2014 the roads will begin to be resurfaced

• The project got $21,542, 407 in grants

• The money you pay for your share shows up on your tax bill, but the County will set up some sort of option to pay monthly

• Michelle Houser has taken another job (gone today, Friday February 28) but her E-mail will still contact the County for questions needing answering

• Late 2014 South Bay Boulevard will be repaved

• Sludge will most likely go to the Santa Maria facility

• Los Osos Valley Road will be dug up again; PG&E is burying the utility lines from South Bay Boulevard to Los osos Creek

• Sewer service charges look to be 1¢ per gallon on average for an average cost of $15/mo.

• There will be options for low-income people to help pay the sewer costs; funds from USDA, MBNEP, CDBG, the Community Foundation, more information to come out, but it will work like the phone company or the electric company discounts

• The County is working with Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian for a State program to be brought back that allowed low-income people to defer their property tax until the property is sold

• The County will reapply to the State Water Board to lower the interest rate on the SRF loan next year and to extend the payment time from 30 years to 40 years to make for lower payments

• SLO Green Build is working on plans to instruct people on how to reuse their septic tanks to capture and reuse rainwater and graywater

• There have been 18 sites completed in the program to improve drainage, there are 2 or 3 large sites left to improve

• Future road improvements include: Spot Road Rehabilitation done by County crews to remove and replace small areas that are degraded; Pavement Overlay of primary roads where 11/2 to 2" of asphalt is laid down; Microsurfacing of neighborhood street where a durable surface treatment the same as is used in San Luis to smooth out the roads

• Late 2015 - 2016 the major road work will be done

• Excess soil will be removed by contractors on the road shoulders before they get their final check, but the compaction from before, done over many years, will take time to return

• The 350 homes that needed grinder pumps have been notified

• Future building on vacant lots cannot occur until (1) The water shortage is solved; (2) The Habitat Conservation Plan is approved by U.S. Fish & Wildlife; (3) The Local Coastal permit needs to be updated which requires an EIR and approval from the California Coastal Commission (read about this and take the survey at this link)

• If the vacant lots get the go-ahead, there will be another Assessment District created so that they can pay their share of the sewer and there may be additional costs for water and their share of the Habitat Conservation Plan

And there is most of it. The Powerpoint presentation will be posted shortly on the LOWWP site and the video by AGP should run on Channel 20 in the near future.

Project Update!

Read about where the wastewater project went in January 2014!

Here is the link!

Mark Your Calendar!

(Click image to see larger size.)

This party will be lots of fun! And not coming too soon 

as some of the workers are leaving already!

The guys digging up and filling in on my street, (16th) 

were just THE BEST! So polite, so helpful and 

never getting crabby when I had to thread my car down 

the equipment clogged street.

All the workers that I encountered throughout our town

were patient and courteous. I miss them already and 

hope they never have a job as tough as this one ever again!!

See you at the Red Barn on March 25, 4:00-6:00 PM!

CDBG in Our Future; WRDA, Who Knows....

The Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) was on the Supes agenda today (also on this part of the agenda: Home Investment Partnerships [HOME], and the Emergency Solutions Grant [ESG] Programs) and unless you follow this sort of thing, your eyes may tend to glaze over that steaming bowl of alphabet soup. Mine did anyway as I was watching the meeting online. But then Sunny Oaks, the mobile home park here in Los Osos was mentioned for a grant request for a sewer improvement project and I thereby deglazed.

Today's agenda item was to approve the Urban County of San Luis Obispo Program Year 2014 Action Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for funding possibilities. HUD hasn't released its funding amounts yet, so when it does, the County will need to go back and adjust the final funding levels for Board approval.

There is a lot more to this report than just a sewer related item, so you can read the staff report here:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/3054/SXRlbSBEb2N1bWVudCAoUHVibGljKSA=/14/n/24894.doc

But more to the point of Los Osos and the big sewer, not just the need at the Sunny Oaks' tiny sewer, was this pithy statement:

The County received a total of 25 applications under the CDBG program for the Urban County. Each application was reviewed using the Board approved seven rating criteria. For the 2014 program year, the County received an application by the County Public Works Department for assisting low-income families connect to the Los Osos waste water collection system. The project cannot start before the completion of the waste water collection system, which is anticipated to be late 2016. Staff could not recommend this project, because it was not ready to be implemented soon enough to meet the CDBG timeliness standard.

So in case you were wondering where we might get help for our low income residents, this will be the place later along in the sewer project.

There was a mention too regarding Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) monies, (long in the pipeline for relief sewer cash) by Mike Miller of the Ferguson Group, our County's federal legislative guy in Washington D.C., dare I say lobbyist? That request was put forth by our Congresswoman Lois Capps back in 2007 when $35 million was then authorized. But as Mr. Miller said, there is a big jump between an an authorization and an appropriation. Especially since Congress banned earmarks, which is what this was. But this authorization isn't going to go away unless Congress specifically de-authorized it and it can just sit there isn the pipeline for a long time. The way to get this funded now (no more petitions of need to Senators/Representatives and the like) is to convince to the Corps of Engineers (and it is now going to be a Section 219 project, who develops a work plan for funding, which Congress then approves), that OUR PROJECT is a TOP project.

I suspect this info and the potential pot of EPA money that our Supervisor Bruce Gibson mentioned, will be part of the sewer meeting on Wednesday at the middle school.

Don't Forget!

See you there I hope!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

4:00 - 5:50 PM and

7:00 - 8:30 PM

Same info covered in both sessions!

What will you learn about? Info on the wastewater project status, schedule, costs, financial assistance options and what to expect in connecting your lateral to the sewer system!

Knit and Crochet!

For those of you out there that have too much time on your hands and wish to display that energy in the crafting of bathroom related items, I have found just the URLs for you!

Always wanted to crochet a tiny toilet? It would make an appropriate ornament for a Christmas tree in Los Osos. You could get started crocheting right now and have plenty to bestow as gifts for Christmas or throughly decorate your own tree—use yarn in festive colors, why stop at white? Here you go—http://www.thecuckoobee.com/store/toilet/—you can pay for the pattern using PayPal and it is just $4.99!

A free pattern for another style of commode can be found here: http://kimlapsley.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-toilet-no-2.html

How about a knitted roll of toilet paper? This pattern can be extended even longer so that it can double as a winter scarf! Get the free pattern here:
http://mochimochiland.com/2007/10/free-pattern-toilet-paper/

There are many designs for knitting or crocheting covers for that extra roll of paper you stash in plain sight, perhaps on the back of the tank. There are patterns for dolls, turtles, poodles, hats, an octopus, a cupcake. But the one that is the most compelling for me anyway, is a cover that looks like a roll of toilet paper! How clever is that? Find that free pattern here:
http://www.irishlace.net/knitting/toiletpaperroll.html

Really, this is but a small sample of the wonderful bathroom related crafts out there. Google around a bit and see for yourself!

Sewer Celebration Party!

Only in Los Osos would there be a party with such a unique theme, that of thanking our wonderful sewer construction workers for the great job they have done with a truly difficult job. Retrofitting a town with no sanitation infrastructure was NOT easy!

So mark your calendars—March 25, 2014 at the Red Barn, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM, 2180 Palisades Avenue.

See this link. More info to follow.

Supes Get Ferguson Update Tuesday

BOS - Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Board Business:

21. Update on Federal legislative activities by Mike Miller, the Ferguson Group. All Districts.

Link to agenda for this item:

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html?select=3055

Overview of topics in their report:

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/3055/U3RhdHVzIFJlcG9ydCAgMi0xMS0xNC5wZGY=/12/n/25100.doc

So, why is this important you might ask? What they have been up to for the last two quarters? Here is a quote from their report on Los Osos,

TFG coordinated meetings with USDA, EPA, and the Bureau of Reclamation to explore new funding opportunities, including interest rate reduction, loan principal relief, and microloans for on-lot improvement costs.

Watch from your computer, tune into Channel 21 on cable or view in person.

Newest Baseline Groundwater Quality Report Posted

Posted Friday off the County's LOWWP website, this report is the latest in a series of semi-annual groundwater quality water reports required by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Waste Discharge Requirements Order No. R3-2011-0001).

Perhaps the most relevant sentence in the entire report,

Seventeen of the 26 wells exceeded the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for drinking water standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of 10 mg/L N, and one well was equal to the MCL.

Those few doubters who still (amazingly) think we don't need a sewer to clean up part of the only source of water we have that we are wasting and are unable to use, thereby seriously depleting the other part due to overuse, please read the report off this link below and educate yourselves:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/Baseline+GroundwaterQuality+Report$!c2$!a02014.pdf

Personal note to explain my blogging absence; a death in my family. 

I am relieved to have the peace of mind now to continue here.

Project Update for December 2013

The County has posted this new report today, have a look!

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/PM+Monthly+Update+Dec+2013.pdf

Gravity pipes in areas A and D by ARB are 83% complete! And the B and C areas by W. A. Rasic are 85% complete!

A quote from the report states,

Multiple approaches are being developed to track and address this issue [trench restoration paving], which include reduces thickness of base and asphalt, negotiated unit cost reductions, utilization of County Roads forces to complete some repairs, and cost sharing from the Roads fund for restoration that provides additional road benefits beyond what is required to restore trenches.

A request to use existing contract contingency funds for road work was approved by the Supes on January 28. When the project is complete, the roads will be re-evaluated and Staff will ask for Board direction on further steps.

Nipomo Has Sewage Too.

I have been neglecting my friends in Nipomo of late. So to make up for this, I am posting some of the photos of my trip to visit Nipomo's wastewater treatment, both the Town System and the Black Lake System, in 2007. Not everyone gets to see this fun stuff (although I have caught an attenuated view of the Town System while flying down the 101 on many occasions)!

What's interesting to note is that both Nipomo and the County of SLO have responsibilities for the maintenance of their respectively owned collection lines.

Here are some shots of the in-town aerated lagoons from 2007. (Click the image for a larger view.)

Below is what the lagoons look like when empty.

Having not been looking into this lately, apparently there was an upgrade planned to the Biolac technology. Sadly, I have no idea what happened!

Now for Black Lake. It is apparent that if this is not THE Black Lake, it is a black lake.

Or maybe Green Lake.....?

Below is the very Spanish motif building on the property with an indestructible roof. (I recall our sewer buildings will look like farm style buildings, but this is right next to a golf course of an unknown architectural style, perhaps that had an influence? No, I just looked at the website, the clubhouse is sort of non-descript. Anyway I like farm-style buildings and hope it will look sort of like the Van Beurden building on the corner of South Bay Boulevard and Los Osos Valley Road, one of my Los Osos faves).

Here is the other, empty pond awaiting its new plastic liner with the golf course behind it.

And here are the rolls of plastic liner. Stronger even than Hefty Bags!

Off topic, I know, but I happen to be a fan of golf course food. (I am not a fan of golf however, despite my dad's best efforts...I wrote a report on golf in the sixth grade anyway.) 

You will often find Lou and I at Sea Pines Golf Course here in Los Osos at the Clubhouse Grill. So naturally I had to check out what Black Lake offered. I was highly impressed! Must go!! (Check it out, if combining wastewater treatment and food photos does not make you queasy!)

I guess the thing that surprised me the most about my tour was that it wasn't really very stinky. I was expecting to be gagging, but I wasn't!

To further research Nipomo's sewage see the links below.

A handy link to the Sewer Reports:
http://ncsd.ca.gov/cm/Resources/Reports%20by%20Subject.html#Sewer

Sanitary Sewer System Management Plan:
http://ncsd.ca.gov/cm/Resources/Reports%20by%20Subject.html#Sanitary%20Sewer%20System%20Management%20Plan

Sewage in SLO City

There is a fascinating article in today's Tribune on SLO-town's sewage treatment plant upgrade—and—you can read it here:

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/01/30/2901472/upgrade-to-slos-sewage-plant-will.html

Also, read the "Bouquets and Brickbats" column on the bid award for the Los Osos Wastewater Treatment Plant "The low bid that wasn’t the low bid"
here (scroll all the way down):

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/01/31/2902274/a-dream-thats-out-of-this-world.html

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/01/31/2902274/a-dream-thats-out-of-this-world.html#storylink=cpy