Sewer Pond Stench

Well, things don't go perfectly sometimes. Brewery sludge was added to the tank-rinse ponds to speed up the process of breaking down the organic matter more quickly to dissipate the....hefty....s-m-e-l-l. Firestone Walker Brewing Company's air will soon be as tasty as its products....hopefully.

One wonders had the original Tri-W project been realized (although there was never enough land to do it), if there would have a similar problem, although the content would have been of a different organic nature...... The second project, the underground one, would have been fine, as the air was sucked in and not released. Our current project...who knows? It is out of town. We will have to ask the neighbors what they experience in a year or so.

Read about Firestone here:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/03/27/3559276/paso-robles-stink-firestone-brewery.html

SF's Rap Sewer Video!

San Francisco's Sewer Department has put out a rap video. You HAVE to see this! Seriously!

http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=915

"I tell you no one takes more crap than I do

I know, you wash you poop you pee"

ARB On BOS Closed Session..........Again

Tuesday, March 24, 2015 

Closed Session Items:

18. PENDING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, section 54956.9.) It is the intention of the Board to meet in closed session concerning the following items: Conference with Legal Counsel-Existing Litigation (Gov. Code, section 54956.9(a).) (Formally initiated) 1. ARB, Inc. v. County of San Luis Obispo; 

It will be interesting to see how long this remains on the agenda!

A Warped Blast From The Past

From May, 2004 (click image for larger size):

I uncovered a piece of Los Osos' sewer history lately. Sadly, this was the level of discourse from some who held a deep and truthless opposition to the Tri-W sewer, or actually any sewer, as this group clearly felt that we did not need one. It looks like the word "alleged" made them feel that there could be no legal backlash. 

Thankfully, this sort of opposition was crushed by reason and the County taking back the sewer project. While sewer plans were moving ahead, this group's money had obviously run short and these expensive rantings were no longer mailed out, but were confined to a website that finally withered itself to death a couple of years back. There is only a light and lingering anti-sewer stench left from the much diminished fringe.

BOS Supports LOWWP Environmental Work!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at the Board of Supervisors' meeting, Item 17, passed 5-0 in favor of granting the contract for an environmental consulting group to do the necessary work mandated by the Coastal Development Permit, Condition 3. This condition called for a Habitat Management Plan to provide mitigation to the wastewater project's unavoidable impacts to environmentally sensitive areas. Special condition B3 of the HMP requires that mitigations must occur while the project is being constructed by qualified restoration ecologists. This 5-year contract is specific for work on the 80 acres of Broderson, the Midtown site, Giacomazzi wetlands and the three pump stations which are now at the restoration stage. The contract was awarded to Kevin Merk Associates, LLC of Los Osos (the lowest bid and "...the best combination of issue expertise, local experience, value and local presence.").

An overview of the sewer project was presented by Project Manager John Waddell and Environmental Programs Manager Kate Ballantyne. We had a fuller version of this at our Town Hall presentation at the Middle School on February 25, but this one hit the highlights of that meeting, with a scaled down 90-second video where we got 4+ minutes.

This day marked the one-year anniversary of starting construction on the plant out of town, and is also the point of about one year from start-up of the plant.

Other points: We received $21.6 million in grants; part of Broderson is infected with veldt grass imported to Los Osos in the 1940s; Kevin Merk will prepare the reports to the Coastal Commission; the California Conservation Corp will do the weeding of Broderson; 50 acres of Broderson is in good shape, restoration will focus on the 8-acre infiltration area, the 4-acres above that area, and the 8-acres below.

During Public Comment some concerns were:

Q -  Where was all the seepage going to go when the emptying of the septic tanks begins?

A -  Some of the seepage will go into the new plant, but not all. The County is doing planning and outreach to agencies and seepage haulers and will rely on private business to find where it has to go.

Q - The revegetated acres at Broderson will just have to be redone in 5-years.

A -  The water is now tertiary treated water which will extend the life of the field; also, this isn't a leach field but the outflow will be from big infiltration chambers, we will get more than 8-years.

Q - Will the State Water Board lower its interest rate?

A - State Water Board staff asked the County to come back at the end of 2016. 1%, 1/2% and 0% are all on the table.

Q - Ag wasn't interested in the recycled water.

A - Initially no, there were too many unknowns for them, the salts in the water and its availability. When we have an established product and track record they might feel better about it and we will keep approaching them. The water will be of Title 22 quality, suitable for organic, leafy greens.

The usual fear-mongering and angry ranting came up of course from the usual suspects, plus even COLAB's Mike Brown had to chime in with something about the lunacy of public policy, money spent, and public safety regarding veldt grass, which I could not understand. 

The County was slammed for: Using potable water to get the restoration plants started at Broderson and that it was a horrible expense to use container plants there; the Community Garden planned at the Lupine Pump Station was disparaged for its use of fresh water—"if people want a garden they should get their own garden;" "everyone can't afford septic tank repurposing" (it's optional, and duh!); the community itself should pull the weeds at Broderson; there will be price gouging by seepage haulers (get three bids!); 200-300 acre feet of recycled water has no where to go that will benefit the water basin (not true).

Well, those of us eagerly awaiting that first flush into our new system were happy at the report, the speed at which the various project components are coming together, and are confident that KMA will do a good job on the environmental projects. Thanks Supes for getting the next steps rolling!

Next Week BOS ARB Lawsuit On Closed Session...Again

There was no reportable action today on this same item, and I suspect this will go on and on and on and on as so many of these cases do.

Closed Session Items:

18. PENDING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, section 54956.9.) It is the intention of the Board to meet in closed session concerning the following items: Conference with Legal Counsel-Existing Litigation (Gov. Code, section 54956.9(a).) (Formally initiated) 1. ARB, Inc. v. County of San Luis Obispo; (etc).

Monarch Grove Could Hook-Up

The section of Los Osos called Monarch Grove is a subdivision that is not within the urban reserve line of Los Osos. That oversight will be corrected with a General Plan Amendment/Local Coastal Plan Amendment/Estero Area Plan Amendment. The first stop will be a review by LOCAC to discuss any issues or concerns at the local level. Next, it will go to the Board of Supervisors to authorize the County Planning and Building Department to work on this plan amendment. Then the BOS will need to adopt the amendment. 

It is very strange that this sub-division was never included in the Urban Reserve Line!

Why is this important? To back up a bit, Monarch Grove has its own sewage system, and sadly, one that has been plagued with problems over the years. Read about some of that here:

Monarch Grove 2005 - item3_attachment8.pdf


And read the Staff Report for the Enforcement Hearing for October 6, 2005 here:
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2005/oct6/item3/item3_staff_report.pdf


The treated wastewater from the Monarch Grove housing subdivision's system is currently used to water the nearby golf course, Sea Pines. The Los Osos wastewater treatment plant's Coastal Commission Conditions mandates that water be sent to the golf course as is listed on page 16 (page 19 if you opened it in in Acrobat) of the Effluent Reuse and Disposal Tech Memo, July 2008. However, this is not a problem as it shows that only 16 AFY is going Sea Pines, not enough to water the whole property.

According to the Basin Plan, the golf course currently uses 15-20 acre feet a year from Monarch Grove, still not enough to water the entire property. Water from on-site upper aquifer wells at 75-85 acre feet a year supplements that, totaling 90-105 acre feet a year from both sources to water the golf course.

The Basin Plan has allocated 40 acre feet a year of recycled water for Sea Pines, and the plan is to blend it with their upper aquifer well water 1:1. So the 15-20 AFY from Monarch now is replaced with 40 AFY. So only 50-65 AFY will be used of their upper aquifer well water. As crummy with nitrates as the upper aquifer water is, and despite the fact that 300,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of water leach into the bay DAILY anyway from seeps and springs (.92 AFD - 3.69 AFD), this is a net gain for the basin. 

Once the septics go off line, the water table is bound to lower. That will be a problem for the wastewater team to monitor as part of the conditions of the Coastal Development Permit, Condition #87.

Here is the pre-authorization referral request that is to go before LOCAC, I am not sure when, the March agenda is not out yet.

LRP2014-00021_COUNTY_OF_SLO__MONARCH_GROVE_.pdf


For map geeks, here are links to the County ones from 1997. Monarch Grove sat this point is apparently a remainder parcel of Tract 1589, to be carved up into lots:
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_001.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_002.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_003.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_004.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_005.tif

This moving Monarch Grove into the Urban Reserve Line was on the BOS agenda (among other things) October 5, 2004, Item 11 (after lunch). 
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Asset7098.aspx
This item was continued to October 19, 2004. On October 19, the BOS tentatively agreed to include Monarch Grove into the Estero Area Plan Update (see the last page):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/CR/BOS+Minutes/BOS_2004/101904.pdf
But then.......less than a year later.........the sewer project was stopped, Los Osos was left out of the update and here is where we are today.

Monarch Grove does not appear to have an assessment for hooking up (see page 3):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/Final+Assessment+Roll+-+April+08.pdf

But the Solano Pump Station seems poised to take in Monarch Grove flows (see Page 21):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/20111024+Final+BODR.pdf

It is a mystery. Much searching found no answer as to why the second half of the subdivision was left out of the Urban Reserve Line, just speculation.

Environmental Consulting Services

An update to the LOWWP on the Tuesday, March 17 agenda of the Board of Supes! This will be addressed after the lunch recess. When the relevant documents are posted, I'll put in a link. 
It appeared today, March 11:
http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/Proposal.html;jsessionid=530DBBDADC81C0E6FBE91DD3DDAACEFB?select=4453

Board Business:

17. Update on the Los Osos Wastewater Project; request to approve a professional services agreement for environmental consulting services with Kevin Merk Associates, LLC, for an amount not to exceed $435,992; and authorize the Director of Public Works to sign amendments to the Agreement in an amount not to exceed the contingency amount of $43,599. District 2. 

(BTW, Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Forum Scoopage All On One Page!

If you missed the sewer forum held at the Los Osos Middle School last week, the County has posted a page with links to all of the relevant materials including the video! And it is a good review for those of us who did attend, there was a lot of material presented and some of us did not visit every table with info. either.

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/PW/LOWWP/Public_Forum_Meeting_Feb_2015.htm

Drone Song!

The name of the cool song that accompanied the awesome drone movie of our wastewater treatment plant shown at the Sewer Forum on February 25 is, Happiness, and it available for free off this link below!

bensound.com

Project Update January 2015!

Find the info off this link:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=62370

The photos are great! The scale of this stuff is absolutely breathtaking! Good thing we are recycling all the water that is going to be processed there. And its a little frightening to think just how much water right now is draining out of our septic tanks, into the sand, and down into the bay…somewhere between 300,000 gallons/day to 1 million gallons/day. You know if you pump it out of the lower aquifer to use, and it is lost bayside (once processed through your house and yard, if you water it), you are not recharging your drinking water source…

Sewer Lawsuit On BOS Schedule

Off the Board of Supes Agenda for Tuesday, March 10:

0. Closed Session Items: 

25. PENDING LITIGATION................ 2. ARB, Inc. v. County of San Luis Obispo; 

Looks like some movement on this lawsuit which has been very, very quiet for months. It was originally filed February 26, 2014. 

The Tribune published articles on it March 20, 2014 and April 13, 2014. The gist of ARB's argument is that the County breached the contract between them. The County claims that ARB did not follow the rules.

Needless to say, unless someone blabs, we are unlikely to learn much else until it is over, or over-ish, in case the Court's decision is appealed.

And really, what is the Los Osos sewer project, no matter whose hands it is in, without a lawsuit? Let's not buck tradition here!

Sewer Financial Aid Article In The Trib!

Read the article off this link!

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/02/26/3509839_los-osos-sewer-financial-aid-costs.html?rh=1

Sign Up For Sewer Tour!

Click link then look below this banner to find the info for signing up to go:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/PW/LOWWP.htm

March 31, 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

Be there or be square! 

The Drone Movie Was Awesome!

If you missed the Sewer Forum Wednesday, you missed a lot. Which other sewer plant under construction gets its own movie shot from a drone? Seriously, it really gave you an idea of how this project was progressing, and it gave it to you with a musical score cool enough to download off iTunes!* 

Here's what the room looked like (click images for a larger view):

It was so jammed, the standing room was squished at the 4:00 p.m. session. It was almost full at the 6:00 p.m. session. The parking lot was full, the street parking was full, and the parking at the end of the playing field was full and sprung a leak from a broken water line. People were asked to move their cars, but fortunately, that was at the end of the 4:00 p.m. session. 

The audience was fairly calm, just few grumblings and one booming yell from a man at the beginning of the 6:00 p.m. session demanding to get the show going, it was 6:06 p.m. and a tad late starting.

OK, here was the program—sorry for the creases, but I was too lazy to Photoshop them out, it got squished in my notebook, I was writing and standing at the back of the room.

We met our new Public Works Director Wade Horton for the first time at the program introduction. He's been on the job only two months and of course missed all the fun sewer events starting in 2007. I suspect that he is glad to have missed them....or maybe he took the job having heard no stories? No, that is not possible, they even know who we are in Washington, D.C.. I wish him all the best!

The presenters were: Bruce Gibson, District 2 Supervisor, PW Director Wade Horton, Project Manager John Waddell, PE Robert Ruiz, and Kate Ballentyne, Environmental Resources Specialist (the Snail Lady, more below).

As the County will post a lot of this stuff I will only hit the highlights. If you want to go on the second tour of the new plant, you will need to sign up to be able to attend. They will post this soon, probably on the wastewater Web page, with a number to call. Save the date, Tuesday, March 31, 5:00-6:00 p.m..

The hook-ups will begin a year from now and it will be done in phases over a year's time. There was a nifty map where you could find your street and see what group that you would be in, there were three. You will get a notice in the mail and then you will have 6 months to hook up, which means all your plumbing stuff needs to be up to the project's specific requirements and you will have to, or you will have to find a contractor to, dig your trench, hook up the house pipe to the pipe coming from the street, clean out your tank, etc..

There will be a list posted by the County of qualified contractors to call closer to the hook up date. Call many, there will be a lot of competition, so find the best price. These contractors will have special environmental training to work in Los Osos and will be licensed and bonded. A permit will be required. Contractors can do an e-permit online, but owners, called owner/builders, will have to go to the Planning Department counter in person with some sort of drawing of what you intend to do and your work will be inspected. There is a fee (yet to be determined) to get the permit, but this cost might be absorbed by the project, so stay tuned on that, it will be up to the Supes.

Another look-up of your property was to see if they had found Morro Shoulderband snails on your property. They do have a list, by address. Only the Shoulderband Snail is on the Endangered Species list. If you are on that list, and 390 of you are, prior to trenching, you will be visited, free of charge, by the super nice Snail Lady to remove them for you. Sadly, many might have been already squished, which is common for with anyone with a garden. They are kind of cute actually (I have seen them at Sweet Springs, they are shaped in a sort of flat spiral like a cinnamon roll), and they DO NOT EAT your plants even! (The Chorro Shoulderband Snail did not have any examples on this display.)

They also know who has cultural artifacts on their properties and these homes will be visited by an archeologist, free of charge, to deal with those.

Here are some of the cards that they had on easels around the room which were also on the slides in the presentation:

The average cost on the laterals and decommissioning is figured to be $3,000. Those needing a grinder pump, about 200 of you, and you probably already know who you are, you got a letter about this a year ago, sorry, I forgot to write down the average cost on this, but prices will range between $3,000 - $9,000.

There was a nifty SLO Green Build handout that showed you some ideas on what to do with your septic tank after you have hooked up. There will be several workshops starting this year and into next year explaining how to do this. LOCAC will get a presentation as will the Supes.

Streets will be resurfaced! Five miles of overlay on some and micro surfacing on almost all the rest, starting in June or July, 2015!

The monthly project cost is the same as the last time we heard about this—$165 for the average home. The price for mobile homes went down though. 

There is a LOT of financial help upcoming for low-income people, and it is just too complex to enumerate here. What to do will be posted on the sewer Website in the future. There will be individual counseling and guidance with figuring out if you qualify to filling out the paperwork.

Also, the County is seeking to reduce the interest rate on one of the loans, we will be notified if that happens.

Next big overview meeting, around a year from now.

(I missed getting a large cookie which was being served out of oversized boxes at the entrance, so thanks for saving me from the extra calories whoever all of you are!)

*When I get the name of the piece, I will post it!

Sewer Forum Wednesday!

Don't forget the date! Hope to see you all there! Read this article from The Tribune

Forum on status of sewage plant planned in Los Osos

Bay News' Neil Farrell Tours Wastewater Plant

The latest addition of the Bay News came out today and our sewer-to-be got a front page article! OK, it was below the fold and apparently didn't rate high enough to have the featured, giant, above-the-fold, awesome photo spot, but it was better than nothing!

http://tolosapressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BN-02-19-15-p.pdf

There are no photos in the paper or digital edition, but Farrell mentions that there are photos somewhere on the Tolosa Press site; I noodled around for at least five minutes and could not find them. 

While I personally don't agree with Farrell and think the delay to getting this thing built was a good thing (considering how that stymied addressing the severe water supply issues that we have due to the bankruptcy) and that spending $19 million more to put it out of town is worth it, nonetheless, I learned a LOT of new stuff from his article. Please read it off the link above or get a paper copy at one of the usual spots.

Public Forum Postcard For February 25 Sewer Meeting!

This just arrived today! Hope that you all can attend and if so, see you there!

(There are a few mystery blobs from who knows where in evidence, front and back.)

December 2014 Project Update

I am so late to the party! Somehow I missed this posting. Sorry about that readers! I hope you took a look on your own.

The photos are amazing, take a look!
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/PM+Monthly+Update+Dec2014.pdf

More Los Osos In County Budget!

My quick read yesterday of the County Budget failed to locate this info on the Los Osos Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Much stink was made the around the last sewer project about it's not having an HCP! Are we in danger of that again? NO (well, this being Los Osos, PROBABLY no)!

What is the HCP and why do we need it?

Approval of this HCP is also tied to one of the conditions needed prior to operations of the public Los Osos sewer system currently under construction.

Read the full HCP scoopage off this link:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/planning/environmental/EnvironmentalNotices/LOCHCP.htm

There is a map about three-quarters of the way through the power point that shows the area that the HCP covers. It is a boundary OUTSIDE the Urban Reserve Line:

http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PL/environmental/Los+Osos+Communitywide+Habitat+Conservation+Plan/Scoping/LOScoping.pdf

Our HCP is not yet ready, but then neither is our sewer, so we are OK. The HCP is in the works however, it is at the Fish & Wildlife agency review stage, and here is some info on it:

See the bottom of page 3 of 6:

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/4342/SXRlbSBEb2N1bWVudCAoUHVibGljKSA=/14/n/40118.doc

Also see the gray box toward the bottom of page 11 of 26 on this linked document for the timing information:

http://agenda.slocounty.ca.gov/agenda/sanluisobispo/4342/RXhoIEFfcHJpb3JpdHkgbGlzdHMtVGJscyAxLTZfRmViIDIwMTVfZmluYWwucGRm/12/n/40112.doc

There is other Los Osos stuff to look at too, if you scroll down further.