Page 43 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2017

SOLUTIONS for Occidental Wastewater
by Ann Maurice Ad Hoc Committee for Clean Water Occidental
Yes, there is a long-term, a ordable “tertiary” wastewater treatment system
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honestly believe they were a little surprised at the response from our well educated residents of West County. It was standing room only at the Monte Rio Community Center with about 150 attendees. Numerous residents spoke about the negative e ects of this proposal: Odor, noise, tra c, road conditions, negativity on tourism, the what if’s of downed trees, mudslides, road closures, ooding, substandard equipment, mercury rock, health and safety issues, diminishment of property values, etc. When it comes down to it, plain and simple though, there is a deed restriction in place from a previous lawsuit, Hughes vs Russian River Sanitation District, May 14, 1993 that prohibits
for Occidental. There are even three, yes, three technologies to choose from. All three were reviewed by Stantec, a huge, independent engineering rm with o ces in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Central and Southern California, all over the U.S. and Canada.
reat turnout... at the February 16th public meeting regarding the
Stantec’s conclusion? That all three technologies -- Aeromod, Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) and Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) are a ordable for Occidental. How a ordable? Stantec advised the County Water Agency (SCWA) that each of the three would cost only about $3 million
Agency. A lot of pooh was thrown around by the Agency and I
installed in Occidental. That price included every cost that Stantec engineers, in their experience could anticipate, including an additional percentage for inevitable overruns!
this proposal to begin with, thus putting the Sonoma County Water Agency in violation of that settlement. And if that isn’t enough, there is a public easement smack dab in the middle of the proposed “driveway” which means they don’t own that portion of the lot! The panel was given all of this documentation, so let’s see how they digest it. What surprised me (I don’t know why; I guess I give people the bene t of the doubt too easily), was how an Occidental resident stated that they were told at a meeting in Occidental, that this was all “ok” with Guerneville! True politics. And more true politics, how one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing: did you realize that the Monte Rio Bridge has been found structurally inadequate and is failing? Engineers fear if we have
Occidental Transportation of Sewage to the Riverside Drive lift station in Guerneville, proposed by the Sonoma County Water
BIOREACTOR
dissolved materials
a private home, and involved uprooting 200 trees, including massive 18 foot diameter redwoods! That ridiculous plan was vigorously opposed and a volunteer group of Occidental locals, led by the Ad Hoc Committee for Clean Water, also of Occidental, looked for viable alternatives.
an earthquake it would crumble into the river?!? So, it makes so much sense to have 15 daily trips of raw sewage in 30 ft long trucks go back and forth across the failing bridge, doesn’t it? This is a disaster waiting to happen people! Thank you to all who spoke so eloquently and knowledgably; forgive me if I misspell your names: Nic Pereira, Brenda Adelman, Mark Pedroia, Susan Packer, John Uniak, Westminster Woods, Susie Albrich, Dana Zimmerman, Misty Adams, Jay Dove, Steven Easther, Chris Gullege, Suki Robweiller, Grant Davis, Anne/AD HOC Committee, Chuck Ramsey, Griselda, Natalie, William, Lee Torr, Hans Bruener, Heather Hendrickson, Debra Johnson, Rue Furch, and more! Lynda Hopkins we appreciate your role as the Public Hearing O cer and putting the meeting together! Let’s now move onto the groovy stu ...
So what happened? In 2013, we found a solution! So, the County Water Agency, SCWA, hired Stantec for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stantec’s review con rmed, yes, con rmed the Ad Hoc Committee for Clean Water’s ndings! But, the Water Agency promptly ignored Stantec, their own hired consultant, claiming that Stantec just didn’t understand West County (?!?!) and proposed instead, a year ago, to truck all Occidental’s raw sewage to a residential neighborhood in Guerneville! Trouble is, nobody warned the folks in that neighborhood to expect huge wastewater haulers to be dumping Occidental’s awful o al on them! So, just last December, Guernewood Park residents got a “Christmas Surprise”!
Do you like Paul Mathew Wine? Then you should attend the Russian River Chamber of Commerce Mixer on Wednesday March 1st! Of course it is at the Paul Mathew tasting room in Graton, with our groovy hosts Barb and Matt Gustafson. Falcon Mike will be providing transportation from the Chamber O ce at the Plaza to the event and back, so call 869-9000 for more information.
Are you ready for an emergency? The Russian River Fire Protection District is having its training classes March 18th & 19th and again March 23rd & 26th from 9 am to 4pm for the Community Emergency Response Team. Please contact Marilyn Fox at russianrivercert@gmail.com for additional information.
Give Back Tuesday... every
week at the groovy Rainbow Cattle Company! Have a delicious meal for only $5 and bene ciaries this month are the Russian River Health Center/ Dental Clinic (3/7), Food for Thought (3/14), Russian River Historical Society (3/21) and Russian River Chamber (3/28).
The County Water Agency didn’t even schedule a Public Hearing. Kudos to newly elected Supervisor Hopkins for extending the public comment period and scheduling a Hearing to give local residents a chance to “digest” ( guratively speaking) the raw sewage being served up by the County Water Agency! Occidental area residents wanted an a ordable tertiary upgrade in Occidental. It was the Water Agency, SCWA, that preferred dumping raw sewage on Guerneville.
The Hearing room was packed to capacity. With a Court Recorder present, Guerneville residents reprimanded, scolded, rebuked, admonished, reproached, upbraided, chastised, castigated and embarrassed the Water Agency, SCWA, for having the audacity to dump on them such an “indecent proposal”. Testimony was intelligent, competent, informed and articulate.
By contrast, the last failed project proposed by the Water Agency in 2012 would have cost more than twice as much to construct a monstrous wastewater holding tank on an unstable hillside above
Now there’s talk of trucking Occidental’s raw sewage to Graton.
Why did the Water Agency drag their feet and ignore Stantec’s ndings? The Ad Hoc Committee for Clean Water found a ordable tertiary treatment way back in 2013! Tertiary treatment options could have been evaluated, and a project chosen and constructed in Occidental by now! Instead, seems like the County Water Agency wants chaos in order to provoke the State Regional Board into imposing nes on the County for being out of compliance by the 2018 deadline. What gives?
I realize you aren’t looking for political rants in this groovy column, but I just had to share for those of
you who were unable to attend the meeting. Please feel free to share your groovy happenings for April with me: brudo@com rstcu.org or drop into Community First Credit Union on the corner of Armstrong Woods Road and Main Street.
As for the last tidbit regarding wastewater disposal, if pasture is irrigated, Occidental’s summertime, dry season effluent would require only about 8 acres for irrigation. Now, with the legalization of water-guzzling pot, only
a couple of acres, yes, just one or two acres of “weed” would be enough. So, the reasonable solution for Occidental’s wastewater treatment and disposal was found over three years ago, but is currently being ignored by the Sonoma County Water Agency in favor of driving Guerneville residents to distraction and continuing to promote illogical, unreasonable, and perpetual dysfunction in West County. What weird politics and hidden agenda is driving this?
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