Page 41 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2017

Occidental Wastewater Transport Project
The Sonoma County Water Agency, which operates the Occidental County Sanitation District’s (District) Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF), has released an environmental analysis of a proposed project to transport the District’s untreated wastewater to nearby treatment plants for treatment, storage, and disposal.
The “Initial Study/Negative Declaration: Occidental County Sanitation District Wastewater Transport Compliance Project” (Project) would make minor modi cations to existing facilities, and would allow wastewater to be transported to treatment plants near Guerneville and in the Airport Business Park. Comments can be submitted for the environmental document until 5 p.m., January 23, 2017.
Holiday Tree Recycling: see page 47
30 seconds is all it takes for a dry Christmas tree to be consumed by re. Dispose of yur trees as soon as it begins to show signs of drying out. According to te National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), one-third of all Christmas tree res occur in January. The rst rule of tree disposal: Never put the tree or branches in a fireplace or wood burning stove! Call (707) 565-3333 for an appointment to have a non-profit pickup your tree. The pickup dates are January 4, 5, 11, & 12, 2017. Call ahead to schedule a pickup. The suggested donation for this service is $7 for trees less than 6 feet and $10 for larger trees.
Currently, the District discharges secondary-treated e uent into an on-stream storage pond (Graham’s Pond) located at the headwaters of Dutch Bill Creek during the summer, and to Dutch Bill Creek during the winter. Dutch Bill Creek provides habitat for endangered coho salmon. An order by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board requires the District to stop releasing secondary-treated e uent into Graham’s Pond and Dutch Bill Creek by 2018.
The Project would bring the District into compliance with the order by ceasing the discharge of secondary-treated e uent into Dutch Bill Creek and Graham’s Pond by transferring the treatment, storage, and disposal of untreated wastewater to the Russian River County Sanitation District (RRCSD) WWTF and Airport- Larkfield-Wikiup Sanitation Zone (ALWSZ) WWTF.
BODEGA BAY FIRE:
Wastewater would primarily be transported from the District’s Lift Station to the RRCSD Main Lift station. The Project would generate approximately ve truck trips daily during dry weather. During large storms, the trips could increase to 15 trips daily. If roads are closed, or there are operational issues at RRCSD, wastewater would be transported to the ALWSZ WWTF.
• Supervisor Efren Carrillo was given an award of appreciation for all of his help to the 5th District and BBFPD.
• Years of Service- For every ve years of service, the employee or volunteer is recognized and given a pin that indicates 5-10-15-etc. Captain Lou Stoerzinger-5 years; Justin Fox-10 years; David Bynum-10 years; Sean Grinnell-25 years.
• Community Member of the Year - This award is given to a member of the Bodega Bay Community who has made Bodega Bay a safer and better place to live. This year’s award was given to Patty, Paul and Alicia Ginochio for their tireless work in the community.
• Firefighter of the Year - This award is given to the one person who continually strives to do their best for the betterment of self, the District, its sta , and its equipment. This year’s award was given to Raymond Hill.
• Lifetime Achievement - This award is given to the person who has not only given to the Fire District, but has also given to the Bodega Bay Fire ghters Association and to the Community of Bodega Bay. This year it was given posthumously to Margret Peggy Hill for her erce dedication and loyalty to Bodega Bay. We recently lost Peggy due to health issues; therefore Husband Ray Hill and daughter Wendy Hill accepted the award on Peggy’s behalf.
The District has worked toward solving its wastewater challenges since the late 1990s. Over the past two decades, at least 15 alternatives have been identi ed, studied and rejected because they were technically unworkable, did not have community support or were too expensive.
Ratepayers in the District pay $2,068 per “equivalent single dwelling” annually, which ranks among the highest rates in the state. Through its general fund, the Water Agency subsidizes District operations by about $400,000 annually to prevent additional rate hikes. The proposed Project would cost an estimated $1.4 million to construct and would cost approximately $900,000 annually to operate.
The Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND) was prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, and found that the project would have no signi cant e ect on the environmental. The IS/ND can be found online at scwa.ca.gov/OCSD/.
FORESTVILLE FIRE:
The public review period on the IS/ND ends at 5 p.m., January 23, 2017. Comments should be submitted to Je Church, 404 Aviation Blvd, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 or to jchurch@scwa.ca.gov.
FIND COPIES at scwa.ca.gov/OCSD/ or the following locations: • Sonoma County Water Agency: 404 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa, • Guerneville Regional Library: 14107 Armstrong Woods Road,
Guerneville
• Occidental Library: 73 Main Street, Occidental
• Forestville Library: 7050 Covey Road, Forestville
Congratulations to Michael Pierson for earning Firefighter of the Year. This is Mike’s rst Fire ghter of the Year since he joined the department in 2008. Mike responded to 31% of alarms in 2016 and 67% of our training drills for the year. We are all thankful for your service to our
BBFPD recently held its annual presentation of Employee and Recognition awards to the following people:
community Mike.
For a second year in a row, Captain Nick Alberigi responded to the most
emergencies and Firefighter Gary Green attended the most training drills. Nick and Gary’s dedication is very much appreciated.
Congratulations to Firefighter Sean Norton for reaching 10 years of Volunteer service, Firefighter Jordan Hansen for reaching 15 years of service and Captain Greg Rasmussen for his 30 years of being a Volunteer and Full-time member of the department. We thank you for your years of service to our community.
GRATON FIRE: Thank you to everyone who came to our re station to get a Christmas tree and support our volunteers. For the sixth year, we also brought in Noble and Nordman Fir trees from a sustainable farm in Oregon. In addition, hundreds of people cut down their own trees as well as sponsored seedlings to help us replant. Kids enjoyed searching the 5,000+ seedlings now planted throughout the farm to nd their names from last year. A big “Thank You” to our tree farm manager, Heather O’Dell, her team, and all the volunteer re ghters for their hard work. Most importantly, we appreciate your support to keep our tree farm sustainable. We look forward to seeing you next season!
Toy Drive... Another Success: Thank you! Graton Fire was able to deliver presents to over 40 children, brightening their holidays. We wish everyone could experience the joy we see when the re engine pulls up and delivers your presents... once again, thank you. A tremendous thank you also needs to go
out to Andy’s Produce, Graton Community Club, Sebastopol Hardware, and Graton Post O ce for being toy collection points in addition to cash donations from a number of residents to our toy drive.
1/17 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 41