Beaumont Wastewater Workshop Transcript March 28, 2016
‘Brian from Webb Engineering’ Working with City for four weeks, “Not going to talk about the condition of the Plant.”
In the San Timoteo Management Zone there is requirements of both Yucaipa and Beaumont to comply with Management Plans. Yucaipa had a Desalter and Brine Discharge Project that they were required to complete by June, 2015, and that has been completed.
The City of Beaumont has a Desalter and Brine Discharge Plan Submittal. This is just a plan. What are you going to do? That was submitted in January, 2015. That is complete.
What that Plan did on behalf of the City of Beaumont was to put forth a Plan of how you are going to #1 expand your Plant to meet capacity and desalted facilities in order to meet the Basin Plan Objectives then how to comply with or achieve brine disposal; brine management.
That Plan was put forward and accepted as a go-forward Plan. As part of that the Basin Plan says that the City of Beaumont complete those facilities; the Desalter and Brine Discharge Facilities by January, 2020.
Also included in the Basin Plan is the requirement to deliver Recycled Water by December, 2015. That hasn’t happened. That’s where we’ve stopped meeting the deadlines.
As far as Beaumont’s Desalter and Brine Discharge; nothing has been completed since the Plan was submitted to the Regional Board. That was the last that’s been done. As far as more planning of what to do, putting together a financing plan; that hasn’t been implemented either.
There’s also a requirement for Habitat Maintenance, which is the City’s requirement to discharge 1.8 mgd of treated effluent that meet the TDS requirements into Coopers’ Creek. It’s an ongoing requirement. That’s an important point.
These last ones are 10-year averages, so there’s still time to meet those compliance issues, but it needs to get started. Action needs to be taken to start moving forward. You’re already into year two of this 10-year window and essentially nothing has happened yet and you’re in the middle of the Plan.
44:35 Urtiaga: As you have heard; our Bank Reconciliations are up to date. As of February 29, 2016 available cash in the Sewer Fund is $4.97 Million. The unaudited Fund Balance of the Sewer Enterprise Fund as of June 30, 2015, is $53.88 Million. Those are factual numbers were wanted to give you to put things in perspective.
102:45 Hope Smite from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board: The Water Board Approved the existing Plan that calls for the Desalting Facility to be put in place by 2020. That’s your Plan that’s been Approved and that we ‘assumed’ was moving forward per the schedule that, again, YOU gave US.
Knight: We’re kind of slow, but we’re working on it, right? (giggles)
Smite: Well, I don’t know. I think some parts of that Plan have been put on hold pending this discussion and that does have us concerned.
Orozco thinks the salton sea will buy the brine from the city because ‘they need the salt’… he’s obviously been listening to urban logic, but how stupid can he be…??
Jeff Chambers “I thought this was a Workshop Presentation where the pubic might have the right to say something else. In 1999 Ordinance 787 for Sewer Trunk Facilities. Later on Ordinance 826 Water Fee was passed and Ordinance 829 in 2002. I don’t know when the sewer plant was expanded, was it 2004 or 2005 – does anyone know? Here’s my point; since 2005 there’s almost 8,000 housing permits paying a sewer capacity fee of $3,200, which is $25.6 Million that should be set aside in a sewer capacity fund. Where’s the money? In addition; total sewer fee paid by Developers is almost $4,300 per unit or $34.4 Million. Where is this money?
2:29:00 Brian from Webb Engineering to Hope Smite: When you have a plant that’s at 75% capacity at what point does the Regional Board start looking at imposing a moratorium or some type of an injunction on the issuance of building permits?
Smite: That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer for you tonight. I think the immediate thing we went to see is some kind of plan that the City can put forth to address the capacity issue. It is a permit requirement that be addressed. I don’t want to talk doomsday, but you’re technically in violation of that permit requirement currently.