Plan to fix regional sewage treatment moves ahead

Tuolumne Utilities District directors Tuesday approved moving ahead with planning for a roughly $51 million effort to improve sewage treatment — one which may increase customer rates but help the district meet state mandates.

“I’m a lot anxious,”  TUD Director Ralph Retherford told the district staff.  “You’re asking us to approve these kinds of dollar figures when we already have other bills to pay.”
   

He said the plan assumes Tuolumne County’s population will grow, though it has not grown for two years and actually declined last year.  

Retherford asked if approving the $50.9 million plan recommended by TUD staff and Kennedy/Jenks Consultants would lock the district into spending that money.

It doesn’t mean the plan can’t be cut back if it turns out Tuolumne County’s need is not as great as expected, District Manager Pete Kampa assured Retherford and others attending Tuesday’s joint meeting of TUD, the Jamestown Sanitary District and Twain Harte Community Services District Tuesday.

The three districts make up the regional sewer system that was ordered by the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board decades ago to stop discharging treated wastewater into Woods Creek.

TUD, which manages the outflow system, must move ahead in order to be eligible for any grant money that becomes available and to avoid hefty fines for failing to comply with the order, said District Engineer Tom Scesa.

After more than two hours of discussion, the TUD directors voted unanimously to approve the recommended plan.

The first phase includes lining a pond on the Rosasco Ranch, west of Jamestown, and adding pumping at the Quartz Reservoir. Both ponds provide storage for treated wastewater.

The initial phase also calls for adding 51 acres for irrigation using wastewater, and establishing a dry-year bank of 58 acres. The dry-year bank is land that can be irrigated during wet years and allowed to go fallow during dry years.

The second phase would include constructing a reservoir on the West Ranch, west of Jamestown, adding 190 acres of additional land and 78 more acres for a dry-year bank.

TUD will submit the plan to the state for approval within a few months, said Tim Williams of Kennedy/Jenks, and will have the revenue plan done sometime this year.

The revenue plan will provide information about how much ratepayers’ bills will go up to pay for the project.

“That’s what the people in Jamestown want to know,” said JSD board Chairwoman Judy Selby. “What is it going to cost them?”

She asked if TUD has the money in reserve to pay for up-front costs.

“I don’t believe there is any money available for this,” Scesa said, adding that TUD does have money in reserve accounts.

He said some $2.1 million must be spent soon just to stop discharging into Woods Creek to avoid fines.  

“That’s to pay for our existing customers,” he said. “The money to pay for it should come from existing customers, including me.”

TUD charges the Jamestown district for taking its treated sewage and the Twain Harte district for taking and treating its sewage.

Those districts, in turn, pass the costs on to their constituents.

John Buckley, director of the Twain Harte-based Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said he spoke as a ratepayer when he suggested looking at conservation before spending money.

“You assume the need will grow, but if you could reduce the need for storage by 20 percent September through April, you would eliminate the need.”

He suggested using incentives to convince people to conserve water, and thus sewage.

Selby agreed. “We need an education program,” she said. “It makes sense to me.”

Her board of directors voted to discuss the entire issue further after seeing TUD’s revenue plan.