Hearing scheduled on Colusa sewage plant

A public hearing on the City of Colusa's sewer treatment facility has been tentatively scheduled for early September.

In May, permit extensions for the old treatment plant expired, leaving the city vulnerable to nearly half a million dollars in discharge fines imposed by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The board proposed a $489,000 penalty for violations of wastewater treatment standards accumulated over an eight-year period beginning in January 2000. Colusa has been cited for 191 effluent limitation violations, 107 of which are considered serious. Those include violations in the levels of ammonia and coliform and the turbidity of treated water.

The City Council voted in May to accept the fines and to ask the water quality board to allow the city to roll the fines into the construction costs of the new treatment facility. That option is available under a 2006 law authored by state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley.

The board has agreed to accept the city's request.

"We're very fortunate the board has allowed us to do this," said City Manager Robert Hickey. "The board does not have to allow us this option."

Hickey said city staff has worked with the water quality board to demonstrate progress made toward building the facility.

"We're making good progress and have shown that we're serious about bringing our project online — and that's why I think they're allowing us to do it," Hickey said.

Hickey said the new $19.7 million project could begin treating water in August, even though construction wouldn't be completely finished until March 2009. He said discharging at the new facility would likely begin sometime in September.

Changes in 1999 to federal and state clean water mandates have resulted in big fines for many rural communities, including Williams and Live Oak.

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board is a state agency tasked with the preservation and enhancement water resources. The board may consider the complaint at its regular public meeting on September 11 or 12.

Contact Tri-Counties Newspapers reporter Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or e-mail rparsons@tcnpress.com