Regional solution for wastewater?

Sutter County and its two cities have different reasons for looking into combining wastewater treatment efforts.

But there are rumblings that the county, Yuba City and Live Oak are going to take a serious look at sending wastewater from Live Oak and the community of Sutter into Yuba City's treatment plant, creating a regional operation.

In a weekly report from last month, Yuba City City Manager Steve Jepsen said Live Oak and the county had approached the city about going regional and that staff are evaluating the possible impact. On Wednesday, the Live Oak City Council approved funding a study to decide if a regional plant is feasible locally. The study's $49,000 cost will be split with the county.

Those involved in the discussion stress that the discussion of regional wastewater trea ment is still in the very preliminary stages. But they also note the success of a regional wastewater plant in the Sacramento area.

"Sacramento County constructed a regional facility — and one treatment plant replaced over 20," said Bill Lewis, Yuba City's utilities director.

"We have a successful model in the Sacramento region," said Sutter County Public Works Director Doug Gault. "It's provided a lot of benefits to the community."

Each agency has its own reason that going regional could be of benefit.

In Live Oak's case, the city has an April 2009 deadline to meet wastewater discharge standards after the Regional Water Quality Control Board gave the city a cease-and-desist order in 2004. If Live Oak can't meet the deadline, the board has the power to fine the city $10,000 per day.

But a recent round of bidding put the cost of upgrading the plant to meet the standards at up to $22 million, said Assistant City Manager Satwant Takhar.

"When we got our bids back in, we started looking at a regional facility a little more closely," he said.

For Sutter County, a regional plant would provide an opportunity to tie in the community of Sutter into a sewer system, Gault said. Sutter currently uses individual septic systems.

"That's in the county's interest," Gault said.

Yuba City just had its plant's discharge permit renewed in October, Lewis said. And taking on Live Oak and Sutter's wastewater today wouldn't be a problem — the plant is approved to discharge 10.5 million gallons of treated water per day and is currently averaging less than 6 million, while Live Oak's current discharge would only add about 1 million gallons more.

Plus, having more customers tied in to the plant could create "economy of scale" advantages for Yuba City residents, he added.

But the city has to see if there would be any issues with the permit if Yuba City's plant were to handle Live Oak and Sutter's wastewater, Lewis said.

"We're looking to see how it impacts that permit, not just today but into the future," he said.

Also, the city wants to get an idea of what would need to happen if the communities grow to buildout size.

"If Live Oak builds out, do we have to build something to accommodate them that we wouldn't have to build otherwise?" Lewis said.

Contact Appeal reporter Robert LaHue at 749-4713 or rlahue@appealdemocrat.com.