New MB Water/Sewage Plant Delayed

Summary:  Morro Bay is faced with urgency to create a new source of community water as state water supplies are drying up fast, but it is taking time to decide how, when and where to develop that invaluable new source as a state drought spreads and the state calls for sharp reductions in water use by cities like Morro Bay. The City Council is looking at a range of options to get more water locally, but it is taking more time than expected to fill the city's needs because alternatives now include the city's own water reclamation facility as well as a regional project that may save money but take longer to develop than can be afforded.

With 2013 now established as California's driest calendar year in 119 years, and Governor Jerry Brown a few months ago declaring a state drought emergency, calling on Californians to reduce their water usage by 20%, Morro Bay needs a new and reliable water supply as never before.

Add to all that, the taste and odor of state water, which Morro Bay depends on primarily for its drinking water, is becoming more objectionable. (All these reports are on the face page of the city's website, http://morro-bay.ca.us, under News & Announcements.)
But unforeseen obstacles are delaying the city in obtaining that new supply as the city works feverishly to get construction of its new water reclamation facility started and built in the target time goal of five years, 2019.

Extensive planning has been done on the Morro Bay water reclamation facility (previously known as a wastewater treatment plant), and a final decision on where to build it was scheduled to be reached last month, but now that decision has been delayed until November. And that target date may not be firm either.

Why? Because, as acknowledged last March (See: Water Reclamation Facility Uncertainty Could Pay Off), even though the City Council has selected a site (named Rancho Colina) for the new water reclamation facility (WRF), located on Highway 41 about 1.7 miles east of the old, existing sewage plant overlooking Estero Bay, an alternative scenario is under consideration. And that is for the city to become part of a regional plan and plant that would both produce potable water and process sewage, maybe cheaper for Morro Bay.

That alternative concept was unveiled and discussed by the Council last May, but since then it has undergone much more detailed review by the California Men's Colony (CMC, where the regional sewage/water plant would be located), the county, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Cayucos Sanitation District (CSD). The CSD has been partners with Morro Bay for many years in the operation of the old, existing sewage plant in Morro Bay. But the state has ordered that old plant replaced, and that edict was delivered long before the current water shortage hit the state. The CSD is said to be eager to join a plan invoking the CMC but has long said it doesn't need any more water (Cayucos has about four water companies that supply the community).

So a new WRF seems inevitable — in Morro Bay or at the CMC or maybe even somewhere else. It's just a matter of when it will "bail out" Morro Bay and whether it will save the community from a "no water" disaster.

At the Council's meeting last August 12, Public Services Director Rob Livick stated that the regional plan with the CMC as the center of the sewage processing-water generation process is taking longer than anticipated to get the evaluation done, that is evaluating whether the plan will work as desired for Morro Bay and other participants. More agencies in the mix complicates matters; the County has approved the scope of work to evaluate CMC so we are now ready for the design consultant to begin that work, Livick said.

John Rickenbach, the principal planner of the Morro Bay WRF, recalled at the meeting that in May (on his recommendation) the Council selected Rancho Colina as a primary site for a city WRF. But he recommended then and it was agreed the city also will study a regional plant concept at the CMC site.

The Council, its staff and its consultant also want to ensure the report presented is thorough and objective, especially regarding water rights, water reclamation, timing and logistical issues and costs.

City staff members and Rickenbach are exploring a wide array of pros and cons in using the CMC, such as possible cost savings, whether it will afford unique water supply benefits and water for agricultural use, site restraints, discharge limitations, the city's role in such a county plan and the operating plan at CMC. The city is retaining consultants to look at water supply and water rights, farming and water availability to the city.

A citizen's advisory committee has been formed and will be meeting soon with those planning the WRF, Livick said. He presented a list of consultants that have their own areas of expertise related to various aspects of the project. Each needs to prepare and present their information, which then needs to be put together into a fully scoped report which they now hope to be able to bring back to the Council in November, he said.

Council member Noah Smukler said the extra time devoted to reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of the city participating in a regional plan "will be time well spent." "We're in a good position," he said.

But others were skeptical about any advantages a regional water/sewer plan might hold for Morro Bay. Resident Roger Ewing told the Council he is strongly opposed to the city joining any plan for a water/sewage plant at the CMC site. "When we involve outsiders in something regionally we lose control, at which point we lose the ability to gain the tertiary (potable or drinking) water."

He and others are skeptical that the city will be able to control and further its interests as far as access to generous supplies of disinfected water as part of a regional program.