The new Morro Bay and Cayucos Sanitary District wastewater treatment plant, which elected representatives of the two communities have undoubtedly wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on over the past four or more years by failing to conform to what the Coastal Commission staff has made abundantly clear since 2008 must be done to build a new plant, is headed for Commission decision sometime at the Commission meeting on August 8-10 in Santa Cruz.
Even more importantly, the Commission, by about July 26, is set to state what MB/CSD must commit to in order to be awarded a coastal development permit by the Commission in August to allow planning for the new plant to begin. It almost certainly will save residents millions of dollars and provide a reliable supply of water.
This all grew out of a meeting between CCC and MB/CSD staffs on June 22, which coastal planner Stephanie Rexing said was "fairly informal with the CCC staff asking questions of the MB/CSD. We mostly asked questions regarding water reclamation and recycling. We discussed logistics of doing this at the current site as well as the two alternate sites (Righetti and Chevron)."
MB/CSD keep insisting on upgrading the present plant on the shores of Estero Bay — which the CCC staff has made clear is unacceptable because of its risks of exposure to flooding and being in a tsunami zone, plus prohibition by the Coastal Act from building in a coastal area where the top priority is viewshed and visitor-serving.
Therefore, it seems almost certain that the CCC staff will require a new plant be built on the Righetti property located at the eastern city border just off Highway 1 or the old Chevron oil tanks property at the Morro Bay / Cayucos border just east of Highway 1.
At the June 22 staff meeting, the MB/CSD Water Recycling Feasibility Study was the topic of a lengthy discussion.
The CCC staff has insisted for years on a new plant being built that could produce recycled water, which would enable the city to replenish its ground wells to produce sterilized drinking and irrigation water, allowing residents to have a reliable and less costly source of water than the state water it now depends on. That water source is very costly and its future reliability in serious question. The MB/CSD staffs have avoided addressing the issue and have ignored and fabricated evidence to the contrary.
More detailed information about the June 22 meeting is available in a memo by WWTP project manager Dennis Delzeit at CA-Morro Bay - Wastewater Treatment Plant. Delzeit's reports have been notorious for inaccuracy in the past but since the CCC staff saw fit to circulate it, there apparently is reliability in it.
The most recent Journal article on WWTP: Morro Bay-Cayucos Sewage Plant Coming to A Head on June 11?
