NCSD splits wastewater treatment plant upgrade
By Staff
A project to upgrade Nipomo’s Southland Wastewater Treatment Plant and find other methods for disposing of the treated effluent will be split into two phases to speed up the plant upgrade.
Nipomo Community Services District directors voted 4-0 Wednesday, with Larry Vierheilig absent, to split the project and to pay up to $52,400 to Boyle Engineering to compare wastewater disposal options.
District Manager Bruce Buel said the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is concerned the district is not moving fast enough on the plant upgrade, so splitting the project will allow that portion to be completed more quickly.
Boyle also will study at least 10 alternative disposal methods — even those directors already believe are not feasible or acceptable — to make sure all options have been exhausted.
The district needs to find alternatives to the current settling ponds because a recently discovered underground geological feature is preventing proper percolation of the treated effluent.
Alternatives range from additional ponds and subsurface systems at other locations to using treated water for irrigation of agriculture, golf courses and Highway 101 landscaping as well as work to improve the permeability of the soil below the current ponds.
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