Water board fines city

It has been a busy week for local officials dealing with wastewater treatment upgrades.

The City of Williams on Tuesday was fined about $2 million from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Also on Tuesday the Maxwell Public Utilities District hosted their first public information meeting to discuss funding for facility upgrades estimated to cost between $7-9 million dollars. And in Colusa, earlier this month, city council announced a construction cost savings of about $200,000 for the Colusa city project from the original estimate.

Changes in the late 1990s to Federal and State wastewater treatment regulations were designed to promote cleaner water standards, but have instead resulted in severe fines, which have created financial hardships for many rural communities like Williams, Colusa, and Live Oak.

Jack DelConte, a Board spokesman, said the City of Williams had “hundreds” of violations and was fined a minimum of $3,000 for each violation, adding up to $2,109,000.

“We are very hopeful that (Williams) can develop a Compliance Project, which would allow the fines to be rolled over into the construction costs of the project,” DelConte said.

The city had already been out of compliance with federal and state wastewater treatment standards since 2005 and fined $2.1 million before Tuesday.

An extension in August 2007 from the Regional Water Quality Control Board set a new 2010 deadline for compliance.

The extension agreement was contingent upon the city securing the money to build the project on or before Feb. 1.

However, last month Williams voters rejected a special district assessment that would have funded construction of a new $25 million facility and the city failed to meet the compliance schedule as a result.

DelConte said the Board would be scheduling meetings with Williams City Manager Jim Manning to discuss the possibility of a new Compliance Plan.

For the new plan to allow the fines to roll into construction costs, the plan must be designed to correct all violations within 5 years and include a planned funding source from the public, DelConte said.

Multiple phone calls to Williams city officials were not immediately returned.

In Maxwell, the utilities board discussed a special district assessment proposal that would fund facility upgrades currently projected to cost between $7-9 million.

Board President Diana Mason said the board would continue to do everything possible to reduce the financial burden placed on Maxwell customers through grants and low-interest rate loans.

“This is a huge project for a small community of decent, hardworking people,” Mason said. “We will continue to work hard so that the demands of state and federal agencies can be met.”

Rebecca Crow, the Maxwell project engineer from the consulting firm Winzler & Kelly, said that public outreach would be very important for the projects success.

“You saw what happened in Williams last month,” Crow said. “These project require a lot of time and effort and public participation and understanding will be critical as we move forward.”

Crow said that currently there is no information available on how much each Maxwell customer might pay because, unlike the city of Williams where costs were spread equally between all property owners, the Maxwell plan would distribute the project cost based on “benefit.”

“So, for example, a school would have to pay more because they get more use and benefit from the project than the average homeowner,” Crow said.

Crow said the project would be funded primarily through grants and low-interest loans. The project is expected to receive about $1 million from a Community Development Block Grant, another million from the federal department of agriculture and another $1,866,860 from the Small Community Wastewater Grant.

State Senator Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, announced earlier this moth, that Maxwell and two other central valley cities would receive benefit from the SCWG.

“Many of the wastewater facilities that serve these smaller communities have been unable to comply with clean water mandates because they cannot afford to purchase the needed and required infrastructure. As a result of this non-compliance, these small facilities are repeatedly fined by regional water quality control boards,” Aanestad said.

In Colusa earlier this month, City Manager Rob Hickey told the City Council that ECO: LOGIC, the city’s project engineer, agreed to reduce the Construction Cost Agreement by about $200,000.

Colusa Mayor Robert McKaben praised the firm in a letter saying the Council was “very pleased” and appreciative of the decision.

“The (project) is the largest and most costly project the city has undertaken,” McKaben said. “The city has very limited funding and it is absolutely critical to bring this project in on budget.”

The $17.8 million Colusa project is expected to be online by August, about a month ahead of schedule, Hickey said.