New CCI wastewater treatment facility could soon be launched
New CCI wastewater treatment facility could soon be launch
By: Bill Mead
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Greg O’Brien, associate warden at California Correctional Institution in Cummings Valley, said last week he is encouraged that the long-drawn-out effort to build a new wastewater treatment facility at CCI may be close to succeeding.
Meeting with the board of directors of Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District last Wednesday, O’Brien stressed the need to complete, as soon as possible, a contract between CCI and TCCWD for disposition of effluent from the proposed new plant. This would include an arrangement with an agricultural irrigator to accept the treated water for use on crops not intended for human consumption.
Discussions to date have assumed the water would be used for turf production. This crop is recognized by state and federal water quality agencies as one of the most effective in filtering out nitrate, considered a groundwater contaminant.
TCCWD directors responded that there are no apparent reasons why the contract with CCI cannot be readily completed, since most of its terms already have been worked out.
O’Brien said that if the contract is finished within a few days, the project could go to bid in less than a month. Unless all bids are substantially higher than the state engineer’s estimate, construction of the project could be underway this year. He said construction will take about two years.
Twice before the state has called for bids on the new facility, only to find that all of those submitted were so far above the state engineer’s estimate that they had to be rejected and the whole process started over again. Local water officials have said privately that the state engineer’s estimates in the past have been based on unrealistically-low cost assumptions. The current state engineer’s estimate is considerably higher than those in the recent past.
Even so, O’Brien supported a joint meeting with State Senator Roy Ashburn to develop coping strategy in case the next round of bids comes in too high and supplemental funding is needed. TCCWD directors agreed that such a meeting should be arranged as soon as possible.
All participants at last Wednesday’s meeting seemed pleased with what appears to be imminent resolution of the touchy issue of CCI wastewater disposal. The existing outmoded treatment facility has drawn violation notices from the California Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region and has been a long-standing concern of other users of water from the Cummings Valley groundwater basin, including residents of Stallion Springs and Bear Valley Springs.
Bob Jasper, general manager of TCCWD, said the proposed new CCI wastewater treatment plant is currently the most important improvement project in the Tehachapi area.
O’Brien emphasized that CCI officials are acutely aware of the need for the new plant and are doing everything possible to clear away obstacles at the state level. He noted how much of his time is dedicated to resolving the wastewater problem, referring to himself as “the squeaking wheel.”
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