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Sewer
Club Ink ... Online
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California Water Environment Association San Francisco Bay Section Articles
Received in: December 1999 CONTENTS
News from the SBSA
SBSA Commission Approves Recycled Water "First Step" Project for Redwood Shores A program to use 200,000 gallons of recycled water a month for irrigation purposes at six city-owned irrigation sites in Redwood Shores was approved Wednesday (Nov. 17) by the South Bayside System Authority (SBSA) Commission. The
Redwood City Council previously
approved the "First Step
Recycled Water Project" and
also authorized funding for a
long-term feasibility analysis,
which will occur parallel to The Regional Water Quality Control Board, as a condition of SBSA’s permit for expansion issued in 1997, encouraged SBSA to play a leadership role in water recycling. As a result, SBSA has committed to implement a "First Step" water recycling project for two irrigation seasons, starting in the summer of 2000. After the initial operating period, Redwood City and SBSA will evaluate the operating results and determine future actions, including whether to add additional customers. The results will also enable other jurisdictions that the SBSA serves determine whether to consider recycled water projects. The cities of Redwood City, San Carlos, and Belmont, and the West Bay Sanitary District own SBSA. "The first step project is intentionally designed to use city-owned landscaped areas," explained SBSA Manager Jim Bewley. "A plant expert has already studied the plants that will receive the recycled water so that impacts can be studied, and adjustments made, including fertilizer balances to mitigate any impacts from recycled water." The eastern end of Redwood Shores where the six city-owned landscaped sites are located already include dual water piping facilities that were installed in the streets in the mid-1980s as part of residential and other development. The dual water piping was installed in anticipation of the ultimate implementation of a water-recycling program in this area. The project will use this existing piping infrastructure to convey recycled water from SBSA’s treatment plant to serve the six landscape irrigation sites. The Commission authorized these improvements:
Bewley said that objectives for the first step project include:
"If the project progresses into further steps, it is the goal of the SBSA to be the provider of the water, but the policies on pricing will be a city council responsibility," Bewley said. "The first step project will enable us and the city to establish criteria whether and/or when to allow other users." Note to readers: the SBSA article entitled "SBSA Commission Approves First Step in Expanding Wastewater Treatment Capacity for Cities in Southern San Mateo County" is posted in the November issue of Sewer Club Ink Online. It appears in the January 2000 paper newsletter. Normally this article would be posted here, but it was received early. Notes from the President
Here we are at the last week of the last month of the last year of the 20th century. As a child, did you think about being here for the new millennium? Did you imagine anything close to what life is like today? I knew I would be in my mid-fifties, a frightening thought in itself, but never dreamed I would be greeting the new millennium, sober and on the job. As a perpetual victim of silver lining syndrome I say, “at least I will be able to remember it and won’t be starting off the New Century with a hangover”. Y2K has been a pretty expensive pain in the backside, but as I trudged my way through meetings, plan updates, tabletop and real-time exercises, it occurred to me that the Y2K bug has proven itself to be a beneficial insect. It has driven us to finally see our emergency preparedness responsibilities through to completion. The motivating force of the occasional earthquake diminishes with time. Before we quite get to where we need to be other priorities take over. But Y2K is a known date in the future; an important meeting that cannot be rescheduled. Rather than diminish, the motivation to continue has intensified with time. We have had to put our daily demands aside and deal with it: inventory, test, replace, train, document, plan, do, check, plan, do, check, plan, DO! Now, thanks to Y2K, we are more prepared than we would otherwise be for any disaster that will come our way in the future. Don’t forget Murphy’s law rules! We will have cause to put our Y2K investment to work in the 21st century. Here’s wishing everyone a Murphy-less trip into the New Year. Managers: For the new century please consider what your agency can do to support your local professional association. SF Bay Section is here through thick and thin, year after year. When regulatory changes are in the air or new technologies and solutions to old problems become available, we mobilize to provide the information via seminars, networking opportunities, presentations, articles, web site links. Our award program provides a great way to recognize your outstanding employees, facilities and programs. We are you; we are nothing without you. You and your employees are the heart and soul of SF Bay Section. Please support and promote participation; your employees and agencies will be all the better for it. Be sure to check out our web site at "http://www.cwea.org/sfb" for the latest events being planned by our energetic and effective committees. We ask that anyone who contributes an article to Sewer Club Ink to also eMail it to Bill Slenter at bslenter@rmcengr.com. ......Alexis Halstead |
