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Monday, February 12, 2007

Public Hearing on Morro Bay Water Quality vis a vis High Nitrates recently found in Morro Bay's wells. Tuesday, February 13th at 7 pm. at the Vet's Hall on Surf Street. Since Morro Bay's been sewered for 50 years, a question that must be asked is: Where are the nitrates coming from? Old leaking sewer pipes? If they're coming from the ag lands surrounding Morro Bay (i.e. nitrate fertilizer run off), then where's the monitoring results from the RWQCB? If the levels in the aquifer are now higher than state standards, will the RWQCB issue cease and desist orders on the farmers in those valleys? If the levels spike again, will Morro Bay have to build a denitrificaion plant? Blend water? Hmmmm, so many questions. Well, hope you'll all attend the meeting and listen and ask any questions. Should be interesting.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is terrible!! The Rocky Horror Picture Show is playing at the Freemont at 7:30 on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

There's a light in the darkness.....

Anonymous said...

So what are the nitrate levels in the water now? And what are the nitrate levels at well head, now? Obviously they are up to standards unless there is a major conspiricy or coverup! I go along with the questions posed by Ann that would suppose a major conspiracy or coverup. Since we do not know the source of the nitrate spike: what else?

Churadogs said...

The questions that I hope will be asked and possibly answered at the meeting is: Where are the nitrates coming from that caused a problem big enough to have to set up plans to notify water users in case this happens in the future?

Anonymous said...

Ann,

Thanks for bringing all this out in the open. There's something wrong with this picture!

Morro Bay has many polluters and they are allowed to dump what they do into the ocean. Now they have nitrate problems that are worse than ours.

So why does the RWQCB pick on just Los Osos? The answer is clear to me.

Anonymous said...

The RWQCB is NOT oicking on poor little Lost Egos. They ARE applying their ENFORCEMENT policies across the entire state as they are REQUIRED to do! The people of all of California voted for the laws which the State Water Boards are required to ENFORCE. Los Osos has been in violation of those laws for 30+ years! We were on our way to LEGAL COMPLIANCE until the OBSTRUCTIONISTS, or more correctly, the ANARCHISTS, began their campaign of terror!

If you don't like the way the RWQCB is enforcing the laws, then go to the State and get the laws changed. Oh, that's right, you've tried, the CSD tried, but that nasty old legistlature and Govenor said "NO" and took the project away from all the obstructionists and placed it in the hands of the County. Now it is supposed you don't like that. TOUGH, YOU AREN'T IN CHARGE ANY LONGER!

Anonymous said...

"Los Osos has been in violation of those laws for 30+ years!"

And the RWQCB has never allowed us to challenge the falsified data used to establish the PZ. They divided our community with that unjust line. We would have had a sewer by now if they hadn't lied and created this divide, along with a total distrust of government.

This "violation" allowed builders to continue building, and didn't require notification of the "violation" when purchasing a home in the PZ. It was a farce. Now we have a real problem and we need to work together to solve it. We need to get rid of the PZ and look at the community as a whole.

Anonymous said...

the only reason you want to get rid of the PZ is that you don't want a sewer, ..... nice try

Anonymous said...

Please explain to me how getting rid of the PZ will stop a sewer.

Getting rid of the PZ will stop the controversy. We all piss in the same pot. (Excuse me.....deposit nitrates in the same aquifer.) We all need to work together for a solution. Right now, the PZ pays and outside the line gets to help decide how much the PZ pays. It is wrong that people living less than a block from one another are treated do differently. This class system has to stop. We are all contributing to the problem. We all need to contribute to the solution.

Either the RWQCB gets rid of the PZ, or it will be eventually challenged in a real courtroom that does not quash subpeonas for Roger, Shirley, etc.......

Anonymous said...

We want a sewer, you moron. Not one that only sewers part of the community.

Anonymous said...

You think the good folks in Cabrillo will like to pay their honest share? You better check out construction costs on steep slopes. Maybe that's part of the reason for the PZ lines drawn the way they were?

Anonymous said...

if you get rid of the PZ, you and I both know there won't be a sewer, be honest. getting rid of the PZ won't stop any controversy, just another tactic to avoid having a sewer - any excuse to delay, delay, delay !!!- the challenge already lost in a courtroom go ahead, try again!

Anonymous said...

"the challenge already lost in a courtroom go ahead, try again!"

Actually Chairman Young danced around the issue, saying that it wasn't the appropriate time to challenge, but couldn't answer when asked when the appropriate time to challenge would occur. He sent Briiggs out of the country so no questions could be asked regarding these issues. Watch the kangaroo court and you will be enlightened.

Anonymous said...

it was challenged in the 90s, and lost ... hear's a heads-up, when you watch these things you need to actually listen .... keep hitting your head against a wall .... just say it ... you don't want a sewer

Anonymous said...

I don't want a sewer. I've got 50 feet + to groundwater and my septic system is in excellent working condition. And on my income I may have to move if a big bill comes in.

*PG-13 said...

PZ or not to PZ?

Anon > They divided our community with that unjust line.

Putting aside for the moment who's waste flows where. And whether the PZ is an appropriate, legal or scientifically sound way to bound and resolve an indeterminate pollution problem. And whether the CSD should be paying for Los Osos 45 legal services. Does anybody know or even have some good guesstimates for the following:

(1) How many homes are within the CSD?
(2) How many homes are in the PZ? (I recall 5,000 being used before but that seems high to me.)
(3) How many homes might otherwise be allocated to the larger basin designation but are not in the CSD?
(4) How many homes (and commercial buildings) have been allowed to be built in the PZ since the building moratorium?
(5) How many homes (and commercial buildings) have been built outside of the PZ during this time?
(6) How many homes have been sold since the county identified septic tanks as a property liability which should have been disclosed during the sale?
(7) How much acreage is devoted to agriculture within the basin and, presumably, under RWQCB monitoring?
(7) Has anybody seen any population projections for basin build-out over the next 10, 20, 30+ years? (Clearly such projections would be a function of whether a sewer is built and how big of a sewer is built. Still, there must be some projections somewhere. People get paid to do this kind of forecasting. Many of them with our tax dollars.

Educated guesstimates are good enough. Citations to published numbers are even better. Thanking you in advance.

Sewertoons AKA Lynette Tornatzky said...

Anonymous 10:57 AM said...
"I don't want a sewer. I've got 50 feet + to groundwater and my septic system is in excellent working condition. And on my income I may have to move if a big bill comes in."

So-o-o-o, since you are exempt from needing one - and you have done those isotope tests haven't you? - you just want the people who live nearest the groundwater to pay for it? Should we pick and choose who had the best septics and is farthest from groundwater? Do you know what the word "community" means?

Do you take drugs, do you use shampoo, are you SURE that none of this stuff is getting as far as the groundwater, 100% sure that the "magic sand" of Los Osos is actually removing this stuff? Or hasn't your swarm of creepy chemicals made it as far as the groundwater thus far - well, maybe you will hit paydirt next year! Or WATER in the upper aquifer, rather.

When a sewer is in place, your property values will go up. Why do you think most of us moved here instead of Morro Bay with the sewer - it is cheaper here because there is no sewer! That is probably why YOU moved here! Well, if cheaper is what you want, you may want to move far up the coast to get it.

Look, I am concerned about the bill too. But none of us knows just what that bill is yet! Or what we may quality for in terms of grants, or financial remediation.

Don't be jumping on the "we don't need no stinkin' sewer" bandwagon. That just means obstructionism with the fallout from the ways and means of believing that. And that ultimately means its gonna be MORE expensive!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it nice for us, the taxpayers, to pay for a paid vacation for Roger Briggs?
How many months is he gone? Is this a reward for doing such a good job?

The Regional Water Board better look at the PZ again. If the step system is used it wouldn't cost as much for Cabrillo and others who don't have to pay now. When AB885 comes they'll have to upgrade and spend $20,000 - $30,000. Isn't that what the Regional Board said? Why not just sewer all of Los Osos with a system that is sustainable and energy efficent for this day and age?

Why do these bloggers who live OUTSIDE THE PZ want this big expensive sewer? Is it because they want everyone out so they can make money off all the money we in the PZ lose? Heartless! What kind of nasty people are you? It's you that should go and live in Bakersfield.

Anonymous said...

To 7:38 on 2/13:

Are you saying the PZ was challenged in the 90's - When? Before 1996? It could be challenged now with no problem. And no money either. In fact, it will be challenged whether you like it or not.

Anonymous said...

go ahead and challenge it and you will have lots of problems so you must have lots of money

Anonymous said...

I live in the PZ and I prefer gravity. I have friends in the zone, too. Some want step, some want gravity.

Let's see what it all costs when we get the actual figures. I for one am not going to take the word of a salesman as to the cost. I think some of you will be real surprised that the hype turned out to be - hype.

Anonymous said...

To anon. above, You say you live in the PZ & you want gravity? UNBELIEVABLE!!!Why would anyone in their right mind want gravity when "step" is sustainable, less expensive to build & operate? Orenco can do the project much less than anyone else, they've got the numbers to prove it. Another HUGE plus, is that the streets, (terrible as they are) will NOT have to be torn up, as they would with gravity. Besides, everyone knows that gravity is outmoded anyway.

Anonymous said...

The first legal opportunity to challange the PZ 83-13 or the Basin Plan is when enforcement occurs. No enforcement for 30 yrears had more to do with avoiding that challange than kindness and patience. The time is now for the challange because the basis for enforcement will go down with the ship. Break the CSD then the people and have them pay for it too. I want a sewer but the enforcement and risking my property on the County's ability to deliver is nuts...and me thinks unconstitutional too.