Calhouns Can(n)ons

Irony 101, Morro Bay versus Los Osos

I received the following email: I find it quite ironic that Los Osos was under a Time Schedule Order – enforced with threats from the RWQCB – that gave us less time than what’s being considered here for Morro Bay, to design, site and built an entire wastewater system. It was a TSO that former CDS General Manager Bruce Buel repeatedly testified, under oath, at the RWQCB’s ACL hearings was “unreasonable.” Los Osos citizens are now being targeted for a completely inappropriate CDO scheme for a project that failed, in part because of the RWQCB’s “unreasonable” time schedule. Go figure.

Dear Sierra Club e-alert subscriber,>> On March 24th, The same water board that brought the hammer down on Los > Osos for not building a sewer fast enough is proposing to give Morro Bay > and Cayucus nearly 10 YEARS to upgrade their jointly operated wastewater > treatment plant, after 30 years of failure to meet the minimum treatment > standards of the Clean Water Act.>> Not ten years to design and build a sewage plant and collection system. > Ten years to upgrade the level of treatment at the existing plant. Larger > California coastal communities with more complex water treatment issues > have managed to upgrade their sewage plants, on average, in three to five > years.>> THE WATER BOARD IS PROPOSING TO PERMIT ANOTHER DECADE OF DEGRADED WATER > QUALITY OFF THE CENTRAL COAST, PUTTING PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE MARINE > ECOSYSTEM AT RISK.>> The MB-Cayucos plant is pumping primary treated effluent -- one step up > from raw sewage -- into the ocean. Morro Bay and Cayucos have been > avoiding compliance with the federal Clean Water Act for 30 years by > virtue of a long series of waivers from the Act.>> There are only three such waivers left on the coast of California. Only > one is for a sewage outfall that is ground zero of a disease epicenter for > the threatened California sea otter: Morro Bay.>> The Morro Bay-Cayucos Sewage Treatment Plant> -MUST NOT receive another waiver> -MUST NOT get approval for a plant upgrade timeline 9.5 years long> -MUST complete the upgrade as fast as possible, as required by law.>> Read: "Morro Bay and Cayucos must not delay sewage clean-up" at> www.santalucia.sierraclub.org/SL/mar06>> And please come speak or be in support:>> Friday, March 24, 8:30 a.m.> Regional Water Quality Control Board> 895 Aerovista Place> San Luis Obispo>> Plan on taking the better part of the afternoon.>