We publish below a compilation of all the newspaper articles, official documents, and opinions about
the Donner Summit Public Utility (DSPUD) operations.
DSPUD permit comments are now posted on the Regional Water Quality Control Board in advance of the upcoming April 23/24 public meeting. A lot of people from a wide cross section, all of whom care about the South Yuba River, went to a lot of time and trouble to research, and submit comments. The submissions from the Sportfishing Alliance, SYRCL's, the wastewater engineer, and Joseph & Kathryn Gray, present a good overview of issues and are quite informative.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board issues a- a tentative order requiring DSPUD to
cease and desist from discharging contrary to requirements (pdf); b- a tentative new (NPDES) permit (pdf); c-
a tentative NPDES permit addressing dilution (pdf); and d- an annoucement for an April23/24 public, with March 6 as the latest date for written public comments
(pdf).
KVMR Evening Newscast
Wednesday, Jan. 28th, 2009 (iTunes Radio). -
A Discussion about Sewage Treatment
and how it Affects Water Quality.
A few weeks ago, the Donner Summitt Public Utility District was fined nearly 50 thousand dollars for not meeting water quality standards for the discharge from their sewage treatment plant into the South Fork of the Yuba River. The fine highlights the difficulty of meeting ever tightening water quality standards on treatment facilities and the associated costs for municipalities. Brian Bahouth takes listener calls for a conversation with Tom Skjelstad, Donner Summit PUD General Manager and sewage treatment consultant Dr. Bob Emerick.
KVMR Evening Newscast, Monday, Jan. 12th, 2009
(iTunes audio)
- Donner Summit Public Utility District Fined $49,000.00:
After repeated warnings, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board has fined the Donner Summit Public Utility District $49,000.00 for violation of water quality standards in the Yuba River. Paul Emery spoke with Control Board spokesperson Bill Ruckheiser and began by asking if this is a severe fine.
Quote from the Regional Control Board Control Board spokesperson Bill Ruckheiser:
"Every sewage treatment plant has its own particular situation, everyone has limitations that they have to meet to keep the rest of us safe and keep California's water clean. There are similar sewage treatment plants up in the mountains, at similar elevations, with similar cold temperatures, and they meet their requirements ... In other counties there have been situations where the operator sewage treatment plant has not been able to get it together, and the county is taking over."
Save Donner Summit: (Re)-Clarification about ECO:LOGIC's role (the highly respected Engineering and Consulting firm).
Tom Skjelstad, DSPUD General Manager: "The District is required to have on staff a WWTP Operator with a minimum Grade 3. (There are 5 grades.)
We lost our grade 3 due to an unexpected death. So we contracted with ECO:LOGIC for operator services.
ECO:LOGIC provided us with Jim King who is a Grade 5. This was by way of a service agreement between the District and ECO:LOGIC.
This was the arrangement when the District filed its Report of Waste Discharge on March 30, 2007.
In July of 2007, Jim King left ECO:LOGIC and became an employee of DSPUD.
So long story short, ECO:LOGIC was the facility operator when we filed our ROWD but is now our consulting engineer."
January 13:Email thread between Joe Gray, a Summit home owner, Tom Skjelstad, DSPUD General Manager, and Jim King, Chief Plant Operator, about DSPUD plant operations
(pdf).
January 12: DSPUD General Manager letter to SLCWD Board in response to Joe Gray's criticisms of DSPUD operations.
(pdf).
January 10: Donner Summit and the South Yuba River - Stewardship or Sewership?
YubaNet Regional Op-Ed.
January 10: DSPUD Permit Application (
pdf) filed with
the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board on March 2007.
January 8: SierraSun -
$49,000 fine for Donner Summit utility discharge -
Fines handed out after high levels of nitrates, ammonia found in South Yuba River
By Greyson Howard.
January 8: ECO:LOGIC letter to DSPUD general manager clarifying delution credits
(pdf)
January 7: DSPUD's response to the Regional Control Board on the Notice of Violation (
pdf).
November 28: The Regional Water Control Board regulating the summit's waste water treatment plant
imposes a
mandatory minimum fine in the amount of $49,000
as a result of 7 serious violations of effluent discharge limitations in 2007 and 2008.
The maximum penalty set by code for these violations is $316,780,000.
A
public hearing is scheduled for 5/6 February 2009
unless the summit's utility (DSPUD) either pays the fine or proposes compliance projects by December 30, 2008.
October 7: Save Serene Lakes: As part of their "Project Yuba Headwaters",
the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL)
sent a letter to the regional water quality control
board with their comments concerning the algae
growth "notice of violation" that DSPUD
received last July. Their
comments document a
long list of violations and ask that any new
permit or plant expansion permit take them into
consideration.
"In
contrast to DSPUD's Report of Waste Discharge, Mr. Reedy's (SYRCL's River Science Director) analysis of dilution potential
indicates that DSPUD is willing to discharge to the South Yuba River in volumes and at
times that would yield a river composed of almost one-half effluent."
September 23: Save Donner Summit - An upbeat Donner Summit Public Utility District (DSPUD) board of directors passed Resolution 2008-10
authorizing the general manager to request activation of DSPUD's latent park and public facilities powers. A large audience representing many
diverse members of the Placer and Nevada County summit community as well as Royal Gorge LLC. and Sugar Bowl testified in support of the resolution,
which is the first step
to claim available Placer County capital funds. Once secured, the board intends to empower a commission made
of community members to make recommendations on park and public facilities projects. Members of the audience suggested a cross country ski trail,
an indoor facility for young children activities, creation of new trails, ...
September 9: Donner Summit Public Utilities District (DSPUD) - In response to
the Notice of Violation
issued on August 5 by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board,
the district, through its consultant, states that it cannot consistently
meet the letter of its current permit (as per Control Board order
R5-2002-0088)
with regard to effluent nitrate concentration as measured at
the exit of its waste water treatment plant, but points out that public health is not
threatened because the concentration of nitrate drops
by a factor of 24 through dilution in the South Yuba river.
"Current attempts at complying with the limitations contained in Order R5-2002-0088
require feeding the biological treatment process a synthetic wastewater so
that an adequate biology is available when a significant amount of real wastewater
requires treatment during holiday weekends.
Very low wastewater temperatures also contribute to inhibiting the biological treatment process from
performing in a robust manner".
Download the
full technical report in response to the Notice of Violation
August 15. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a notice
of violation to the Donner Summit Public Utilities District: "Based on the field observations, it is a reasonable conclusion that the DSPUD
effluent discharge was at least a major contributing factor to a reportedly rare,
highly unusual, transient growth of filamentous green algae in the South Yuba
River in June 2008 in the reach from the DSPUD effluent discharge point,
downstream through the Towle Mountain Estates area, but not as far downstream
as Kingvale. The filamentous biofilm tracks fairly well to the effluent discharge
point,". Download the full text of
The Notice.
August 10. Excess algal growth and eutrophication found downstream of DSPUD's outfall into the South
Yuba River is being investigated - Donner Summit Clarion
August 2008.
November 21, 2007: Royal Gorge LLC. - Waste Water Treatement
(
pdf). Preliminary document obtained through threat of legal action (the document was filed with Placer County
with no public access). Appendix (pdf).
November 15: California Regional Water Quality Control Board
Central Valley Region -
Adminstrative Civil Liability Order No.
R5-2007-0528.
April 2, 2007: California Regional Water Quality Control Board
Central Valley Region -
Adminstrative Civil Liability Order No.
R5-2007-0509.