Santa Clarita City Council members voted Thursday during a special meeting to send a letter to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, contesting a potential $280,250 fine that Santa Clarita Valley homeowners would have to pay.
The Los Angeles County Regional Water Quality Control Board is threatening to fine the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District because the latter agency did not file timely paperwork regarding the construction of a chloride treatment facility.
The report is in response to the regional board’s request that the Sanitation Districts reduce the level of chloride, or salt, in the water that the SCV sends down the Santa Clara River to the ocean from its current level of about 120 mg/L to 100 mg/L, believed to be the lowest level a county is required to have in the state, according to local district officials.
The letter is meant not only contest the fine, but ask that requested changes in chloride levels be based on science, Mayor Bob Kellar said.
Current chloride levels are not high enough to damage crops and there have not been many studies on the matter, said Phil Friess of the L.A. County Sanitation Districts.
“It would be very satisfying to see a process where you see studies done that determine what absolutely needs to happen and not one that’s tougher than needs to be, that’s a perfect world and it’d be perfect to get it,” Friess said.
Methods to reduce levels of chloride in water have been heavily debated since 1978, when the board first set the 100 mg/L chloride standard for the river. Cost estimates of the reduction have been estimated to be upwards of $250 million, but are not possible to guess at this time, Friess said.
The report will discuss different alternatives the Sanitation Districts can do to reach the standard, Councilwoman Marsha McLean said. They want to implement the least expensive means while adhering to what the regional board requires, but until the report is done, there is no way of knowing how much this could cost.
“The environmental impact report needs to happen first, its a very complex issue and people just keep throwing these figures around where there’s no definite knowledge until this report is done,” McLean said.
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1 Comment
The Sanitation District and a coalition of upstream and downstream water users (Including, I think, the SCV City Council) made an agreement in 2008 that reduced the cost of chloride treatment by 50%. They brought it to the Regional Board and requested an approval The Regional Board gave their blessing at the request of the Sanitation District. It then had to be approved by the State Water Resources Control Board and the EPA. At the request of the Sanitation District, these Boards also approved of this plan.The Plan allowed an increase in the level of chlorides and established time-lines to meet the plan. The Sanitation District did not met the first timeline because they did not complete the CEQA documentation process as they promised. It is NOT a matter of filing the “wrong” paperwork. They made a legal agreement to do certain things and then failed to do them. They knew they would be fined if they took that action. It is time that this Sanitation District starts addressing this problem. The public should realize it is the Sanitation District’s failure to keep their agreement that resulted in this fine.