[KHTS] – The SCV Sanitation District is hosting a meeting Wednesday night about its plans for the removal of chloride (a salt) from the valley’s waste water. It’s the first in a series of meetings ahead of a deadline for what officials are calling a much-needed fee increase for chloride treatment facilities.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Sulphur Springs Elementary School in Canyon Country.

“There will be a 25-minute presentation on the proposed rate increase to pay for the state mandated chloride compliance program,” said Basil Hewitt, a senior engineer with the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District.

The Sanitation District plan was approved last October, as “the most pragmatic move forward” in light of what the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board was demanding, Hewitt said.

The informational meeting will be led by Dave Bruns, assistant head of financial management for the Sanitation Districts.

“(Bruns) put together a presentation that basically talks about the proposed rates, and why it needs to be adopted by July,” Hewitt said.

A public hearing will be held 6 p.m. June 30 at City Hall, where the fee hike will go before the governing board of the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District.

Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District officials introduced a rate-hike proposal to the district’s governing board in April to pay for chloride treatment the Santa Clarita Valley, which they’re hoping to have approved by the end of June, district officials said.

The urgency is called for because the Sanitation District is seeking concessions from the state, and an extension on its deadline, which the state will only grant with a fee increase in place, he said.

Water softeners that you put salt into are illegal.

The district, which provides wastewater and solid waste management throughout Los Angeles County, is being mandated by the state to lower amount of chloride, or salt, in water flowing downstream to Ventura County from local treatment plants.

The cost of the new infrastructure necessary to remove the salt is expected to cost approximately $130 million, which is the reason behind the rate increase being discussed, Bruns said.

Sanitation District ratepayers have already been fined more than $200,000 because the district did not meet the RWQCB deadline for chloride management. In order to avoid more fines, the district has to have a plan in place, including a funding mechanism for the plan, by May 2015.

It appears as though despite the negotiated settlement, that deadline will not be met.

Here’s a look at the schedule for the meeting: