From Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, May 14:

Mayor Michael D. Antonovich applauded a staff report by the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District to reject deep well injection and brine pipelines.

“While the State continues to saddle our ratepayers with these unfair burdens, we remain committed to reducing the impacts on our ratepayers’ pocket books, quality of life, and safety,” he said.  “We appreciate the community’s involvement throughout this long process, as well as our Sanitation District staff’s diligence and willingness to work with community partners to protect our residents.”

The report, to be presented at next week’s Sanitation District board meeting, states that deep well injection and brine pipelines are no longer viable project alternatives to meet State-mandated chloride compliance in the Santa Clarita Valley.

On March 11, 2015, the Sanitation District board had unanimously directed staff to remove the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report and explore alternate sites that would not impact communities, as well as alternatives and technologies.  The sanitation district has until July 2019 to be in compliance with State-mandated chloride levels.

From Hometownstation.com, May 13:

Sanitation District officials released their plan for an alternative chloride removal project to be presented at an upcoming meeting May 20.

The new proposal, pending board approval later this month, would allay west-side concerns over the construction of deep well sites, which had been planned near the 16th hole of a golf course.

The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District Governing Board directed staff to find an alternative site or plan that complies with the state’s mandated deadlines, after dozens showed up to a meeting in Santa Clarita to decry a plan to build a brine well next to the Valencia TPC.

File photo associated with the rejected plan

The cost of the proposed alternative is expected to be close to the previously approved deep well injection plan, about $130 million, according to district officials.

There are no anticipated rate increases associated with the change in plans, said Phil Friess, head of Technical Services of the district. The governing board approved rate increases associated with a previous chloride removal option last year, and district officials do not anticipate any adjustments to the previously approved schedule, based on the new proposals.

Due to the constraints of a looming state deadline, district staffers are proposing to abandon deep well injection plans for a combination of previously approved options, officials said.

“The conclusion we reached, based on the levels of analysis we did is we would be unable to implement DWI (deep well injection) or a brine pipeline to meet the timeline we have,” Friess said. “The only method of brine management that we think we can still implement by July 2019, our final compliance deadline, would be some form of brine minimization and truck hauling.”

The plan would essentially be to increase the treatment level at local plants, and then truck the chloride that’s been removed to “an established industrial area.”

Chloride, or brine, are terms for the salt removed from chloride that’s often added to water through soaps and other household chemicals.

The state is requiring SCV Sanitation District to reduce the amount of chloride in the water the district treats and then sends downstream to Ventura County, to 100 milligrams per liter, for the long-term protection of agricultural interests in that area, because the crops are reportedly salt-sensitive.

The next step, if the treatment and trucking options are approved, would be to submit the plan for an environmental review, officials said.

“Pending Board direction, staff will proceed with an environmental review to comply with CEQA including an alternatives analysis,” according to a Sanitation District statement. “The CEQA process would commence this summer with a public scoping meeting, followed by information meetings this fall to provide an update on the overall project.”

The project  timeline for board consideration is expected to be summer 2016.