Comment extension on water EIR considered

Cambrians soon could have an extra week in which to officially comment about lengthy environmental studies on their services district’s plan for the community’s Sustainable Water Facility (formerly called the Emergency Water Supply project).

Interested representatives of regulatory agencies also would have an extended deadline.

Cambria Community Services District directors voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 6, to consider the issue during their next meeting (Thursday, Sept. 22). The directors couldn’t formally approve the extension Sept. 6 because it wasn’t on the agenda, but they could vote to add it to a future meeting.

The new cutoff date for comments likely would be somewhere between Friday, Oct. 21 and Monday, Oct. 23, a deadline that would apply to public and agency comments on the draft environmental impact report (or EIR, as it’s commonly called).

The current deadline, as announced in the report’s “notice of availability,” is Oct. 14.

The issue arose because the complex, statistically dense report was released Aug. 31, right before the Labor Day holiday, an exceptionally busy time for many Cambrians. Adding a week to the deadline would also give the district more time to meet its obligations for informing the public that the long-anticipated and delayed document is now available.

All the documents are at www.cambriacsd.org, and hard copies are available for review at the district office, 1316 Tamson Drive, Suite 201, and the Cambria Library, 1043 Main St. Comments can be emailed to bgresens@cambriacsd.org or mailed or hand-delivered to Bob Gresens, district engineer, at the district office.

A public workshop on the topic is tentatively set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St. The date for a formal public hearing on the EIR, based on the newly extended comment period, will be announced later. The public is to receive official notices about both sessions.

The plant and EIR

The water-reclamation-and treatment facility, which was substantially completed in November 2014 under an emergency permit from the county, treats a brackish blend of fresh, salt and treated wastewater and then injects it back into the aquifer to replenish water supplies for the community and the San Simeon Creek lagoon.

Water Department staffers and consultants are to restart the plant sometime this month to perform a second “tracer” test. That test would determine how long it takes treated water to travel underground from the injection site to the district’s two supply wells. A tracer element added to the water allows scientists to track its progress.

The state requires a minimum 60-day travel time for the treated water. In a previous test, the water took long enough to get to one well, but the trip to the other well was short by a couple of days.

The EIR explains in precise detail how the district could modify the emergency design of the plant and how the final design would affect the environment and the future of the community.

Among the EIR’s many sections are those describing the project’s purpose, aesthetics, air quality, noise, alternatives and compliance with land-use and other regulations, plus descriptions of the area’s hydrology, biological and cultural resources. Various charts, maps, appendices, lists and reports also are included.

The EIR presents a description of the plant as it is now and an explanation of how the district proposes to modify the project so it can be used permanently at any time, rather than just in water-shortage emergencies. The report also describes a “no project” alternative.

A key modification would be converting a large pond that was used to hold leftover brine from the various water-treatment processes (including reverse osmosis and micro-filtration). In the new scenario, the brine would be hauled away and the pond converted to hold fresh water.

As CSD Director Jim Bahringer pointed out in conversation before the Sept. 6 meeting began, that change could give the community a reserve buffer of “7 million gallons of fresh water. Wouldn’t that be great for firefighting?” … for instance, as a “heli dip” from which air-attack helicopters could draw water with which to douse wildfire flames.

In other actions at the meeting, directors:

▪  Unanimously approved establishing a policy for setting aside separate working-capital “cash reserves” for the district’s water, wastewater and general funds. The policy will be reviewed annually, but probably will require some fine-tuning in the meantime.

▪  Postponed again a decision on lifting the suspension of an intent-to-serve letter for a project at 660 Evelyn Court. That project was one of two single-family residential, three multifamily residential and three commercial projects “in the planning pipeline” in May 2014 when the board suspended all outstanding letters. County permits and/or the CSD intent-to-serve letters for the other projects have either expired, been withdrawn or are on hold.

Staff agreed to research the Evelyn Court project’s current construction status and whether the county had indeed issued the project a building permit after the CSD board approved the suspensions. Staff is to report back at a future board meeting.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Comment extension on water EIR considered."