Water use, logjam on CCSD’s radar at next meeting

Want to use services district water to wash your car or learn how a massive logjam of logs, boards, trees and even barn parts is being cleared from around lower San Simeon Creek?

All that and more — from approving midyear budget adjustments to honoring Cambria’s Sesquicentennial — is on the agenda for the Cambria Community Services District Board of Directors’ February meeting, which starts at 12:30 p.m. today (Thursday, Feb. 18) at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St.

Washing vehicles

The district’s enhanced water conservation measures, restrictions on the use of potable water and maximum water-use allotments cover a wide range of limitations on using the CSD-provided water.

However, the staff report by General Manager Jerry Gruber is recommending only one change to “provide some relief to its citizens by modifying the stringent water conservation measures and restrictions that have been put in place.”

Staff believes that a cautious approach is appropriate, Gruber said in the report, because while recent rains have eased drought conditions somewhat, that drought is not over, and it’s not known how much rain will be produced locally by the well-publicized El Niño weather pattern.

“Therefore,” he wrote, “it is prudent and necessary to keep some, if not all of the conservation measures and restrictions in place as well as to include the measures and restrictions that are consistent with the requirements imposed by the state.”

Logjam

District engineer Bob Gresens said in an email Feb. 16 that the first stage of work had been completed toward clearing the logjam.

Gruber said Feb. 12 that he expects the total cleanup will cost about $35,000, including having a biological monitor on site when work is being done. He said the district had gotten all the necessary permits from regulatory agencies, and indicated he was pleased at how quickly that was accomplished.

“To date, the removal work using machines is completed,” Gresens wrote about the large loaders and graders that had been working on the district’s San Simeon Creek Road property. “We are also planning some follow-up debris removal work by the California Conservation Corps where using manual labor is preferable.” Those crews “would work within allowable dry weather windows” until the remainder of the logjam is cleared.

Gruber lauded Gresens for doing “such a fantastic job in coordinating all of the cleanup activities,” but the engineer credited Tim Winsor Construction and CCSD Water Supervisor Justin Smith for the “lion’s share” of the work.

For more on the CSD’s Feb. 18 meeting, go to www.cambriacsd.org.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Water use, logjam on CCSD’s radar at next meeting."