On The Money: Flush With Options
By Mike Luery
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- It's a hot button issue that has ratepayers screaming in protest: a potential tripling of the rates consumers in Sacramento County might pay for sewage treatment. But it turns out there's another option that some say, can get the job done for much less.
Treating wastewater for more than a million people is a big job. And it's about to get even bigger. State regulators are now requiring the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District to remove ammonia and nitrates from the filtered water. The goal is to avoid polluting the Sacramento River.
The process will be very expensive and sewer officials say it could cost at much as $2 billion – and ratepayers could see their bills triple from $20 – to $60 a month – an announcement that sparked protest at a board meeting earlier this month.
"Now is not the time," said one ratepayer at that meeting. He added, "We're in a depression. We're in a recession where we're losing. I lost my job."
But does the clean up have to be that costly? CBS 13 has obtained this report from a consulting firm called PG Environmental.
The report identifies another option that "could potentially reduce the cost by as much as $859 million", with the same environmental quality at a much lower cost.
"Virtually every other district in the region and around the Delta especially has gone to this kind of treatment," said Dave Clegern, of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board.
"And they're not spending nearly the money that they're talking about here," Clegern told CBS 13.
State regulators say communities like Roseville, Stockton and Manteca are using a treatment that eliminates pollutants for far less money. So why isn't Sacramento's sanitation district pursuing that pathway as a priority?
"Our consultant chose a technology that has a higher probability of working based on the knowledge of the facility," said Prabhakar Somavarapu, Planning Director for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District.
That technology involves a micro-filtration process that costs nearly $860 million more.
"They are pursuing an option that will work," stated Dave Clegern of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board. "But (it) will cost ratepayers far more than we can tell is necessary," he stated to CBS 13.
The County sanitation district says the expensive treatment option is by no means a done deal yet. Planning Director Prabhakar Somavarapu told CBS 13, "We're going to go through the piloting and it may prove out yes, it is the right technology. Or we may choose a different technology."
So the final option is still a work in progress, but those sewer improvements by be completed by 2020, state regulators say.
If you find examples of questionable government spending, send us an e-mail to onthemoney@kovr.com. You can also follow On The Money stories in progress via Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/mikeluery .
