After the Flush: Another epic government fail?

I was chatting with a regular Voice reader about our various topics, readership in other cities besides B'game (he thinks they exist) and he referred to me a "Mr. Water".  I like that.  It's just a bit narrow, but certainly accurate as far as it goes.  The Comicle has provided fodder for an examination of the other end of our water system--the part after the flush.  The Chron tied its piece to the algae bloom which is interesting and at least partially correct I imagine.  Regardless, here are some tidbits to consider as Planning Commissions, City Councils, County Supes and all the other development addicts go about their business of jamming more people (and their waste) into the Bay Area:

Algae blooms need food to grow, and this one had plenty: nutrients originating in wastewater that the region’s 37 sewage plants pump into the bay.  In other words — we wouldn’t have this problem without the poop and pee of the Bay Area’s 8 million residents.

“For those of you who aren’t aware, when you flush the toilet every day, you’re flushing nutrients down,” Eileen White, executive officer of San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, said at a news conference last week. The waste arrives at the sewage plant and is treated, she explained, but those nutrients — mostly nitrogen and phosphorous — remain in the water that is discharged into the bay.  There has been no evidence of a raw sewage leak; rather, it’s the regular amount of those nutrients that have long made the bay primed for a harmful algae bloom like this one.

The regional water board has told agencies that it will probably require caps on nutrients in wastewater when their regional permit comes up for renewal in 2024. But upgrading dozens of aging treatment facilities could cost $14 billion, which would double or triple ratepayers’ water bills, White said in an interview.

There you have it.  We need another $14 billion, with a "B" that we don't have, to save the bay from ourselves.  The permit clock is ticking down and there is no real plan in place.  If you click through to the Chron article, about half-down is an interactive map of some of the wastewater treatment plants with their discharge rates and nitrogen loads of that discharge.  For example, San Mateo discharges 10.72 million gallons per day with a nitrogen load of 1,300.65 kg/day.  The B'game plant was not included on the map for some reason, but a bit of sleuthing around led to the SF Estuary Institute where we learn that B'game discharged an average of 2.8 MGD back in 2017-18.

We have built a lot of stuff since 2017 and there is a lot more coming --- and thus going.  At least the Rollins Rd. developments are close to the plant.  How many infrastructure failings will it take to stop?  Our sewer rates are already going up 32.7% by 2024, but it sounds like that may not be enough. Tell me again about "affordability".  The final kick in the teeth comes at the end of the Chronicle article

“We’re all in this together. We’re all going to have to pay for this,” Ian Wren, staff scientist at the environmental group SF Baykeeper said. “If you’re OK with that, we’re going to have a better bay.”

Actually, we are not "all in this together".  Many of us have been paying our water/sewer bills for years.  We've already passed bond measures for plants and pipes and figured out how to service them.  Let's let the YIMBYs and the developers kick in for the next round of flush capacity.

Comments

[MBGA]

Thank you Eileen White.

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Eileen+White

[Lynn]

She started out as an Accounting Specialist........all you need to know

[lmgtfy]

While there are multiple entries for Eileen M. White in the Transparent California search results posted above, consider this:

One has compensation reported from the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) as "Operations & Maint Dept Mgr" from 2012-2016 and "Director Of Wastewater" from 2017-2021.

One has compensation reported from the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District as "Accounting Specialist" from 2012-2018.

The overlapping dates might make observant and curious readers ask, "Perhaps these are two different people?"

It's easy to find the press release mentioning that the quoted Eileen White came to the Water Quality Control Board from EBMUD.

It's also easy to find that there's still an Eileen White listed on staff as an Accounting Specialist at the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District.

Let's all slow down, everyone.

[Joe]

While I like all the sleuthing I have to ask "Who cares?" EBMUD is just one of many agencies bringing in water and, um, sending it out. This problem is way above any single agency head's pay grade.

[MBGA]

The pay grade is one of the reasons we have a problem financing projects. But I take your point that the problem in essence is mostly about unfunded growth.

[Joe]

I love finding on-point articles and data when I just posted on some topic. This letter in yesterday's WSJ about the Jackson, MS disaster is an example. I think it supports part of MBGA and my thoughts on the topic:

Regarding “Jackson’s Water Woes Explained” (Review & Outlook, Sept. 6): As a retired operator of a wastewater facility in California, I can tell you that the first contributing factor in a water-system and treatment-plant failure is mismanagement by the board of directors or relevant governing body. Its role is planning, financing and permit compliance. The plant’s prior flooding incident served as ample warning. The leaders should have hired consultants immediately to write up a capital-improvement plan to address flooding. If they had worked on a threat analysis, flooding would have been a high priority.

The second failure was likely on the part of plant staff. At around 30 years, this facility isn’t very old. They are designed to operate for 50 years or more with proper maintenance. Cleaning filters is usually an automatic function based on head pressure as the filter gets dirty. Critical equipment spares such as pumps, motors, variable frequency drives and more need to be pre-purchased and ready.

The third failure was likely by the local governing agencies. Every water and wastewater-treatment facility has an operating permit along with annual inspections. The shortcomings of the Jackson, Miss., plant should have been noted on inspections and addressed promptly.

Bob Waters

[JP]

The YIMBYs will never pay for anything because they have nothing except big mouths. In their heart of hearts, they are happy in Mom's garage. She does their laundry, cooks dinner for them a couple times a week and gives them all the leftovers for the microwave in the garage.