Hollister
– As construction moves forward at Hollister’s new wastewater
treatment plant, city staffers are looking at the next step in
their plans.
Hollister – As construction moves forward at Hollister’s new wastewater treatment plant, city staffers are looking at the next step in their plans.
City estimates call for the plant to go online by the end of 2008 and produce about three million gallons of treated wastewater per day. All that water has to go somewhere – and until 2015, that somewhere will be a 200- to 350-acre field of grass. A system of sprinklers will spray the water into the air; most of it will evaporate, while the rest of the water and its dissolved solids will sink into the ground.
According to city staffers, the treated wastewater will not have an odor or color that could distinguish it from other types of water.
Hollister is looking at five potential sprayfield sites: the Hollister Municipal Airport, Brook Hollow Ranch, Pacific Sod Farm, the San Juan Oaks Golf Course and the Brigantino site, a property located off San Juan-Hollister road near the San Benito River.
“(Those sites) were volunteered by their owners,” City Engineer Steve Wittry said.
The city is about to prepare an environmental impact report about the suitability of each of the sprayfield sites. The report, Wittry said, should give the Wastewater Governance Committee – which has representatives from the Hollister City Council, San Benito County Board of Supervisors and the San Benito County Water District – the information it needs to choose the best site.
Earlier this week, San Benito Farm Bureau Vice President Richard Silva told both the Board of Supervisors and the water district’s board of directors that they need to make sure the county’s agriculture water supply is protected.
“If we’re going to dump on farmers in San Juan, let’s rezone,” Silva said. “Kick us out, but don’t squeeze us out little by little every time we turn around.”
The EIR won’t be completed until the end of the summer, Wittry said, but county leaders and community members are already taking stands on sites they don’t want.
Ruth Erickson, president of the Hollister Airmen’s Association, said putting the sprayfields at the airport could be dangerous, as increased seeds could attract birds, which could in turn cause problems for pilots as they fly into windshields and propellers.
“It’s already happening without the water,” Erickson said. “Once you add water, you’re going to have bigger problems.”
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, on the other hand, said putting the sprayfields at Pacific Sod Farm or the San Juan Oaks Golf Course could be a big blow to local agriculture. Botelho is worried that treated wastewater could percolate into the San Juan Valley.
“The water supply has steadily gotten worse,” said Botelho, who owns orchards in the valley.
For his part, San Juan Oaks General Manager Scott Fuller said he would welcome sprayfields on the course, as long as they met the required quality standards.
“Golf courses in California need a reliable water source, because we are subject to periods of low water availability,” Fuller said. “The golf course industry throughout the country has recognized that we need to use reclaimed water as part of our irrigation.”
The sprayfields are only meant to be a temporary disposal solution. Wittry said the city hopes to transition to a system that distributes the recycled water to local farmers. That plan also has its critics; in fact, the water district’s directors have asked that the recycled water plan to be removed from the coming EIR to allow time for more discussion.
According to Wittry, the city will probably comply with the district’s request; delaying the recycling EIR will not affect the overall timetable, he said.
Many of the speakers at Wednesday’s water district meeting were skeptical that local growers would be interested in using recycled water. Mark Wright, general manager at Filice Farms, said that even if the water is completely safe, his customers won’t understand that.
“They’re going to say that we’re using sewer water,” Wright said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
