Oh boy! A new sewer!
So I’m a dumbass.
Given that I’m the father of teenage girls, I’ve been presented
ample opportunity to admit that I’m a dumbass, but this confession
has nothing to do with the complicated job of fatherhood.
Several weeks ago in this space, I observed that there appeared
to be precious little progress toward Hollister’s much-anticipated
sewer treatment project.
Oh boy! A new sewer!
So I’m a dumbass.
Given that I’m the father of teenage girls, I’ve been presented ample opportunity to admit that I’m a dumbass, but this confession has nothing to do with the complicated job of fatherhood.
Several weeks ago in this space, I observed that there appeared to be precious little progress toward Hollister’s much-anticipated sewer treatment project.
Oops!
While the residents of great cities watch eagerly as high rises, well, rise, or new museums are cobbled together, the most anticipated public project in San Benito County is assuredly the sewer.
Given that we’ve been under a state-imposed building moratorium for nearly five years because of a woefully inadequate sewer, that’s understandable. No new houses mean no new residents, no additional income, no growth in school populations. New houses get filled up with new appliances and new furniture. They need new landscaping.
It’s a gift that gets spread around the community, and the community has noticed the state’s building shutdown is having its effect on the local economy.
After I noted that not much seemed to be going on, Councilman Doug Emerson called first to say that perhaps I had departed from the reality station. Actually, Emerson is more polite than that, but in hindsight we can call them as we see them.
Other calls from the city led to a tour of the project site west of Hollister.
What it revealed was overwhelming.
The reason much of the work is not visible to casual passersby is because much of it is taking place below grade level. It’s kind of like building the Great Pyramid underground.
Actually getting off the highway, putting on a hard hat and walking around reveals much.
Workers swarm over the site for 20 hours daily. Enormous trucks haul loads of sandy dirt. A machine the size of a six-story building compresses earth.
The tour was conducted by Bill Little and Jim Thompson of Harris and Associates, the firm contracted by the city to manage the project.
Spend an hour or so on site, and it becomes clear why the project comes with a price tag well north of $100 million.
What we’re getting for the money will be a plant that will accommodate the Hollister of tomorrow while scrubbing wastewater (that’s sewage to you and me) to a pristine state. The whole operation will be mapped on computers and the operation will be run from a computerized control panel.
Water leaving the plant will be clean enough to drink, which presents another issue.
What to do with all that clean water?
San Juan Valley is awash in water already, thanks in part to reduced pumping of underground supplies due to the availability of cheap, imported water.
Even as construction of the sewer continues, finding customers for treated effluent is being discussed as part of a comprehensive management plan. The water could conceivably be used to irrigate golf courses or public landscaping.
From a sewage headache to a valuable resource is a real life example of turning lemons into lemonade.
The new plant is moving along within budget and on schedule, and while project managers do not want to jinx the undertaking by admitting to a date, if all goes well, the plant could be running by mid-year next year.
If that happens, the often attacked City Council can be said to be justifiably – ahem – flushed with success.
Mark Paxton is publisher of The Pinnacle. His e-mail address is mp*****@pi**********.com.
