From the archives of

::: COMMUNITY NEWS

CSD calls cease order inaccurate and says it should be withdrawn

Previous coverage:
• CSD, Country Club face legal challenges over handling of reclaimed water

Related documents:
• CSD response letter -- here
• State cease and desist order -- 1, 2 and 3
• California Sportfishing Protection Alliance lawsuit -- here

Published Thursday, November 3, 2005

Terming the tentative cease and desist order issued by a regulatory agency last month "highly unwarranted and inappropriate," the Rancho Murieta Community Services District has requested that the order be withdrawn because of the inaccuracy of its information and the conclusions it draws.

"The regional board should not issue a cease and desist order to address issues that are currently either the subject of pending permit applications, pending studies and analyses, or proposed operational changes," the CSD's response says, noting that many of the issues in the order have previously been addressed by the regional board, the Country Club and the CSD.

The Country Club and the CSD are both named in the order because they operate under the same permit regulating reclaimed wastewater processing and use.

The CSD made the comments in a nine-page response to the order issued Oct. 14 by the state Regional Water Quality Control Board. The comment letter is signed by CSD General Manager Ed Crouse.

The CSD and Country Club also face a suit in federal court filed by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, which claims the two organizations are responsible for treated sewage and other water being discharged into the Cosumnes River

The CSD submitted its comments and corrections on the cease and desist Friday, the deadline set by the regional board to ensure that responses will be given full consideration in the preparation of the final version of the cease and desist order before the regional board's December meeting.

"We're hopeful that our comments will generate a meeting so we can sit down with (regional board) staff and go over some of our issues and get the tentative cease and desist order changed or, in the best case, get it rescinded because we don't think it's appropriate," Crouse told the CSD Improvements Committee Tuesday.

The tentative order covers four issues -- odor complaints related to golf course irrigation, possible groundwater contamination, storage capacity at the wastewater treatment plant, and overflow of golf course irrigation ponds during winter storms.

The CSD comments address Country Club issues as well as the district's areas of responsibility. The CSD produces the recycled water at its wastewater treatment plant and supplies it to the Country Club from April 15 to Oct. 15. The club uses the water to irrigate the golf courses.

The response takes an aggressive approach, criticizing the tentative order for omitting "a crucial piece of information intimately related to the issues (it) addresses" – the fact that the water the CSD provides meets standards for recycled water application established by the state Department of Health Services under Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations. The document goes on to say that the Legislature and a state task force have recognized the state's increasing reliance on recycled water "to mitigate present and future water shortages."

Among the corrections included in the response are the following: "The assertion that our wastewater is inadequately treated is false. … the conclusion that Bass Lake is shallow is incorrect … We do not use the (irrigation) lakes for long-term storage. …"

The CSD characterizes the regional board's conclusion that there is inadequate storage in the wastewater treatment plant ponds as "unsupported, inaccurate, and misleading."

The regional board's tentative order calls for the CSD to "address the storage/disposal capacity deficit before any new (sewer) connections are made."

With regard to possible groundwater contamination, the CSD comments that the tentative order is "factually incorrect" when it says that the storage reservoirs and treatment ponds at the wastewater treatment plant are unlined. "Since at least 2002, RMCSD and RMCC have repeatedly submitted evidence to the regional board showing that the ponds are lined with impervious clay two to three feet thick. … There is no competent evidence that the (wastewater treatment plant) has caused groundwater degradation. …"

The CSD applied for a storm water discharge permit in September that would cover winter storm overflows at the irrigation lakes, and the Country Club has initiated a study in response to odor complaints.