OJAI VALLEY : Sanitary District Can’t Meet Deadline

The Ojai Valley Sanitary District cannot meet a state mandate requiring it to stop discharging partly filtered effluent into the Ventura River by July, 1993, said district General Manager Eric Oltmann.

The district’s sewage treatment plant at 6363 N. Ventura Ave. cannot be upgraded in time to meet the “cease and desist” deadline in the district’s operation permit issued in May, 1990, by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Oltmann said Friday.

In a letter sent to the state agency on Oct. 14, the district asked for the deadline to be extended to July, 1997.

If the sanitary district operates beyond July, 1993, without improving its treatment procedures or obtaining an extension, the water quality control board could fine the district $10,000 a day plus $10 for every gallon of effluent discharged into the river, according to Winnie Jesena, senior water resource control engineer for the board.

The sanitary district discharges an average of about 2 million gallons of effluent a day, Oltmann said.

Jesena said her agency is evaluating the sanitary district’s situation but will not have a decision until at least January. “It would not be fair to guess what the outcome might be,” she said.

Upgrading the level of sewage treatment to meet state requirements will require that “virtually the entire plant must be replaced” at a cost of about $25 million, Oltmann said. Completing the design, environmental reports and construction will take at least until July, 1994, and could be held up another two years if an environmental impact report is required, Oltmann said.

In order to save the district money, the district’s Board of Directors is considering a plan that would make it unnecessary to discharge effluent into the river. Instead, the district would reclaim the waste water to sell to local farmers, oil companies or golf course developers, Oltmann said.

A consultant hired by the district to study the viability of a reclamation project is expected to issue an interim report in late November, Oltmann said. If viable, the district would need six years to implement operation, he said.