SIMI VALLEY : Arroyo Faces Study Over Sewage Impact
The Simi Valley City Council will consider today spending $47,000 in addition to $226,000 it has already spent to study a stretch of the Arroyo Simi where the city sewage treatment plant discharges effluent.
Information from the biological assessment will be used to help set new standards for the quality of treated sewage discharged into the Arroyo Simi, a seasonal creek that winds through the city.
The city is concerned that standards being considered by the Regional Water Quality Control Board are so stringent that the city will have to spend “tens of millions of dollars” to upgrade the treatment plant, said Ronald Coons, Simi Valley’s public works director.
“The regional board is considering viewing the arroyo in the same way as they would view a stream with salmon in it,” Coons said.
Coons said the daily discharge of water from the plant has benefited the arroyo, which would otherwise be dry most of the year.
The environmental consulting firm of Montgomery Watson of Pasadena will perform the biological assessment, which will include a detailed study comparing the water quality in the arroyo above and below the site where the plant discharges its treated sewage.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
