City to Farm Out Waste-Water Sludge
The Oxnard City Council doesn’t want to get its hands dirty.
City leaders still plan to buy 1,150 acres in Kern County and use the city’s solid waste supply as fertilizer to grow alfalfa, corn and other non-human-consumption crops.
But instead of overseeing the work themselves, city officials will hire a contractor, U.S.A. Transport Inc., to farm the sludge. The company will also move the waste from Oxnard’s Wastewater Treatment Plant to Kern County.
The proposal, set to go before the City Council on Tuesday, was reworked because several council members were concerned that Oxnard would be out of its element trying to run a farm.
Under the new plan, Oxnard will purchase the land for no more than $1,200 an acre, or about $1.38 million.
The city will lease the land to U.S.A. Transport for $125,000 a year plus 3% of revenues obtained from any other cities that take their sludge to the farm.
The venture is expected to reduce Oxnard’s solid waste disposal costs by $136,000 a year.
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