Nyeland Acres Sewer Project to Raise Efficiency, Lower Bills

Nyeland Acres residents could soon enjoy lower utility bills and more reliable plumbing--even when it rains--with a $9.3-million sewer system project underway in the unincorporated community.

“The [project’s] purpose is to replace basically a failing sewer system that was installed in the early 1980s” in the flood-prone area, said John Crowley, Ventura County deputy director of public works. “This project won’t solve their flooding problems, but hopefully during a storm they’ll be able to flush their toilets.”

A Santa Maria engineering company is replacing nine miles of antiquated pipe and about 300 underground pumps with a new gravity-fed sewer line buried as deep as 20 feet.

As it turns out, the system that was installed less than 20 years with federal grants is prone to leaks.

When it rains, the small pumps that serve several homes and are supposed to send sewage from holding tanks to the neighborhood’s waste water treatment plant get overwhelmed with water--and fail.

That forces the county to send crews to pump out each holding tank, sending maintenance and operational costs spiraling, Crowley said.

As a result, residents of the more than 400 homes must tolerate bills of about $40 a month, about double what residents in nearby Oxnard are charged, he said.

Under the renovation plan, the small Nyeland Acres waste water treatment plant will be closed and the area hooked up to Oxnard’s system. That should eventually bring costs down and give residents some relief from high utility bills, Crowley said.

Valenzuela Engineering is using micro-tunneling techniques unavailable in the 1980s to install the new pipe, which is cheaper than digging deep trenches, Crowley said.

“I’m not aware of it being used in a project this small,” he said of the construction technique. “It is kind of a unique project in and around Ventura County.”

The work, which began in January, is expected to be completed by January, weather permitting.