Amador County – Jackson City Council last week heard about problems the city is facing during a virtual tour of the city Wastewater Treatment Plant.

City Manager Mike Daly said staff works every day of the week at the site, nights included, monitor the plant. Former senior operator Terry Colter still comes to help out when needed, and the old system has had frequent violations, including levels of chlorine, lead and other issues.

After sludge is removed, the water is sent to sand filter cells, and the need for new filters, to remove metals and other problems, is one of the biggest issues, said Eric Neuschmid, Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator. It is where the city gets the most “minimum mandatory fines,” up to $6,000 per violation.

Daly said the city qualifies to use those fines to make its system compliant. He said the city population is under 10,000 and it meets the median household income. But the needed filter will cost $150,000 and the city faces $300,000 in other work, so the fines get eaten up quickly.

The city takes samples to local Sierra Foothill Labs for analysis, costing about $60,000 a year, testing water before discharging it in the Jackson Creek. Neuschmid said the water is clean enough that you could drink it. He said 5,000 gallons a day was flowing out of the plant and into the creek at the end of June.

Daly said “because we did have a pretty wet spring, the creek is still flowing.” The plant has an emergency generator capable of running the entire plant. It is exercised automatically, and after the Amador Air District found out about the diesel generator, Daly said, “we have a new permit for the generator,” for emissions.

Neuschmid said one additive from the Amador Water Agency has led to a lot of violations for “zinc orthophosphate.” Daly said it was more harmful to aquatic life in the creek than people.

In public comment, Thornton Consolo asked “if we get out of the creek, how much drier will the creek be?”

Daly said “three years ago, we were discharging into a dry creek bed,” causing issues with the state, but “it does not compare to the 1977 drought.” He said “because we have so much data from the 1977 drought, it will be used to set the scale, to put the fire to our feet.”

“It’s a handful,” Daly said, and he will be talking with the Regional Water Quality Control Board soon about the new city project, and environmental plans. He may be able to report on that meeting at the Aug. 22 City Council meeting.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.