Amador County – After hearing recenltly that the city could still face $11 million in fines related to its wastewater Cease & Desist Order, Ione City Council this week will hear a report of a recent seepage plan that may lead to a cheaper route to compliance.

Ione’s regular overseer, Wendy Wiels, and Executive Director Pamela C. Creeden of the Regional Water Quality Control Board attended a public workshop Jan. 26, which Ione City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said was completely interactive with the public, generating some good ideas, and showed major concern among the public and the Board. Butzlaff said Wiels and Creeden “became an inherent part of workshop” and provided a letter that said up to $11 million in fines could have been assessed to Ione over the years, and going forward, the city was still subject to those fines, unless it meets with the requirements of the Cease & Desist Order against its wastewater plant.

Butzlaff said RBI Incorporated submitted its “Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan” to Wiels and Creeden on the night of the workshop, and the next step is filing a “Report of Waste Discharge,” due in May. He said the State Board reps attended, there was a lot of discussion and it “certainly turned out the way Mayor Ron Smylie wanted it to turn out.”

At the meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 7) Ione City Council will get a presentation on the Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan. Butzlaff said some of findings are encouraging, such as gradations and dynamics of flow that show issues at Ponds 5 and 6 mostly, rather than ponds 1-4. He said it potentially could open up more lower-cost alternatives, getting further away from a highly mechanized activated sludge plant that was originally talked about by PERC water.

Butzlaff said if turns out it is as it appears to be, “it gives us more wiggle room in terms of options.”

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