Amador County – The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board last week denied Ione’s request for an extension on its sewer Cease and Desist Order timeline.

City Attorney James Maynard said the Board denied the extension request by consensus during a prosecution hearing by the Regional Board. In a transcript of the March 30 hearing, Compliance and Enforcement Supervisor Wendy Wyels recommended no extensions, saying “any extension of the Cease and Desist Order timeline will only show the City Council that there are no consequences for its lack of action.”

The city must deliver a “Report of Waste Discharge” by May and complete its new wastewater plant by next October. Wyels said Ione City Council had approved a contract with Winzler & Kelly to complete a Report of Waste Discharge, but “the city has not even sent out a request for proposal for an engineering firm to apply for funding or to design and construct the wastewater treatment plant.” Wyels said: “We don’t know when this will happen, or if the City Council will stop the process again, as they did just last month.”

Compliance and Enforcement Engineer Mary Boyd said Cease & Desist Orders in 2003 and 2011 have been leveled against Ione stemming from 11 years of non-compliance. In 2001, the Regional Board discovered that aeration and storage ponds Number 6 and 7 were built without state permits at the city’s secondary-level treatment plant on Old Stockton Road.

Boyd said the city received a Cease & Desist Order in 2003, for four main reasons, which still exist today. Wastewater seeps into Sutter Creek; groundwater is being polluted; wastewater is surfacing outside the un-permitted storage ponds; and the Regional Board cannot issue a permit for the storage ponds because the city has failed to file a complete Report of Waste Discharge.

The city “submitted four versions of a Report of Waste Discharge. All of these were incomplete because they didn’t address the four outstanding violations, and therefore none of them complied with the Cease & Desist Order.” A 2011 Cease & Desist Order included potential fines the city face could be $10 million to $14 million dollars.

In public comment, Jim Nevin said a transcript of the hearing noted that the city’s Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan might not be sufficient. Also, he said the city must approve a new rate increase for the project to get funding from the State Revolving Fund. Maynard said Winzler & Kelly has set up the State Revolving Fund with a 40-year term, which is a little more good for the rates.

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