One option is the state preferred option of using reclaimed water to irrigate crops in the Jackson Valley and Ione Valley areas. While ratepayers currently pay $23.87 a month for sewer services this option would over double those rates at $69 a month.

Option 2 is to discharge to the Mokelumne River. This proved to be the most cost attractive option at $36 a month, but the viability of the option was discounted by Commissioners as EBMUD who uses the water for human consumption said they would not be in favor of the alternative. Another option is reclamation on a Golf course. But this could prove more costly over all as the water would have to be treated to Title 22 standards and the existing waste water treatment plant does not treat to that level.

That option is estimated to cost rate payers $65 a month. If the city were to continue to discharge into the Jackson Creek they are anticipating that the waste water will have to be treated to an advanced tertiary level presenting the most costly option at $72 a month per ratepayer. Many look at the numbers and ask why the City has not begun to prepare for the increase in rates or financing the costs of the proposed alternatives. In response City Manger Mike Daly says that the Regional Board has been telling the City that they would receive their permit for quite some time and until they receive the permit they don’t want to do a rate setting study, which would incur costs and staff time, until they know what options would be worth pursuing after seeing the permit.

Throughout discussions other alternatives have been suggested by both the commissioners and the public. One of those is using the waste water to irrigate pasture lands in the City of Jackson. John and Jeanie Plasse as well as Frank Busi have said they would be open to using reclaimed water to irrigate their personal pasture lands. Citizens specifically expressed favor for this solution as they said this would present a significant cost savings for the City and its ratepayers. Daly said that the water would have to be pumped and piped the same way the water would have to be if it were being sent to the Mokelumne River, and therefore the cost range would probably be in the same vicinity of $36 a month.

This has also been a favored idea because discussions surrounding the Jackson Hills project have been focused on using waste water to irrigate the proposed golf course and therefore solve considerably the City’s waste water woes. But on the other hand in accordance with state standards the water used to irrigate a golf course must be treated to Title 22 standards because there will be human contact and thus a new waste water treatment plant will have to be constructed. The new plant will undoubtedly cost millions of dollars and has many asking if there are other available options, and this option will cost the rate payers a significant amount of money, then why reclamation on the proposed Jackson Hills golf course is being considered an option at all? If the golf course was found to be the viable solution, then citizens are asking what are the fair share numbers to finance the costs of a new waste water facility?

At one point New Faze President Allan Warren said their fair share would be about 17%. The public has since held onto this number and wondered where it came from. According City Planner, Susan Peters, Jackson has not developed the real fair share numbers. The actual numbers will not be known until the “project is on the approval track with a development agreement.”  Another alternative discussed was using water from the Kennedy Mine. The mine tunnel is full of water and in the winter months overflows.

One mine tour guide reported that in the days when the Kennedy mine was operational 85,000 gallons a day had to be pumped out to allow miners to be able to work in the tunnels. While the City is looking at all alternatives, the prospect does not seem promising as City Manager Mike Daly reports that if they were to use the water to dilute the effluent, assuming its not contaminated by chemicals associated with mining, they would need 130 times more water than 85,000 gallons a day to meeting the dilution ratio of 20:1 required by the state. That flow is only 15% of the current waste water treatment plant. While all the options and alternatives are being explored the citizens of Jackson have been constantly reminding their governmental bodies that the citizens will be affected by their decisions both financially and in the quality of their lives. The Regional Water Quality Control Board has told the City that they will receive the permit by April 30th. If the permit requires that the City’s effluent must come out of the creek it will give them some leeway to do so. The permit will lay out the time table that will address the plant design and completion as well as financing.