REDWOOD NEEDLES
REDWOOD NEEDLESPresented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES
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By Tyler York, Vice Chair, Napa Group
How does a city roll out the red carpet for development and send the bill to someone else? Simply build a new sewer plant to accommodate growth and send the bill to the current residential ratepayers. This practice has been banned by Proposition 218, and it is incorporated in the State Constitution as Articles XIII, C and D.
Right now, Calistoga has a sewer plant that could be brought into compli-ance for around a million dollars. Instead, the town wants to spend $6.7 million to build a new plant that will permit growth to a population of 8,500 (the current population is 5000). The town has selected the least environ-mentally friendly and most costly option for sewage treatment.
Additionally, the town has given spa businesses a free ride for the last 30 years: spas haven't been charged for the geothermal waters they discharge to the sewer plant (about 25% of the system inflow). Accordingly, the residential ratepayers have been paying the spas' expenses as well.
The activated sludge system that is proposed is a very high energy consumer and produces a constant flow of sludge to landfills. Energy and landfills are a diminishing resource.
At this time, the balance of Calistoga's infrastructure is in an advanced state of decay. The water supply lines leak and cannot maintain sufficient pressure in some parts of town to fight multiple fires; the sewage collection system leaks so badly that winter flows into the plant exceed capacity by 600 to 1,000% percent; and the water supply wells that provide 10% of Calistoga's water were shut down because of antimony contamination (arsenic is pretty high as well).
In other words, Calistoga's systems are obsolete. Improving the existing system is not a priority for the town and yet they propose to grow 70%. Their solution is unsustainable, both environmentally and economically.
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