SAM (Sewer Authority Midcoastside) first looked at recycling 2002, but the current drought is giving the idea new urgency, according to an extensive article by Julia Scott in the County Times
The Sierra Nevada snowpack, source of Hetch Hetchy drinking water for the Bay Area, is at 70 percent of normal this year and scientists predict it will be diminished by 60 to 80 percent by 2099 because of global warming.
In a neat bit of timing, the Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside’s board of directors last week commissioned a new study on the feasibility and expense of producing recycled water for use by the large flower nurseries and thirsty golf courses in Half Moon Bay. The new water users would get a drought-proof source of water year-round, and Half Moon Bay would divert far less potable water to farmers, keeping some in surplus for future needs.
If Nurserymen’s Exchange, the largest flower grower on the coast, switched to using recycled water, it would free up 15 percent of the city’s available water supply from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, said Dave Dickson, general manager of the Coastside County Water District.
...In spite of the logic, the Sewer Authority has yet to commit anything beyond the funds to hire a consultant to prepare the latest feasibility study, the fourth such study since 2002. In 2005, the project gained momentum when Half Moon Bay voters overwhelmingly passed an advisory measure approving the use of recycled water to irrigate fields and supplement dangerously low flow levels in local creeks.
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Sewer Authority Manager Jack Foley denied that his agency had faced any delays in formulating a recycled water plan. The new consultant will, among other things, seek a commitment from Nurserymen’s Exchange, local golf course managers Ocean Colony Partners, and other potential customers who, like them, have expressed strong interest. The Sewer Authority will also need to update its cost estimates and seek out state funding sources.
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The latest feasibility study, in February 2007, spelled out two options: the $5.1 million option would produce 1.65 million gallons per day of recycled water in the summer, while the plant continued to discharge the rest into the ocean in the winter as it does now. The second, $14.5 million option would convert the entire wastewater inflow of 3 million gallons per day for reuse, including local stream flow augmentation.
There’s a lot more at the County Times.
I'm confused by press coverage of the $14.5 million option, to "convert the entire wastewater inflow of 3 million gallons per day for reuse."
According to the Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) Monthly Flow Distribution Report for April 2008, the total inflow to the SAM plant varied between approximately 1.6 and 1.8 million gallons per day.
Is the second option based on wastewater that would be produced by doubling our coastside population, as the "buildout" projections estimate? But we don't expect to reach buildout for decades, if ever.
If so, where will all that wastewater come from, if Coastside County Water District has no additional water sources? Julia Scott quotes Dave Dickson, general manager of the Coastside County Water District: "We're bumping our heads on the ceiling in terms of how much water supply is available to use. There just isn't any place to get more water readily."
Montara Water and Sanitary District, even with additional water production, provides less than 20% of the wastewater flow.