Front Page  »  

Cambria’s $15 million toilet to tap emergency water project

September 15, 2014

toilet to tapOPINION By EUGENE BLANCK

Did you ever wonder why your due process rights were usurped by the Cambria CSD (CCSD) when you were not asked whether you preferred “toilet-to-tap” water for $15 million or 300 acre-feet of fresh well water from an existing well for the cost of a postage stamp and a water rights application the CCSD has known about since 2010 — and not acted on? And the financial instrument for the “emergency” project takes the CCSD assets as collateral, including the bank’s ability to repossess the Fiscilini East-West ranch and develop it.

This is just more of the “pave paradise and put up a parking lot” mentality exemplified by the massacre of healthy trees, except the CCSD wants you to pay for developer’s profits with the fake “emergency” project. And even the county is in on it, improperly issuing an “emergency” permit for a project in a coastal tidal wetland without authority.

Those Aug. 15, San Simeon Creek well levels are above the average for all years measured which proves there is currently no water emergency in Cambria, especially if the CCSD stops wasting water.

Then there is the actual health and safety risk to you from a “Toilet-to-Tap” project, not permitted like any other similar project in California, but rushed through the permitting process under the scam of being an “emergency.”

When was the change of the project from “brackish seawater” to a “Toilet-to-Tap” project ever discussed at a public meeting? So without any permits except the “emergency” permit, the CCSD is spending your money and risking your future.

Future Cambria tourists will quip, is that something swimming in your ice tea? Or, tourists will ask, do you think it is safe to breathe the water in the shower with worries about inhaling brain-eating amoebas? Local residents will wake up to the real danger and decide to move out, in mass to protect both their health and wallets.

If you think your human rights are safe with CCSD’s dishonest unilateral actions, I met an older woman at the recycling center last week who had her water service turned off by the CCSD and was recycling empty bottles to buy bottled water. Even the United Nations has declared water a basic human right. Cambrians, welcome to the Third World, brought to you by the current CCSD.

Eugene (Lou) Blanck is a California professional geologist and geophysicist, a certified engineering geologist and hydrogeologist and a CCSD elected director in the late 90s.


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


22 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

So when are the 3 CCSD board members in this conversation going to answer the questions?


When did the project change from “brackish seawater” to a “Toilet-to-Tap” project?


Why was the change from “brackish seawater” that is part of the water master plan to a “Toilet-to-Tap” project (NOT in the water master plan) never on the CCSD Board agenda (It appears to be a back room deal, a Brown Act violation)?


Why did the CCSD Board agree to a $13 million indebtedness for Cambria for a project that has no State agency approvals?


You never answer questions from public comment, if you don’t answer here, the world will know your hidden agenda!


0

@CCN, Don’t know who came up with the accompanying picture but that is a GREAT one!


0

Geologist Eugene Blanck should update his professional experience. “Toilet to Tap” is very safe. See http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/07/california-drought-orange-county-toilet-to-tap-water


0

Perhaps he is afraid that it isn’t going to be done as well locally as it was in Orange County. Given who is in charge, perhaps that would be a reasonable assumption


0

As many of know, Orange County lawyers and developers and people from Las Vegas are dictating to the CCSD Board Members. The CCSD no longer represents local citizens but out of town interests. The CCSD has no problem sticking local citizens with hefty bills so Orange County lawyers and developers, and Las Vegas interests can profit. The local citizens are subsidizing out of town money interest, courtesy of the CCSD Board Members.


0

jimincambria, What evidence do you have that it is safe? What are your qualifications?


0

The safety of the water from any source depends on what stuff has been in it, how the bad stuff has been removed, and who was in charge of removing it.


0

Cambria’s toilet to tap project is not the same design as other systems in California and the Cambria toilet to tap project is being given the bum’s rush through the regulatory process that would normally work slowly and deliberately to protect our health & safety. The current Cambria CSD are lobbying the political system to override regulations based on the lie that Cambria will run out of water.


Cambria CSD’s San Simeon creek well levels are over 6 feet higher in 2014 than they were at the same time (August 15) last year. Cambria had enough water last year without rationing and will not run out of water in 2014, especially considering the Cambria CSD is imposing Stage III rationing this year and water use is approximately half of last years usage rate.


In fact, the Cambria CSD toilet to tap design discharges undisinfected brine into an undersized evaporation pond and then mechanically mists the pathogen containing discharge into the coastal winds.


0

Actually that’s not true. The Cambria plant uses exactly the same technologies as the other potable reuse projects in Southern California and is being built by the same company that designed the Orange County plant. In Texas they now have two plants running with these technologies that send water directly into the drinking water system, instead of re-injecting the water into the aquifer the way they do in Orange County, Los Angeles, Australia, and now Cambria.


0

The Cambria clique significantly increases water rates so out of town developers and attorneys can profit and the local have to suffer. The CCSD, PROS and Friends of Fiscalini Ranch kill healthy habitat and then want to project they are looking out for the community. THEY ARE NOT.


The CCSD Board MUST be replaced. They do not represent locals.


0

“And even the county is in on it, improperly issuing an “emergency” permit for a project in a coastal tidal wetland without authority.”


This is significant. I suggest contacting Coastal Commission regarding this information. The more people they hear from, and the more complete and detailed the information that is provided to them, the more likely it is that they will take a look at the permit and, perhaps, take action.


Names and addresses of Coastal Commissioners are here: http://www.coastal.ca.gov/roster.html


When you write to the Commissioners, it is important to put at the top of your letter AND on the outside of the envelope that you have copied staff on the communication. If you do not, the letter will be considered “ex parte” communication and some of the Commissioners may not read or even open it.


Staff to copy on communications include the Coastal Planner for our area, Justin Buhr and/or Madeline Cavalieri, Central Cost District Manager. The address for the Central Coast District office where these CCC staff members work is 725 Front St #300, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.


0

Oh, Lou says there is water in the wells, I guess we are not in a drought. Duh….There is a reason this guy is no longer a director…cuckoo, cuckoo.


0

Underground geological forms in our area, including underground water sources, are complex. The author of the article is a certified hydrogeologist. If he says there is a well that does have a good amount of water in it, I’ll take his word for it. Also, note that just one well was mentioned – not “the wells”. Everyone knows that many wells in Cambria are going dry. That does not mean they all are.


Looks like the developer-controlled old boy/old girl network is at it again – attacking anyone who reveals information that challenges their agenda.


0

CambriaKing, what are your credentials? Thinking high of your uneducated opinions and calling yourself “CambriaKing”? You must be part of the Cambria Cabal that answers to the Orange County and Las Vegas masters.


0

“CambriaKing” your ignorance is shining through. Your response not only sparks of ignorance but obviously illustrates your adherence to the out of town Masters. You are their puppet. Now kneel before your out of town Masters and kiss their rings.


0

I saw a trout simming in a small pool, way up Santa Rosa Creek 09/13/14, he looked very nervous.


0

The CCSD Board and their actions are questionable. Their actions require Cambrians pay for the profits of Orange county and Las Vegas masters.


0

Whatever it takes to justify raising water rates, nothing like a timely drought.


0

The granola chewers rule the roost in the land of Cambria. The rest are just lemmings, walking off the water shortage cliff


0

It’s not the granola chewers; it’s the Orange County and Las Vegas masters that rule the roost in Cambria, courtesy of the CCSD Board Members.


0

The Radical Exclusion of the facts is coming from the current CCSD, those that believe their propaganda (e.g., the water project is a brackish seawater desal) and newspapers that do no investigative reporting, but just repeat political propaganda.


0

CCN is the only media that has the courage to provide both sides of an issue. The Tribune and Cambrian are poor excuses for newspapers.


0