Wastewater retention basin coming soon to Linda Mar area

Pacifica Tribune, 1/21/15.  My Turn by City Council Member Mike O'Neill 

....  "The collection system pipes converge near Hwy. 1, where underground pumps are employed to pump the effluent up to the Calera Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in the quarry. A problem may arise because the WWTP, which handles about 2.5 million gallons of waste water on an average day but has the capacity to handle a flow rate of 20 million gallons per day, may be forced to deal with a flow rate of over 20 million gallons for a 17 hour period. Many millions of those gallons are excess rainwater being pumped up from Linda Mar. The amount of actual sewage requiring processing doesn't vary much whether there's sunshine or torrential rain outside, so there is no question that much of the problem is with the excess rainfall and groundwater finding its way into the collection system.

Sure you may park on top of the wastewater retention basin There are plans for rebuilding the waste water collection system which includes something called a "retention basin" next to the existing pumps at Linda Mar. It pretty much describes itself, in that it's an extremely large underground tank. For most of the year, the pumps would operate just as they do now, but on any day in which there is torrential rain, there would be the option of diverting some of the water to the retention basin, so that the waste water treatment plant doesn't become overwhelmed. The retention basin can be emptied when the storm flow has died down and the WWTP can cope. As mentioned, it would be an underground tank, just as invisible as the existing pumps, and because it would be a closed system there would no more danger of smells and airborne pollutants than there is with the existing pumps.  Retention Basins are a proven technology, widely used in San Francisco, Daly City and in other Bay Area Cities. As with the retention basins in those other cities, it's anticipated that ours would only be used a few times a year, and only during major storms, until the overflow can be safely pumped to the WWTP to be processed. The Retention Basin will need to be located in the front of Linda Mar in order to be near the Linda Mar pump station. The Retention Basin is in the long term financial plan for the Wastewater System with requests for bids to be prepared in 2015. ...  "    Read more. ---------- Related -  NPCA (Precast Inc. Magazine, 9/8/11). "Precast provides responsible stormwater solutions." ".... Modern, paved-over urban landscapes prevent rainwater absorption and force runoff into antiquated infrastructure. Storms overwhelm inadequate sewer and wastewater treatment facilities, resulting in hundreds of billions of gallons of sewage polluting North American streams, rivers and lakes every year."  Note graphic from this related Precast Inc. article.  Posted by Kathy Meeh