Santa Margarita: If All Goes as Planned, in "Three to Six Months," You Will Be a Los Osos

I just wanted to post a quick update to my last blog piece, where I wrote:

"Let's take Garden Farms, for example, the idyllic, little, septic-system-based community outside the idyllic, little, septic-system-based community of Santa Margarita.

Garden Farms is tucked right up to the Salinas River, which means there's probably not a whole lot of separation between their septic tanks and the groundwater, and when the residents of Garden Farms see how fast the staff of the CCWQCB can interpret their septic tank/groundwater separation as "very poor" "site conditions," and, therefore, deem the entire community "undeveloped properties" BECAUSE it's not hooked up to "a community sewer connection," and then be "required" to build an expensive sewer system, well, those Garden Farms residents are going to be in for a crash course in Los Ososology.

That's just a hypothetical, but if you've never witnessed the CCWQCB, and its staff, in operation, that's exactly how they operate. Exactly.

Santa Margarita? It's not looking so good for ya."

Apparently, that scenario is not as "hypothetical" as I first thought.

On Tuesday, April 22, the county Board of Supervisors will receive a staff report informing them about the sweeping changes the Central Coast Water Quality Control Board has in store for anyone with a septic tank in SLO County (along with several other counties within the CCWQCB's jurisdiction), and in that report, it discusses how one of the proposed changes would make "Septic Management Programs" by local governments "mandatory," and that's where county staff writes this:

"In areas like Santa Margarita (with clay soils, high groundwater and frequent flooding), this [Mandatory Septic Management Programs] could create a defacto septic moratorium."

Today, I called Barry Tolle, onsite wastewater treatment specialist for the county, to ask him if a "defacto septic moratorium" in Santa Margarita meant that there could be no more building in that town until a sewer system is constructed, and if so, would the property owners with old septic systems be required to hook up to that sewer once it is on line? (Sound familiar, Los Osos?)

Tolle has yet to return my call. When he does, I'll report on it.

According to the staff report, the Basin Plan changes would also require that every, single septic system in the county be in a county-run database, and then the owner of each system would be contacted every five years, and be required to pump out their septic tank, or face "enforcement action" by the CCWQCB.

The amount of clerical and inspection work to handle the huge workload associated with the "Mandatory Septic Management Programs" is estimated to be so large, that it will require hiring "three additional employees" to handle it all.

Furthermore, and this is just great from a journalism perspective, according to the staff report, the Basin Plan changes would also require the county to build an "expensive" facility to handle all of the "septage" from all of those septic systems that are all of a sudden being pumped-out every five years. (SewerWatch investment tip: Put your money in local septic tank pumping businesses.)

Currently, all of the "septage" pumped out of a tank in SLO County is trucked to Santa Maria. The proposed Basin Plan changes will make that illegal, and the county will be "forced to deal with septage disposal locally," according to the staff report.

I "smell" a story: When SLO County is "forced" to build an "expensive" sewer-waste processing facility, where will it be located?

I recommend the Tri-W location in Los Osos, but only if the public works department incorporates a public park, with "a picnic area, amphitheater, and tot lot" in their sewer-waste processing facility.

The CCWQCB meeting to discuss the Basin Plan changes is set for May, 9. According to the county's report, the changes are anticipated to be law "three to six months" later, when the State Water Board officially "ratifies" the document.

After that, "the county will be required to comply with all of the requirements and mandates of the Basin Plan."

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(NOTE: The original headline for this piece was, "Santa Margarita: You Have No Idea How Close You Are to Becoming a Los Osos," but I liked the one up top better, so I changed it.)