Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Quality topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Santa Paula public works: chloride levels near state limit; staff target dialysis clinics for pretreatment as microgrid award trimmed
Summary
Public Works Director Dale Goodman told council the city's treated wastewater is close to the state chloride limit (about 112 ppm vs 110 ppm), and staff plan to pursue pretreatment at two dialysis clinics identified as significant contributors; the city also learned it received $10.96 million (reduced from $16.56M requested) in a SoCal Edison microgrid award, with roughly $4M to be paid to SCE for infrastructure.
Public Works Director Dale Goodman told the Santa Paula City Council on June 3 that the city's wastewater chloride concentration is hovering near the state limit and that staff are pursuing pretreatment for high‑contributing facilities to avoid costly treatment upgrades.
Goodman said the state chloride limit is 110 parts per million and the city's testing results are "hovering around 112." He told council that testing and coordination with consultants and the regional water quality board identified two dialysis clinics that are sending high chloride loads into the system; at 1 facility staff measured about 80 pounds of salt used per day.
"If we can get these dialysis clinics onto the pretreatment program, we can probably drop another 5 points, which would get us below the maximum that's been imposed by the state," Goodman said. He emphasized pretreatment is a common approach for commercial users that introduce difficult‑to‑treat constituents and could be quicker and less expensive than building an advanced treatment plant. Goodman noted the alternative—an advanced treatment facility—could cost on the order of $30 million if pretreatment and dilution measures do not bring concentrations below the state limit.
Councilmembers asked about other potential chloride sources, including car washes and water softeners. Goodman said car washes are typically on pretreatment programs and recycle their water, but he agreed to check compliance for older car washes. He also said staff are exploring buyback ideas to remove salt‑based residential water softeners and expect that new multiunit housing (with no softeners) will help dilute chloride concentrations in coming years.
Separately, Goodman told council the city applied for a SoCal Edison microgrid incentive and requested approximately $16.56 million but received an award of $10.96 million. He said roughly $4 million of that award must be provided to SCE for infrastructure upgrades around a proposed microgrid, leaving about $7 million for project works and raising questions about the project's feasibility. Goodman said staff and consultant CLPE will reassess whether the project can proceed under the reduced award.
Why it matters: chloride exceedances can trigger state enforcement and expensive remediation. Council directed staff to continue regular updates to track compliance deadlines and to pursue pretreatment and other mitigation steps before pursuing large capital solutions.
