Board upholds Cambria water-reclamation permit after contested hearing, adds monitoring-reporting requirement

The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted June 16 to deny six appeals and uphold a Planning Commission approval allowing the Cambria Community Services District's water reclamation facility (WRF) to operate on a long-term basis. The action follows more than a decade of environmental review and years of technical study and public comment.

Supporters, including Cambria CSD General Manager Matthew McElhinney, framed the facility as a drought-resiliency tool that recharges the San Simeon aquifer and protects the small coastal groundwater basin from seawater intrusion. McElhinney told the board the plant was built to stabilize groundwater levels during dry periods and that long-term operation is necessary to avoid irreversible saline contamination of the aquifer.

Opponents raised multiple concerns at the hearing: unresolved brine-disposal plans, adequacy of the project's adaptive management and biological monitoring plans, whether parts of the site are environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA), and potential impacts to nearby wells and riparian habitat. Appellants asked the board to defer action until the California Coastal Commission's questions were fully addressed and requested additional on-site agency monitoring.

County planning staff and technical consultants presented the administrative record and a 2025 addendum to a 2017 Subsequent Environmental Impact Report. Staff concluded the revised project would not create new or more severe environmental impacts if the project's mitigation measures and the adaptive management plan (AMP) are implemented. The AMP includes hydrologic monitoring, biological surveys, operational triggers, and mitigation measures (Bio-1 through Bio-19) that staff said were designed to detect and respond to ecological changes.

Experts for the district said brine disposal would initially be handled by hauling to a licensed facility (South San Luis County sanitation), while the district continues to pursue a zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) technology and other options (including a nearer outfall) for long-term disposal if funding and permitting permit. The district and its consultants described hydrologic modeling and a monitoring regime that includes monthly surveys during operation and more frequent groundwater-level monitoring; consultants said the program is designed to detect departures from baseline conditions and trigger operational changes, including reducing discharge or halting WRF operation if necessary.

During deliberations, supervisors said they found the record provided substantial evidence for the project's environmental findings but also signaled openness to additional transparency. The board unanimously upheld the Planning Commission's approval and added a special condition requiring the property owner to forward all monitoring reports required by the AMP to the County Department of Planning and Building and to the California Coastal Commission within 30 days of report completion; if monitoring identifies conditions requiring action under the AMP, the report must summarize the actions taken.

The Coastal Commission retains appeal jurisdiction and may review the county's decision. The board and the district said they will continue to coordinate with state and federal resource agencies, and the district said it will post monitoring reports publicly and share them with county staff.

The board's action leaves the WRF authorized to operate under the revised permit and the added reporting condition, while leaving open any further review that the Coastal Commission may initiate through its appeals process.