Ross Valley Sanitary District completes $100M system overhaul

Ten years ago, following major sewage spills, the state slapped the Ross Valley Sanitary District with a cease-and-desist order. The state’s San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board told the agency that it had to clean up its act.

Last month, the district said it marked the end of its aggressive $100 million capital improvements campaign designed to do just that.

“What we’re seeing is a lot less spills, a lot less overflows,” said Doug Kelly, a district board member. “What we’re doing is working.”

The rehabilitation of Pump Station 14 in Larkspur, completed in July, could be the district’s final project needed to get back in the state’s good graces. Steve Moore, general manager of the district, said the pump station projects are designed with the latest technology to reduce noise, emissions and odor while improving energy efficiency and prolonging the life of the sewage system.

From 2012 to 2022, the district averaged 25 overflows per year, Moore said. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, there were 19 overflows, resulting in 155,385 gallons of spillage. From July 2022 through June, the district only had nine overflows, spilling 4,298 gallons.

“This past year we had the lowest recorded number of sewer spills to date,” Moore said. “It’s really gratifying work.”

“Just to put these volumes in perspective,” said Felicia Newhouse, assistant general manager, “the district collects and transports an average of 3.8 million gallons of untreated wastewater per day.”

In other words, for this past year, the spill volume is less than one-tenth of 1% of wastewater that the district conveys to the Central Marin Sanitation Agency treatment plant each day, Newhouse said.

The district has come a long way, said Bill Johnson, a state water board official.

The state water board is reviewing a progress report submitted by the sewer district earlier this year, Johnson said. After review, the water control board staff plans to inspect the Ross Valley facilities.

“If everything looks OK, we’ll put together a draft proposal to remove the cease-and-desist order,” Johnson said. “Things have changed a lot. Things have improved a lot.”

During heavy rains in December 2005, the Ross Valley utility spilled 472,000 gallons of untreated waste and was later hit with a $78,000 fine by the regional water board.

The district had to pay the state $1.5 million as part of a settlement after releasing more than 3 million gallons of sewage, most of it in two large spills in December 2010.

In 2012, Brett Richards, the district’s general manager at the time, estimated that 165 to 170 miles of the district’s 200 miles of sewer pipes were 50 years old or older and in need of urgent replacement.

The state water board imposed a cease-and-desist order on the district in 2013, requiring the district perform a major overhaul of its aging system. Under the watchful eye of the water board, the district has been pouring millions of dollars into upgrading its 200 miles of pipe and 19 pump stations.

Some of the larger investments were put into gravity sewer rehabilitation, including a $15 million project in the area of the Miracle Mile started in 2016.

To continue the push, the district devised a two-pronged financing plan approved in 2019 that included issuing millions of dollars in revenue bonds and implementing a five-year customer rate increase.

The rates increased to $961 for a detached home in 2019 and have gone up this year to $1,212.

The financing plan helped the district complete its $10 million cleanup of its former wastewater treatment plant at Larkspur Landing and a slew of other projects.

After exhibiting a successful turnaround, the district received a “wastewater collection system of the year” award from the California Water Environment Association. The district was selected from hundreds of agencies with less than 250 miles pipe for the 2022 year.

“It’s the highest honor for us to be recognized as a model organization by our peers in the CWEA,” Moore said. “We will continue to look for innovative and cost-effective ways to provide excellent customer service to our local community, while renewing and maintaining the infrastructure that protects our health and water environment.”

Meanwhile, the district has completed an interior remodel of its new headquarters at 1111 Andersen Drive in San Rafael. Work on the landscaping and parking plan was approved last month. Moore said the staff plans to move into the site this year.

The district plans to commission a rate study within the year to consider updating its fee schedule starting in fiscal year ending 2025.

Sign up for email newsletters