It will take $339 million over 10 years to rebuild the aging sewer system that serves more than 200,000 people and businesses from East Palo Alto to Belmont.
The South Bayside System Authority (SBSA) has announced a major capital improvement program to upgrade and rebuild its 25-year-old sewage plant and the aging pumps and pipes that transport wastewater from the Peninsula communities to the plant at the tip of Redwood Shores.
SBSA operates the regional wastewater treatment plant owned by the cities of Redwood City, Belmont, San Carlos, and the West Bay Sanitary District, which serves Menlo Park and portions of Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside, East Palo Alto, and unincorporated areas of San Mateo County.
“After 25 years, things need rebuilding, replacing, and repairing,” said Ron Shepherd, chairman of the West Bay district and its representative to SBSA.
Over the life of the plant, SBSA has concentrated on keeping rates down and has not built up funds for capital improvements, Mr. Shepherd noted. The plant was built in 1980.
“The SBSA facility is now over 25 years old and has reached the end of its designed life,” said Manager Dan Childs in his announcement. “Many structures and most mechanical equipment are beyond the point of reasonable repair and require replacement.”
The new capital improvement program has 131 projects. The SBSA will cover the costs by issuing revenue bonds as the money is needed over 10 years.
Residents and businesses in the West Bay district will be responsible for about 25 percent of the costs. “Our share of the bond issues is going to be about two Burgess Gyms,” Mr. Shepherd commented.
The first $50 million in bonds will be issued this summer, Mr. Shepherd said. The district has enough reserves to cover the costs this year without raising rates from the present $400 per year for a single-family home. But starting next year, “rates will probably double in 10 years,” he said.
Capital improvements
To improve the reliability and efficiency of the regional wastewater system, upgrades are focusing on fixing pipes, pump stations, and the treatment plant.
The biggest single expense in the capital improvement program is $125 million to repair and upgrade the big force main that carries sewage from the pump station at Marsh Road in Menlo Park to the treatment plant.
The 40-year-old cement pipe that runs through Bay mud east of Bayshore Freeway is built in 12-foot sections, Mr. Shepherd said. “It moves around and sometimes leaks.” He noted it will be replaced with modern plastic-type pipe that can be cemented together with no seams.
The highest priority project is to upgrade the pump stations that keep the sewage flowing. They are all 40 to 50 years old and suffer frequent failures. “Without improvements to the pump stations, there is a real risk of spills,” Mr. Child said.
The southernmost pump station is in Menlo Park off Marsh Road at the entrance to Bayfront Park.
Also important will be rebuilding the tanks at the treatment plant, where chemicals in the wastewater have severely corroded the cement and metal storage tanks and plumbing.
The SBSA administration and control offices also need to be replaced; they were built over four storage tanks, using steel studs, which have also corroded from sulfuric acid. “The building is now held up by sheet rock and stucco,” Mr. Child noted.
The capital improvement program includes other upgrades to the system. There will be automation throughout the facilities that will reduce staffing needs by 10 to 15 percent.
SBSA will double the use of cogeneration — using the methane generated by the breakdown of solids to generate electricity — from 450 to 900 kilowatts. It hopes to generate more than 50 percent of its power.
Officials at the West Bay district are supporting the capital improvement program, even though the district prefers the pay-as-you-go approach it has followed.
“It’s something that needs to be done,” said Mr. Shepherd. “In the future we want to fund improvements on a pay-as-you-go basis”
General Manager Tim Clayton added: “You can’t just keep putting it off. You can’t risk sewage spills into the Bay.”
INFORMATION
For information, contact the West Bay Sanitary District at 321-0354 or westbaysanitary.org, or the South Bayside System Authority at 591-7121 or www.sbsa.org.
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