About the Cambria Community Services District

In an effort to understand and more easily track some of the ongoing expenses of the CCSD, I have been using an Excel ledger template. I’ve already posted the workbooks from FY 06-07 and 07-08 online using an online service called EditGrid. Not every expenditure from the CCSD reports is included and there are a few months missing (awaiting response to a public records request). What IS included are expenditures identified as relating to various major projects (SCADA, desalination, pine knolls tanks, the Water Master Plan EIR, among others) and payments to  Davidson Associates and  Innovative Concepts.

It is much easier for me to view these expenditures across time and see how they are accounted for (ie which fund paid the costs). Here’s a few of the expenditures made by CCSD since July 1, 2008.

$28,950 (Water Department) to RBF consulting for services related to the Buildout Reduction Program

$21,331.90 (Parks and Recreation Fund) for Fiscalini Ranch Preserve EIR

$64,336.03 to Innovative Concepts for Equipment and Support July 1-November 30 (including $12,589 for Fiber/Internet and Broadband Services  for September, October and November)

The new Board of Directors seems to be stepping off on the right foot and plans have been made to review the districts expenditures and priorities. I welcome this action and look forward to the reports and recommendations from the financial and utilities committees next month.

Check out the FY 2008-09 workbook for yourself below or by Downloading it here.

On December 4 and 5, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Coast Region met in San Luis Obispo. On the agenda was an update on the MTBE contamination in Cambria. Chevron Cambria service station, located on the corner of Main Street and Burton Drive in Cambria, has been a Central Coast Water Board lead  groundwater investigation and cleanup case since December 1993. In 1995, Chevron Products Company commissioned the removal of a UST system and transferred ownership of the service station to an independent owner/operator who installed a new UST system. Chevron is cleaning up a petroleum hydrocarbon discharge, including MTBE, from the original UST system, The discharge threatened groundwater in Cambria Community Service District (CCSD) Wells No. 1 and 3, which provide supplemental water to the community of Cambria.

From the Report:

As part of interim corrective action beginning in May 2000, Chevron continuously pumped MTBE contaminated water from four onsite wells. Currently, there are 15 shallow groundwater extraction wells. Beginning in November 2000, Chevron began full operation of groundwater extraction and high vacuum dual phase extraction systems. Both systems operate continuously, except for periodic system upgrade, techanical breakdowns, and system maintenance activities. Extracted and treated groundwater is stored in an onsite, 15,000-gallon tank. Currently, Chevron transports treated groundwater to the Santa Maria Wastewater Treatment Plant for disposal.
Since the Last Staff Report:
Monitoring wells within the plume boundaries continue to exhibit M TBEand tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) concentrations exceeding the cleanup goals of 5 micrograms per liter (?g/L) and 12?g/L respectively. However, current concentrations have decreased significantly compared to historical maximum values. Results of the third quarter 2008 monitoring indicated a maximum MTBE concentration of 720 ?g/L in MW-30 and a maximum TBA concentration of 180 ?g/L in well MW-7. Shallow-zone MTBE and TBA isoconcentration maps are shown on Attachments 1 and 2, respectively.
Monitoring wells historically known to be located beyond the plume boundaries continue to be free of detectable concentrations of MTBE. In July 2008, Central Coast Water Board staff directed Chevron to suspend monitoring of  Santa Rosa Creek starting with the third quarter of 2008 since concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates in Santa Rosa Creek, have been below reporting limits or below water qualify objectives since August 2001. In addition, Central Coast Water Board staff suspended groundwater monitoring from three sentinel sampling locations (NSGW-A through NSGW-C) on the north bank of Santa Rosa Creek since concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates have been below reporting limits since September 2004.
The Groundwater Extraction and Treatment system and the High Vacuum Dual Phase Extraction system  extracted and treated approximately 70,000 gallons of groundwater during the reporting quarter, which were disposed at the City of Santa Maria wastewater plant. The treatment systems have cumulatively removed and treated approximately 10 million gallons of water, and have removed approximately 5,000 pounds of petroleum hydrocarbons and 189 pounds of MTBE.
On September 26, 2008, Central Coast Water Board staff issued a Notice of Applicability to enroll Chevron under the General WDR Waiver, Resolution No. R3-2008-0010 to infiltrate treated and aerated groundwater to enhance the in-situ biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons and fuel oxygenates at the site. Central Coast Water Board staff will pass on  progress and results of this study in future reports.

Download the report and associated maps of the montoring wells and measurements.

Read and Learn about desalination from this book published in 2008.