Hercules More Likely to Keep Sharing Pinole Wastewater Plant

Two Hercules City Council members said Wednesday they will recommend that their city continue its partnership with Pinole in the operation of the city's wastewater treatment plant.

Council members Don Kuehne and Myrna de Vera indicated that retaining the current arrangement appears to be more financially feasible than an estimated $59 million plan to divert Hercules wastewater to the West County Wastewater District.

In a unanimous vote with Pinole council members Debbie Long and Tim Banuelos, they agreed to recommend to the full Hercules City Council that Hercules retain the current arrangement with Pinole. Under an existing arrangement, both cities share the cost of operating the plant, which collects and treats both sewage and storm drain flows. The two cities meet periodically to make policy under a joint powers agreement.

"It's like a no-brainer to me," said de Vera, following a presentation by the city's respective city staffs. Their report concluded that it would be far less expensive to continue the agreement than the West County district alternative. Rate increases are expected to finance the new plant and to create a reserve account.

To manage both future growth and wet-weather storm runoff, the plant must expand its capacity to meet water quality regulations. During rainy weather the plant sometimes has trouble keeping pace with water flows. If water backs up, untreated or under-treated sewage is sometimes released into San Pablo Bay, resulting in fines from water quality regulators. The flow can increase from about three million gallons per day to 10 million gallons per day during heavy rain.

Pinole City Engineer Dean Allison characterized as a "myth" that the Pinole plant needs to be expand capacity because of growth in Hercules. Rather, it is the wintertime flows that requires expansion. He urged the approval.

The cities agreed to sponsor a joint workshop on plans for the plant.

"I think that's something we would like to be able show the public, exactly how we arrived at this cost analysis," Kuehne said.

After the workshop, tentatively scheduled sometime in May, the respective city councils will vote on continuing the current arrangement. Once the cities reach final agreement, they will review the current agreement by which they operate the plant to see whether it needs refinement or clarification.

Faced with pending applications to renew the plant's permit by year's end, Pinole officials have been pressing Hercules for a quick decision on their city's participation in the future of the current agreement. The agreement had been in limbo since Hercules began exploring the West County alternative last year.