Minutes 1993 0614 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - June 14, 1993 Page - 4 - PUBLIC HEARINGS (continued) Mr. Taylor said BOD and SS are the two real factors used in determining strength of discharge. He said the pretreatment program requires as much of these pollutants as possible be removed from the flow prior to entering the Plant, and this results in a reduced amount of BOD and SS to the Plant. He said the costs were not lowered because, even if flow is reduced, the same pump, digester, etc. , must be used, and the costs for those are the same. Mr. Lawson said the study looks at all the costs, and industrial and commercial users do not get a break over residential . He said no one subsidizes any other user, per Federal law. Council Member Corbett asked why fixed costs can't be changed. Mr. Taylor said, in the example of EBDA, all five member agencies must agree to reduce San Leandro's capacity figures; and, if they do, their costs would go up, so it is unlikely this will happen. Mr. Lawson noted that, even if San Leandro wanted to leave EBDA, the Joint Powers Agreement would still require that the City pay its share of the fixed costs for the system. Council Member Corbett noted there has been a decrease in use because of water conservation but said the fixed-cost structure actually discourages water conservation and asked if there was any way to get around that. Mr. Taylor said staff finds those elements of the Plant where something can be taken out of service to reduce R&R, such as using a fine bubble-aeration system, thereby taking another more costly system off-line. Council Member Kerr asked if a large part of the 13.5% increase is due to the recently imposed 10% franchise fee. Mr. Lawson said that was correct. Council Member Kerr said higher costs are usually associated with newer plants in high growth areas. He said Oro Loma has never gotten any ad valorem taxes and does not use garbage fees to pay for sewer service costs. Mr. Lawson said he had taken this information from a State survey and would see that it was corrected. The Hearing was then opened to the public. A. Susan Riskind-Poulsen, 182 Sunnyside, said the problem appears to be excess capacity and asked if the City could sell its EBDA capacity to other agencies. Mayor Faria said all five members of EBDA must agree, and this matter has been under consideration for the last two years. He said he hopes something will happen in the near future to make this possible.