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On Jan. 18, the water board issued a cease and desist order to the city, preventing it from allowing any new hookups to the city's sewer system unless the hookups were authorized by a building permit issued before Jan. 18.
Acting City Manager Richard Knoll will report on the situation at this Tuesday's Lakeport City Council meeting.
The water board decision resulted from an incident last April, in which the spring's heavy rains and problems with Willopoint trailer park's sewer system overloaded the city sewer system.
Those conditions caused the City of Lakeport Municipal Sewer District (CLMSD) ponds to nearly overflow, Knoll stated previously. The city took measures to disinfect the water and dispose of it through irrigation; however, Knoll explained, the saturated ground wouldn't absorb the water.
Between 3 and 6 million gallons of treated wastewater ran off the (CLMSD) site, into a Clear Lake tributary and, eventually, into the lake itself, he said.
That violated CLMSD's waste discharge requirements, according to a letter from the water board to Lakeport Utilities Superintendent Mark Brannigan, dated Jan. 18.
City representatives met with water board staff on Feb. 13, according to a report Knoll prepared for the council's Tuesday meeting.
The water board's executive officer, Pamela Creedon, along with a staffer and an attorney, met with Knoll, Brannigan, a city consultant and an attorney for the city.
At the City Council's Feb. 6 meeting, Brannigan said that meeting with Creedon was part of the appeals process for the hookup ban order.
Knoll's report says Lakeport staff told the water board about their concerns over the water board's conclusions relating to the system's capacity and operation.
In return, water board officials told Knoll and Brannigan that they're concerned that the city's water balance is not properly calibrated, and that the city lacks sewer capacity, Knoll's report says.
Brannigan reportedly told the water board staff that he found it discouraging that a collection system spill, which the city responsibly reported to the board, was being used against them.
He also said that the water board doesn't understand CLMSD operations, and that the city and water board should work more closely together in order for more informed decisions to be made.
Brannigan told the board that CLMSD is a responsible agency; he said sewer rates are kept current, a sewer master plan is under way and expansion fees were increased to help with treatment facility expansion.
Knoll's report said Brannigan told the board that they and CLMSD share the same objective – preventing another release event – but that a connection ban isn't the best way to achieve that. Brannigan reported that CLMSD's storage reservoir is now nearly empty.
Since the cease and desist order was issued, city staff have been considering ways to expand CLMSD's capacity. Knoll reported to the water board that the council, at its Feb. 6 meeting, approved looking at options including new irrigation facilities, expanding the storage reservoir and installing a bypass channel around the CLMSD recapture basin.
The water board decided to have its engineers look at an analysis prepared by the city's sewer system consultant, PACE Civil, in order to decide on what the city's true sewer capacity may be, said Knoll's report.
However, what the city was hoping for – having the cease and desist order lifted – didn't happen, Knoll reported.
City staff and attorney Tess Dunham of the law firm of Somack, Simmons, and Dunn – who are representing the city in the cease and desist order matter – are preparing a formal letter to the water board about order for the water board's March 15-16 meeting, said Knoll. The letter, Knoll added, will be available at Tuesday's council meeting.
A public hearing on Lakeport's cease and desist order is scheduled at the water board's March meeting.
The City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St., Lakeport.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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