Recommended Solution
Morro Bay needs to resolve its WWTP problem quickly in a cost-effective, environmentally responsible way. 13 years of failures demonstrate that the approach the City has been taking doesn’t work, and that the solution that may have been considered ideal is simply not practical, reasonable, or even do-able.
We need a common-sense solution that:
- Costs far less than the outrageous, well-over-$100 millon estimate for the current project: That estimate that doesn’t even include all of the known costs. It’s just for the plant. Once the associated infrastructure is added in, the cost will climb substantially higher.
- Is developed in a collaborative relationship with the Coastal Commission to address that agency’s concerns. The Commission wants the City to build a plant that is well protected from natural hazards, and can function reliably for its projected useful life with minimal risks of contamination of our coastal environment
Yet, the current general design for the plant is subject to the exact same risks of failure as the existing plant. In terms of risk, the current design is actually worse than leaving the plant right where it is.
It also seems reasonable to assume that the CCC does not want to drive the City and/or its residents into bankruptcy.
- Can be completed quickly: For 13 years, the Morro Bay plant has been polluting the ocean. All efforts to solve the problem have failed. The 63-year-old plant is far past its prime, and the risk of failure is growing. Every target date for completion of the new plant has been missed.
The recommended solution includes two major components, the site, and the project approach.
Site
The solution recommended by the owners of this site and supported by many residents is to build the new plant on the property formerly occupied by Hanson’s Concrete. By building on that site, the City could save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and, with the right technology, get a plant up and running very quickly. With the right technology and protective measures, the plant could be made safe from natural hazards for the duration of its projected useful life.
ADVANTAGES of this site include:
- Land acquisition cost eliminated: The City owns the land, so there would be no land acquisition costs or issues.
- Major infrastructure costs eliminated: There would be no need to build a lift station and force main to carry sewage to a distant plant, which means another substantial reduction in construction costs.
- Potential for Cayucos to rejoin the project:: Cayucos always preferred a plant in this area, and might consider coming back into the project. Sharing costs would reduce the impact on Morro Bay and Cayucos taxpayers.
- Risk of system failure due to force main earthquake damage eliminated: The force main that would carry all of the town’s sewage between the Atascadero Road lift station and the inland plant would be eliminated, thus removing the risk of a major system failure potentially resulting from earthquake damage.
- Ongoing operating costs significantly reduced: By eliminating the massive lift station that would be necessary to pump the sewage to the inland site, the City would greatly reduce the need for power to operate the system.
- Cost and complexity of transferring operations from the old plant to the new one reduced: The close proximity of the Hansons’ site to the existing WWTP would make transfer of operations far less challenging and greatly reduce the risk error.
- Neighboring property benefit from flood risk mitigation measures: Regarding flood hazard mitigation measures, a 2009 flood hazard study done for the existing WWTP site says, “Reconstruct Atascadero Road with an inverted crown. This will reduce flooding for all properties along the road and nearly eliminate flooding at the high school for all but the most extreme storm events.”
CHALLENGES of this site include the following issues and concerns identified by the Coastal Commission. Most were identified in a November 12, 2012 letter written by Coastal Commission staff member Madeline Cavalieri:
- Risk of damage from earthquake-caused soil liquefaction: Liquefaction is a significant risk at the Hanson’s site due to sandy surface soils.
- Location in a flood plain: The Hansons’ site lies in a 100-year flood plain.
- Risk of damage from a tsunami: The site is located near the ocean and would have the same risk of tsunami damage as other low-lying areas of the City such as the Embarcadero, Morro Bay High School, and the Cloisters neighborhood.
- Risk of impact from sea level rise: Eventually, sea level rise will impact the site. However, according to the City’s September, 2016 “City of Morro Bay Draft Community Baseline Assessment” , the site could be at risk from sea level rise in about the year 2100, which would be beyond the projected useful life of the plant..
- Potential presence of archaeological resources: Like most of Morro Bay, the site likely includes archaeological resources
- Potential impact to public access and recreation: A facility with a large footprint could impact potential public coastal access and recreation opportunities.
- Potential impact on visual resources: A facility with structures that are too tall could potentially impact coastal views from the Highway 1 view corridor.
- Zoning change required: The Hansons site, like the site of the current WWTP, is in an area currently zoned for light, not heavy industrial use.
Addressing these challenges is not only possible, but highly-feasible and would not generate any excessive costs. Location of the WRF on the Hansons’ site is no more risky than the current plan to locate an inland WRF’s a giant lift station on the WWTP site. That is due to the fac that, if the lift station fails, sewage cannot be moved to an inland plant, and thus the whole system fails.
In addition, other important facilities - Morro Bay High School and the City’s desalination plant, are located in the same area and are not being moved.
Project Approach
The approach the City has been taking so far has benefited only the highly-paid consultants and engineering firms that have no incentive to ensure that time and costs are minimized. Inefficiency, poor planning, mistakes, and rework are essentially “profit centers” for some. The longer the project takes, and the more work required, the more money the consultants and engineering companies make at taxpayer expense.
Morro Bay can learn from the town of Strasburg, Virginia, where “thinking outside the box” brought that community a major upgrade and expansion of their WWTP. It was completed under budget and finished in about three years.
Strasburg ran into financial problems with their WWTP project. In July, 2012, their consultant told them that the plant, as designed, would cost about $20 million. Then, they put the project out to bid, and 4 months later, in November, 2012, the bids came in. The lowest bid was over $31 million. They couldn't afford that.
So, they decided to back away a bit from their design, and see if someone could come up with innovative solutions that would give them a quality plant that would meet their capacity needs and the requirements of regulatory agencies, AND would not cost more than what they could afford to spend. They issued a Request for Information (RFI) and asked for just that. Responses were due in February, 2013.
Strasburg ended up getting a letter of interest from a well-established company that offered to build their plant for them at a guaranteed cost way below the previous "low bid" of $31 million. Morro Bay residents got an update from Strasburg on October 3, 2016. They were just finishing up their project.
In just over three years, Strasburg completed a successful project. Their costs were within budget, and the product is exactly what was needed. In contrast, Morro Bay has been trying to achieve the same result for for 13 years and has completely failed.
The current estimate of Strasburg’s savings, achieved because their City government issued that RFI, is $15 million. The residents of Strasburg got just what they needed for a price they could afford, and are very happy with the results of the project.
Had they not left their options open, and had they not been wise enough to use an RFI to tap the pool of expertise that is comprised of numerous engineering companies worldwide, many of which they had probably never heard of, they would not have gotten a cost-effective solution to their problem and would have had major financial problems as a result.
There are many kinds of sewage treatment plants, and new technologies are being developed. Some designs are more suitable than others in dealing with natural hazards. By following the Strasburg approach, Morro Bay can get an affordable plant with safeguards that will ensure safe, reliable operation for decades.
This approach will probably not be popular with consultants and engineering companies that view Morro Bay as a “cash cow” - an opportunity to make a lot of money for themselves. It is, however, what Morro Bay residents need.
One important aspect of this approach is the fact that it can be used to address the challenges of the site. It will give the City the opportunity to tap into the expertise of engineering companies all over the country, making it possible to find the best way to build a safe, reliable facility on the Hanson’s site and address all of the Coastal Commission’s concerns. Best of all it costs nothing more than the negligible costs of preparing and issuing the RFI.