Investment in recycled water has been on SAM’s agenda for years. A 2005 study outlined the feasibility of constructing a wastewater treatment plant that would serve the city of Half Moon Bay, Granada Sanitary District and Montara Water and Sanitary District — approximately 22,000 people. Based on the findings, SAM officials have been contacting major stakeholders to survey conceivable customers of recycled wastewater.
“We want to talk to the potential users, get their level of interest and even a legal commitment from them now, then we’ll start working toward the final design of the recycled water facilities,” Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside Manager Jack Foley said. “At the same time, we’re going to report to the board on funding alternatives — find out what grants and loans are out there for us.”
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“We’re not going to do desalination,” Foley said. “We’re going to take wastewater that we’ve already collected, and we’re going to use conventional wastewater and drinking water recycling methods.”
The plan involves gathering wastewater from the Coastside and treating it via screening, grit removal and disinfection. Following treatment, the water would be rerouted back to irrigate the plots of major customers, and excess water would be discharged into the ocean. There are no plans to turn recycled water into drinking water.
John Muller of Daylight Farms — a member of the SAM board of directors — has expressed an interest in using recycled water to irrigate his row crops.
“I’m excited,” he said. “Hopefully, we can move forward and investigate the practicality of (water reclamation). I think it’s definitely a thing of the future. We all have to look closely at our resources and this would be a good way to reuse some of that water that we pump out to sea.”
“We’re hoping in 2009 we’ll be able to say: here’s how much water we’ll be able to produce, here’s how much it’ll cost, and here’s how much we’ll need to produce,” Foley said. “Then we’ll determine treatment levels, distribution of piping, where funding will come from, and then we’ll be able to begin permitting.”
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