Memorandum
Date: June 9, 2020
To: The Honorable Moke Simon, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Jan Coppinger, Special Districts Administrator
Subject: (Sitting as the Lake County Sanitation District, Board of Directors) - Approve Proposed Project and Purchase of Septage Receiving Station for SE Regional Treatment Plant
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
Lake County Sanitation District has allowed septic haulers to dump at the headworks of SE Regional and NW Regional Treatment Plants. Reporting has been on an "honor system" and the septic haulers are to leave a dumping ticket in a box to report dropping a load. For the last couple of years, we have noticed under reporting of loads and gallons per loads. Trucks have been seen dumping but no tickets are left in the box. Loads with garbage, cleaning rags and paper towels are also being dumped and requiring additional measures for the staff to remain compliant.
During the last few months, we have experienced illegal loads, (toxic contaminates) that destroy the biological treatment process and are not allowed at any Lake County treatment plants. Due to the failure to report all loads, we are not always able to determine which hauler dumped the loads that destroyed the treatment process. On one occasion an illegal load was dumped and damaged the treatment process; we tested the sewage and found it to contain high amounts of Ethanol and Acetone. These chemicals shock the biological process and the ponds take several weeks to recover and regain compliance with State regulations.
It is possible that septic haulers are not aware when they are picking up loads that are highly contaminated but with accurate reporting, the site that is being picked up could be quickly identified and the hauler would know waste from that location must be taken out of county to a receiving site that accepts highly toxic waste.
In an effort to address the under reporting and the illegal l...
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