Wastewater treatment upgrades, regulations mean higher costs

The treatment plant, located in Redwood Shores and serving more than 220,000 people, was commissioned in 1981, making much of it over 40 years old. The SVCW has also had to update much of its pipe and infrastructure that transport waste to the plant. 

“The focus of the capital projects to date have been replacing the conveyance system to the plant,” said Matthew Zucca, authority manager for Silicon Valley Clean Water. “Now what we have left is improvements at the plant itself, and those are being driven both by aging infrastructure and dealing with some unique issues at the site as well as more stringent regulations that are driving some of our anticipated capital costs.”

Plant upgrades include upgrading fixed film reactors, pumps and pipe repairs. And largely in response to the San Francisco Bay’s largest recorded algal bloom a few years ago, the region has implemented new rules for treatment plants, which were identified as a major cause of the dangerous bloom. 

“The plants weren’t designed to remove nitrogen, so now we have to go back through these 40-, 50- and 60-year-old plants and retrofit them or build new parallel plants to deal with the nutrient removal,” Zucca said.

That means Belmont’s capital share is increasing, and that may also require an increase for property owners. Currently, single-family residences pay $250 annually, with the rate remaining unchanged since 2011. According to a staff report, “this is no longer sustainable to keep up with Belmont’s ongoing capital contribution obligations to SVCW, particularly as SVCW’s CIP plan continues to develop and evolve into the future.

“The bottom line is, it’s a plant that has been there for 45 years, and these things don't last forever,” Councilmember Tom McCune said. “There have been a lot of improvements made, but there need to be some more things done so they keep serving us for another century, and there has got to be another way to pay for that.”

The city will further evaluate potential rate increases, with future public hearings likely held within 12 to 18 months.