Utility district describes plan for future

About a year ago this journalist wrote an article about the relationship between Alpine County and the South Tahoe Public Utility District.

I explained how the two came together in a sort of partnership whereby the district transports treated sewage effluent from South Lake Tahoe by pipeline over Luther Pass and discharges it into a reservoir at the north end of the county.

If you read that article, you would know that the effluent is recycled for use as irrigation water for several ranches in the county during the growing season. The arrangement was set forth in a contract between the two entities in the late 1960s, and under the terms of that contract the district provides Alpine County around $100,000 and 15,000 pounds of fish each year.

So what does the county do with that money? The answer is that it's banked and accumulated for use in making capital improvements in the county. The county has any number of projects that need to be done, not the least of which is to provide a place for the sheriff's department instead of being in the basement of the court house as it is now. But I digress. This article is about the district's plans for its operation in the county in the future.

On July 23, the district released a draft environmental impact statement, which describes and analyzes its proposed new master plan and a number of projects it has in mind to do on its area of operation in the county.

Those projects, which would be done as funds become available, are intended to improve the transport and distribution of the recycled effluent for irrigation as well as to improve the quality and quantity of fresh water in Indian Creek Reservoir.

If you read that earlier article, you would know that the district built that reservoir back in the '60s in which to discharge its highly treated effluent.

Well, that system didn't work as well as it might have, so they built a new reservoir nearby to contain the effluent and converted Indian Creek Reservoir to a fresh water lake. Some of those 15,000 pounds of fish goes into that lake each year.

You were wondering what those fish were for? Well, there's the answer. Those are live fish and they are planted in lakes and streams in the county under the direction of the county Fish and Game Commission.

On Tuesday, representatives of the district met with the county's STPUD Contract Commission to give it an update about the district's plans and to report on the extensive ground water monitoring program that it conducts. For the benefit of the commission, district Land Application Manager Hal Bird went over a list of proposed projects.

During the meeting Bird reminded the commission of two meetings scheduled for the public to learn about the master plan and those projects and to make comments for the district to consider prior to preparing its final environmental impact statement. That document will lead to adoption of a new master plan.

We're nearly done here, folks. Now this is what you do if you're interested in that master plan and its possible environmental impacts: review the draft report which can be read at the Markleeville library, the Eldorado County library in South Lake Tahoe, or at the district's offices in South Lake Tahoe. It can also be found on the district's Web site.

Or you could attend one of those public hearings, the one at Turtle Rock Park near Markleeville 1-3 p.m. Sept. 2, or the one at the district offices in South Lake Tahoe on Sept. 3.

The public comment period closes on Sept. 6.