LAKEPORT — The Lake County Board of Supervisors, acting as the Board of Directors of the Kelseyville County Water Works District No. 3, approved an agreement-in-principle with Bottle Rock Power Company (BRP) to study the feasibility of the Kelseyville wastewater effluent pipeline and injection project.
Special Districts administrator Mark Dellinger said several years ago, the department investigated the potential of constructing a pipeline connecting the Kelseyville and Lakeport wastewater treatment plants to send treated wastewater to the northern portion of the Geysers steam field.
It was known as the “full circle” project, he said. The county signed an agreement-in-principle with the City of Lakeport at the time. Dellinger said the former owners of BRP also signed an agreement-in-principle but it was never utilized because there was a difficulty in obtaining funds. He said the latest feasibility study on this project was conducted in 2008.
Dellinger said the current owners of BRP expressed an interest in updating the feasibility of the project as well as conducting supplemental environmental surveys. He said the owners requested completing an agreement-in-principle before investing their funds.
The conditions state the water district, the county and City of Lakeport are not committed to the expenditure of funds because the agreement allows BRP to make a determination on whether or not to move forward with the project after updating feasibility work.
The conditions also state if BRP”s evaluation shows the project to be feasible, BRP would have further incentive to negotiate a final project agreement.
A member of the public said he was concerned about the seismicity of the project. Dellinger said an Environmental Impact Report and/or Environmental Impact Statement would be prepared to address the seismicity.
Dellinger estimated BRP would spend about $50,000 to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed project.
The board unanimously approved the agreement-in-principle.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
