CLEARLAKE — Lake County Special Districts Director Mark Dellinger recently stated that the moratorium prohibiting new hook-ups to the Southeast Regional Wastewater System (SRWS), in the Clearlake area, was lifted on Feb. 14. The moratorium, which had been in place for about two years, reached its limitation for extensions.
Lifting of the moratorium allows for new hook-ups to the SRWS collection system.
“We can get back on track with new development in the city now,” Clearlake Public Works Supervisor Doug Herron said.
The moratorium was put in place to allow for the completion of capacity improvements in the SRWS, Dellinger said, roughly within the center of the collection system. The area basically consists of that between the Clearlake Village area across the city to the area of Burns Valley Road. “The reason that area was defined is because that area was causing spills to result,” he said.
Dellinger said that the $5 million project is about 40 percent complete. Completed improvements include the installation of 4.9 miles of pipeline consisting 8-inch, 12-inch and 14-inch pipe throughout the line. He said upgrades have been made to Pump Station 1, located in the Burns Valley Road area; and Pump Station 4, located close to Highlands Harbor in the area of Shaw”s Shady Acres. “The way the pipeline and pump stations are designed, it will increase the capacity throughout the entire collection system,” he said.
Dellinger said that construction on the project has been delayed because of the weather in accordance with the county”s grading ordinance. However, he said that below grade work has been completed at the pump stations, allowing some work to continue through the typical winter shut-down period. He said he expects the work to resume around April 15.
According to Dellinger, the construction contract with Preston Pipelines, of Sacramento and Milpitas, calls for “substantial completion” by the end of this year. “They could have substantial completion before November because they go so much work done before the winter,” he said. “There will obviously be a lot of pipeline testing. There are a lot of procedures to go through in relation to equipment and construction material testing.”
