PALMDALE RATE HIKE MAY BE IN WORKS.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Palmdale homeowners would see their sewer-service bills rise by $30 per year for the next three years under a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County sanitation district proposal to pay for cleaning up pollution and improving sewage treatment Sewage treatment Unit processes used to separate, modify, remove, and destroy objectionable, hazardous, and pathogenic substances carried by wastewater in solution or suspension in order to render the water fit and safe for intended uses. . Sanitation District 20's board will vote on sending out public notices about the proposed 42 percent rate hike at a meeting in Palmdale on Wednesday, but won't take action at that time on setting rates. A public hearing on the rate proposal would likely occur in August. A second round of further rate hikes, spread over two years, is also being considered. That proposal won't be brought forward until after the district prepares a master plan for its operations through 2025. Wednesday's meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Palmdale City Hall, 38300 Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling . Under Proposition 218, officials are authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: to increase fees for essential services such as water and sewers without going to a public vote. The law requires, however, a notification of the proposed rate hike and a public hearing before the governing body Noun 1. governing body - the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he can enact an increase. Homeowners in the district now pay $71 a year for service. Rate hikes are also being proposed for the sanitation district covering Lancaster, but there the issue is the capacity of the treatment plant. ``In Lancaster, the issue is acquiring land,'' said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who sits on the boards of both districts. ``In Palmdale, it's the cleanup effort. We have a responsibility to do a cleanup on the nitrate nitrate, chemical compound containing the nitrate (NO3) radical. Nitrates are salts or esters of nitric acid, HNO3, formed by replacing the hydrogen with a metal (e.g., sodium or potassium) or a radical (e.g., ammonium or ethyl). plume.'' Nitrates are pollutants pollutants see environmental pollution. that can cause a condition known as ``blue baby'' syndrome among infants. Nitrates have leached into the underground water table from Sanitation District 20's 23-year-old practice of spreading treated sewage effluent effluent waste from an abattoir carried away in liquid form. Disposal is a major problem because of the need to avoid pollution of waterways. See aerobic effluent treatment, anaerobic effluent treatment. on barren land to soak into the ground. Nitrates in well water pulled from near the spreading grounds since 1990 have periodically tested above the state cleanup level of 10 milligrams per liter, and computer projections show that if things don't change by 2025, the level could reach 24 milligrams per liter. The natural or background level is 0.75 milligrams per liter, officials said. In 2000, the state's Lahontan Regional Water Quality Board directed the sanitation district to come up with a plan to lessen its Palmdale sewage treatment plant's impact on groundwater. ``Most of that (rate hike) is geared toward the groundwater cleanup,'' said Dave Bunz, head of financial planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against for the county sanitation districts. Developing long-term solutions for treating and handling the sewer is expected to cost $100 million. In the short term, the groundwater cleanup is estimated to cost $15 million. The district also plans to spend $3 million to set up a temporary disinfection disinfection, n the process of destroying pathogenic organisms or rendering them inert. disinfection, full oral cavity, n a procedure used to reduce active periodontal disease, usually completed within a certain short time frame. system and spend $2.5 million on nitrate research. Operations and maintenance of cleanup and treatment equipment will be about $1 million a year. The east Palmdale sewage plant takes in sewage from businesses and homes of 150,000 people - about 15 million gallons of effluent a day, up from 750,000 gallons a day when the plant opened in 1953 to serve a population of fewer than 10,000 people. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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