State authorities: Big Basin Co. wastewater plant close, but not fully operable

Aug 28, 2023

BOULDER CREEK — A wastewater treatment facility in Boulder Creek that has been inoperable for years is almost up and running, but state authorities say it is not ready for new connections just yet.

In an email to the Sentinel on Thursday, Waste Discharge Requirements Program Manager with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Jennifer Epp said that Big Basin Water Co., which owns the wastewater treatment plant, submitted data in early August demonstrating that the biological activity in the plant was healthy and indicated it could produce safe effluent “in the near future.”

But more water quality data is needed before the state agency, responsible for wastewater treatment and disposal regulation, can give it the green light to fully resume operations.

“Central Coast Water Board staff needs to review the water quality data and the additional information before it can be determined if the treatment plant is operating in accordance with their permit requirements and before we can authorize Big Basin Water Company to accept flows from additional properties,” wrote Epp.

Epp said a media report released Wednesday with misleading/incorrect information led to several questions from property owners Thursday. The wastewater plant had previously been servicing the Fallen Leaf Drive neighborhood in Boulder Creek prior to the plant’s destruction three years ago in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. Big Basin had been manually pumping and hauling wastewater from existing connections since that time.

Epp reported at a community meeting in July that the state board learned last fall that wastewater was not being regularly pumped and hauled from the facility, which led to raw sewage spilling out onto the open ground around the facility. Epp called the situation “very serious and egregious.” In November, the agency ordered Big Basin not to accept additional flows until the plant was brought back into compliance.

“Based on the partial field data received so far, the Central Coast Water Board authorized Big Basin Water Company yesterday (Wednesday) to start disposing treated effluent to the leachfields (instead of pumping and hauling it to another facility),” wrote Epp. “We explained to them that even though we have not yet received all the data required by the monitoring and reporting program it is our understanding from the partial data received and conversations with their operator that some water treatment is occurring and the leach fields are not at risk of clogging from the effluent.”

Big Basin Water Co. is owned by Jim and Shirley Moore and their son, Damian, is the chief operator of the water and wastewater treatment provider. According to Damian, Big Basin is currently servicing 10 wastewater connections in the Fallen Leaf neighborhood.

“The state cleared us to discharge water into the leach fields, so at this point they need to decide whether or not they’re ready to let the county give permits,” Damian told the Sentinel on Thursday.

Fallen Leaf was one of many neighborhoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains devastated by the CZU fires. But now, more than three years later, the vast majority of the homes destroyed in the region have not been rebuilt and some who are in the process of doing so have expressed deep frustration with the permitting process.

Christopher Bradford, who recently launched a campaign for the 5th District seat on County Board of Supervisors, is a Fallen Leaf resident whose home was leveled during the 2020 fire. He said he is “one of the lucky few” that is close to finished with his rebuild and his wastewater connection is already hooked up, meaning the current moratorium doesn’t apply.

But he says he has plenty of neighbors who aren’t as lucky and are stuck in limbo while insurance funds from the fire are on hold or have almost dried up.

“It’s unconscionable, in my opinion, to be waiting for perfect when people are risking homelessness,” said Bradford. “The water board is kind of using us as a whip to get Big Basin Water in shape.”

Big Basin is required to submit effluent water quality data to the state every Friday and Epp confirmed that the most recent data was received Thursday afternoon. However, she said no decision will be made before the weekend so that staff has enough time to review it and decide if more is needed to “determine whether the plant is fully operational to allow for the plant to receive additional flows from additional parcels.”

As of Aug. 1, Big Basin had entered into a temporary operations and management agreement with Central States Water Resources, a private water utility headquartered in Missouri. As part of the agreement, according to a letter from the state control board, Central States will take over some of the operations and management of the water and wastewater systems, including billing and customer service. Ownership will not change, though Damian previously told the Sentinel in July that Big Basin had set up a purchase agreement with the company but the sales price and other details were being negotiated.

Any purchase of the company would have to first receive approval by multiple state regulatory authorities, which could take up to 12 months.

Separately, Big Basin is still operating its water system for more than 520 customers in Boulder Creek. But the company has been cited for almost a dozen violations since 2019 and in July, the State Water Resource Control Board Division of Drinking Water filed a lawsuit asking the court to appoint a receiver to bring the company back into compliance.

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