SCH Number 2025070661

Project Info

Title

Chester WWTP NPDES Permit Compliance Project

Description

The Chester Public Utility District (CPUD or District) provides drinking water service and wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal services to the unincorporated community of Chester in Plumas County, California. The District currently serves approximately 2,187 residents with 1,255 wastewater connections. The District treats the community’s collected wastewater at the existing Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) which is a facultative lagoon facility constructed in 1981. The District is responsible for compliance with Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) enforced by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB). However, the District has exceeded effluent discharge limits over the last decade which resulted in the issuance of three Notice of Violations (NOVs) between 2017 and 2019, and a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) in September 2021. The NOVs identify violations at the WWTP and the CDO includes a schedule for completing specific actions to ensure compliance with the WDRs. Improvements are needed in response to the WDRs, NOVs, and CDO to bring the WWTP into full compliance with final effluent limits. Improvements to the WWTP include installation of a new emergency standby generator, an automatic transfer switch, and SCADA system; construction of two SAGRs®, a recycle pump station, WWTP building, chlorine contact basin, and on-site sodium hypochlorite generation facility; improvements to the existing mechanical headworks screen; and new pipeline to connect the new facilities to existing facilities. Additionally, the project would include demolition and backfill of the existing chlorine contact basin, and removal of the existing dried sludge pile located northeast of the ponds. The purpose of the project is to repair and replace aging infrastructure and make the necessary improvements to the WWTP to ensure compliance with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board requirements.

2 documents in project