Point Reyes Light -- August 28, 1997

Regional water board wants sewage ponds fixed

By Marian Schinske

Citing a "strong possibility" that waste has been wrongfully discharged from sewage ponds above Millerton Gulch in Marshall, the Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered owner Judy Borello of Point Reyes Station to make changes.

This is the second time the water board has ordered the Borello family to upgrade their facility.

Borello this week insisted her ponds have never threatened local creeks, which flow into Tomales Bay, through an unauthorized discharge.

Nonetheless, the regional board is "prepared to stand behind the order," staff engineer Alan Friedman told The Light Tuesday. "A lot of thought went into preparing it, and we think it's fair."

The regional board's cease-and-desist order requires Borello to increase her watch over the ponds. She may also have to pay regional staff $1,750 to $2,800 to monitor the 10-month improvement project.

Don't want to close ponds

"We have no interest to put her [Borello] out of business. We just want to make sure she doesn't pollute state waters," said Bruce Wolfe, chief of the water board's North Bay division.

"The Tomales Bay watershed is a sensitive area, covered by the Shellfish Protection Act. Those ponds need to be monitored. Every drop counts."

Located in the hills above Millerton Creek, the ponds hold waste trucked in from West Marin, Two Rock, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Jenner by three septic companies: City Sewer, Redwood and Super Pumper.

Three interconnected ponds have a total capacity of 996,000 gallons. The waste is collected from November to April then sprayed as irrigation water on hills high above during the summer. Runoff from the spray field is trapped in a fourth pond.

Inspectors' findings

During three inspections last winter, regional staff discovered discharge from the fourth pond flowing down the hillside. They also found cattle drinking from the first three ponds, which had "incomplete fencing."

The inspectors also noted that one of the ponds was abnormally low despite heavy rainfall.

While evaporation and leakage may have contributed to the pond's drop in volume, "discharge could have been a major factor," Wolfe noted. The Borellos deny this.

"In fact, the Borellos explained to me that they move water around from pond to pond to maximize evaporation, so a dropping pond level doesn't necessarily indicate a discharge," said their consultant, Norman Hantzsche of Questa Engineering Corporation.

Previous problems

Built in 1970 by Judy Borello's late husband Bob, the ponds have had a troubled history with the regional board.

In 1984, the board issued a cleanup order, and a decade later state Department of Health staff admonished the Borellos for running water from one of the ponds to a nearby hillside with a garden hose.

"They said they were just siphoning off rain water, but we view any liquid in the pond as a waste. That kind of discharge hasn't ever been permitted on her property," Wolfe said.

To eliminate the present "discharge threat" to Tomales Bay, the regional board has now asked Borello to make several improvements:

  • A new level-gauge system must be installed at the first three ponds which, in turn, must be measured weekly and inspected bi-weekly for seepage, adequate freeboard, and overflow.

  • A gated outlet must be placed at the spillway of the fourth pond (which collects runoff) as a "fail-safe system," Wolfe said. "The idea is to manage this pond as a backup system," Wolfe said. "If no waste is found there, they could discharge the water and enter the wet season with a dry pond basin, which could then be used for the overflow. This would minimize the need for [an unpermitted] discharge."

  • Regional staff will routinely measure fecal-coliform levels in the fourth pond and in Millerton Creek. The Borellos, however, are unhappy with plans to monitor the creek. "There are at least two other ranches bordering Millerton Creek, so it will be impossible to determine the exact sources of coliform contamination through sampling," said their consultant Hantzsche, himself a former engineer for the Santa Rosa Regional Water Quality Control Board.

  • In addition, Borello's three main ponds must be cleaned twice a year. However, consultant Hantzsche said, "I think the Borellos should be allowed to clear the sludge on an as-needed basis since it costs $10,000 for each cleaning. They just cleaned the ponds in July."

    And the ponds are now surrounded with newly erected barbed-wire fences, he added.

    Need for ponds

    Meanwhile, the county's Environmental Health Department would like to keep the Borello operation in business.

    "As far as I'm concerned, those ponds are an asset to the community - as long as they're responsibly managed," said Ed Stewart, chief of Environmental Health. "They're readily accessible, and I imagine their costs to their West Marin customers are consistent."

    Regional board chief Wolfe agreed that "the waste has to go somewhere. It's probably less of a threat to have it stored in those ponds than leaking from someone's septic tank adjacent to a creek...

    "And to a certain degree, the Borello ponds are just one of many possible sources of pollution to the bay. Dairy and grazing operations may also be a problem. In the coming year, we're going to look more into the management of the entire Tomales Bay watershed."

    Still at issue are "what's right and what's wrong with the cleanup order itself," Stewart said. "Hopefully the state and Judy can reach an equitable agreement. They're not there yet."