LADWP FINAL LOGO LOCKUP CASUAL CMYKBISHOP AREA WASTEWATER AGENCIES JOIN FORCES—

LADWP MAY SELL LAND NOW USED FOR DISCHARGE

In the long run, the biggest news from Monday’s Bishop City Council meeting may be that Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could consider selling the land being used for waste water discharge by both the City of Bishop and the Eastern Sierra Community Service District.

And, the news gets better. While the nine department parcels recently listed for sale will be appraised for the highest and best use—a term that implies serious money—Clarence Martin, LADWP aqueduct manager, told the Council, this acreage would be sold as ranch land.

Details, of course, have to be worked out over time.

The possible sale came up during a discussion of Bishop and ESCSD forming a Joint Powers Agreement, a mechanism that will smooth the way for collaboration on future projects. The two entities’ share part of the effluent fields and their processing facilities are just 70-feet apart.

What the two entities don’t share is capacity levels. Bishop’s treatment process and pond capacity is designed to handle 1.6 million gallons a day but the city only flows roughly 600,000 gallons a day, according to Destin Dishion, Public Works director. ESCSD, on the other hand, is nearing its treatment capacity.

Bishop and ESCSD jump-started collaboration with a request to share the cost of a combined effluent study by Resource Concepts, Inc. at a total price of $35,000. The study will determine the amount of land necessary to dispose of treated effluent without polluting the groundwater, Dishion explained.

The total 165-acre discharge area should handle the amount of effluent from both agencies. But, with the current flood irrigation practices, the water only reaches 40 of Bishop’s 125 acre lease according to Dishion.

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