How is it safe to locate a treatment plant across the street from a school and dense multifamily development? What other examples are there of treatment plants being sited in this type of location?
The project will increase the public health, safety, and local amenity of school-goers and local residents.

The new facility will replace four aging wastewater systems (the Webster Elementary OWTS, Our Lady of Malibu OWTS, Malibu Colony Shopping Center treatment plant, and County-operated plant at Vista Pacifica St) that serve the two schools and the multifamily residences across from the site. Faculty, students, and residents have complained of odors and daylighting of sewage from failing systems for years. The RWQCB notified the schools that they must meet new water quality standards because of either failing or inadequate treatment in the aging onsite systems.

The new facility will have state of the art wastewater treatment equipment that will be fully covered, or enclosed within buildings. All treatment facilities will include full odor control. None of the four existing treatment systems in the vicinity have these features. The treatment facility will have an increased factor of safety because standby equipment and standby power will be built into the treatment systems to allow uninterrupted treatment in the event of equipment or power failure. This degree of safety is not provided by the existing treatment facilities in the area.

The treatment facility will be further away from the school and local residences than the County treatment plant, which is not odor scrubbed, is not fully enclosed or covered, and provides little visual screening of its process tanks.

The closest example of a treatment plant being sited in this type of location is the County treatment plant, which treats flow from the nearby condominiums. As stated previously, this plant is closer to the condominiums than the proposed new treatment plant. Los Angeles’ Hyperion wastewater treatment plant, which treats 800 times the projected flow of the Malibu plant, is within 400 feet of residential structures.

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1. Why is the City making property owners connect to the sewer project?
2. What is the scientific basis for implementing this project? How do we know it will work to clean up Malibu Creek and Lagoon?
3. Why is the Winter Canyon property the preferred site for the treatment plant? Why were other sites rejected?
4. How is it safe to locate a treatment plant across the street from a school and dense multifamily development? What other examples are there of treatment plants being sited in this type of location?
5. Was any consideration given to the effects the new treatment plant will have on property values for residents across the street?
6. What are the water quality standards that will be met for treated wastewater that is used for recycling and for dispersal into the lower aquifer that flows to the ocean?
7. Are there airborne pathogens or odors that will leave the treatment plant site and affect the schools / residences across the street?
8. Are there violations in effect for the two other treatment plants- the County-operated plant serving the condominiums and the former plant on the new CCWTF site?
9. Will any parking spaces lost to the injection well installation on Malibu Road be replaced?
10. Does the Phase 1 project include storage for delivery of recycled water to properties for irrigation?
11. Will Phase 2 and 3 property owners have to pay for a 10 million-gallon recycled water storage tank?
12. Will Phase 2 and 3 property owners be paying for infrastructure, including recycled water storage, required for Phase 1?
13. Will Serra Canyon households be charged for use of recycled water? If Serra Canyon does not vote to hook up in Phase 2, will there be any change to the recycled water dispersal plans or constraints fo
14. How far do the Phase 1 collection and distribution systems extend?
15. Serra property owners commissioned a study that shows no impact on Malibu Creek and Malibu Lagoon from these properties. Why is the City requiring them to be in the prohibition zone?
16. What infrastructure will be in the floodplain and how protected is this infrastructure?
17. What happens if there is a major earthquake?
18. What will prevent sewage or treatment chemicals from spilling into the wetlands on the treatment plant site, or flowing under Pacific Coast Hwy, if there is a power outage or a major backup?
19. What about homes that sit below the level of the street, such as in the Malibu Knolls area?