Callahan Water Project:
Callahan has been unsuccessful in developing well water for drinking and must rely on
surface water. For years, the district has been plagued with twigs, leaves and sand coming
into the system. The area has been on a “boil water” order since 1996. With the
aid of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG,) the Callahan Water District has been
able to complete installation of a new raw water intake filtration system.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/
City of Etna Water Project: The City of Etna has
received a California Proposition 50 grant in the amount of $318,105 through the North
Coast Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (NCIRWMP) effort.
http://www.northcoastirwmp.net/ This will go toward rehabilitating the fish screen;
repairing the diversion dam and headgates; and building a step and pool fishway to reach
4.8 miles of coho habitat.
Yreka Landfill: Siskiyou County and the City of Yreka have
been in the process of negotiating a “buy/sell” agreement for the Yreka dump.
Years ago, all the cities in the county, with the exception of Yreka, opted to use the
county-owned facilities. Yreka opted to maintain its own landfill. Eventually, Siskiyou County
became a co-owner of the Yreka dump, while the City of Yreka continued to operate the
facility.
The Clean Water Act and other environmental regulations required most
of the dumps in the county to be closed. All were unlined operations and some had leachate
problems. Closure requires cleaning up some areas, capping others with surfaces to prevent
pollution and monitoring water quality. The County had to borrow about $3 million to close
the landfills. The citizens of Siskiyou County, with the exception of Yreka, (which has
its own site,) are levied a solid waste disposal fee of $63. This money and gate fees are
used to pay back the closure loans, transfer station building loans and are used to
operate the facilities. Currently, the citizens of Yreka do not pay a $63 fee to the
county. They use their city-owned facility. Monies to support that are an internal city
matter.
At Black Butte, the county replaced the landfill with a transfer
station. This is a covered site where individuals and commercial haulers drive up and
deposit garbage in large holding areas. The garbage is then loaded into trucks and hauled
to a lined facility out of the county. Siskiyou County is negotiating to buy the Yreka
landfill site, clean it up, close it and replace it with a transfer station. Because of
the costs associated with this, Yreka will actually pay the County to buy the site and the
cleanup costs. (An appraisal of closure and cleanup costs was done by a professional
firm.)
Many citizens of the County who pay the $63 fee have questioned
whether the citizens of Yreka will now have to pay the County the same fee. Because the
districts formed to levy the fees have already been established, Yrekans will not be
levied the fee on their property tax bill. Instead, the City of Yreka will pay the
approximate equivalent of the combined fees for their residents – $175,000, to Siskiyou County each year. |
