A judge on Monday gave Sacramento's sewage treatment agency another six months to meet stricter filtration rules for the effluent it discharges into the Sacramento River.
The action by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny comes in response to a lawsuit filed in December by the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District. The district is challenging a new waste discharge permit imposed in December 2010 by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Both parties supported the extension to allow time for the State Water Resources Control Board to hear a separate administrative appeal. In September 2010, the state board directed its staff to finish the review by April.
"It is our belief that the review by the State Water Board should occur before this goes to the courts," said Ken Landau, the regional board's assistant executive officer.
The sewer agency has until July 1, 2021, to satisfy stricter filtration standards in the new permit. The prior deadline was December 2020. It also "stops the clock" on the litigation, Landau said, until July 1 of this year to allow time for the administrative appeal.
The action does not apply to new treatment standards dealing with ammonia in the effluent, suspected of disrupting habitat and wildlife in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The sewer agency did not seek a time extension for that piece of the permit.
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