Q22: What projects will involve pump stations and force mains?

A. These are the principal projects:

• Equipping of 25 pump stations with redundant alarms and level control systems.
• Replacement of aging portions of force mains.

Q23: What is the District’s recycled water program?

A.  As part of the Secondary Treatment Plant Upgrade and Recycled Water Expansion Project, the recycled water facility capacity was  expanded from 1.4 to over 5 million gallons per day.

 Q24: Can the District do anything about the cost of employee pension and health insurance?

A. Employee benefits, as well as salaries, are a cost of doing business. The District strives to keep employee costs as low as possible while also being able to retain excellent employees who work efficiently and effectively, which in the long run serves to keep overall costs lower than they would be otherwise. As a result, the District has avoided costly fines for sewer overflows or spills, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Q25: Do new homes and other new development pay a fee to connect to the sewer system?

A. Yes. The District has connection fees, which in effect buy additional capacity in the treatment plant. The area of the District’s jurisdiction is essentially built out and only in-fill development is anticipated to occur in the future. For information about specific connection fees and policies, contact the District office.

Q26: Are District workers city, county, or state employees?

A. No. They are employees of Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District, an independent special district.

Q27: What are the three types of wastewater treatment?

A. The three types of treatment offer increasingly more advanced treatment, beginning with primary (physical) and advancing through secondary (biological) and finally tertiary (physical and chemical).

Q28: What are the beneficial by-products of wastewater treatment?

A. Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District recycles water for use in wetlands ponds and for landscape irrigation. The District also takes methane gas from its process and generates electricity in a cogeneration plant.

Q29: How many households are in the District?

A. About 12,000.