Utility district pursues replacing sewage export pipeline

Monday, Nov. 23, 1998 | 9:42 a.m.

Earlier this month, South Tahoe Public Utility District directors halted work on the 26-mile-long pipeline that pumps treated wastewater from South Lake Tahoe to Alpine County.

They expressed anger over the failure of the federal government to provide more than $9 million in promised funds.

But last week, directors decided to proceed with the project through a new arrangement.

The utility will reapply for the $9.6 million in federal funds already appropriated for the project, but must come up with more of its own funds to match the money.

To do so, local residents will face a 3.2 percent hike in sewer rates each of the next five years.

The new plans call for the Tahoe Basin portion of the pipeline to be replaced by 2004, four years later than originally expected.

President Clinton anounced funding for the project during the July 1997 presidential summit on Lake Tahoe, saying it was critical to protect the lake's environment.

By law, all wastewater must be pumped out of the Tahoe Basin because of its threat to the lake's famous clarity.

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