The city of Santa Barbara plans to rename the El Estero Water Treatment Plant.
The City Council voted 7-0 this week to call it the “El Estero Water Resource Center,” with the tagline of “Enhancing Santa Barbara’s Quality of Life.”
“El Estero is the single-most important facility for ensuring the protection of public health and the environment,” said Gaylen Fair, acting wastewater system manager. “We are trying to change the narrative around wastewater treatment.”
The city paid Katz & Associates, a public relations firm, about $33,000 to assist with public communication, and the rebranding and renaming of El Estero, which is at 520 E. Yanonali St.
El Estero recovers many resources, including the biogas generated from the breakdown of organic material in the digesters. This process is supplemented with sustainable disposal of fats, oils, and grease (FOG) at El Estero, according to a city staff report.
The facility receives FOG from local restaurants and injects it into the digesters, increasing biogas production, which fuels the co-generation facility, creating power for nearly 70 percent of El Estero’s electrical needs.
“We’re doing so much more,” said Joshua Haggmark, water resources manager. “It’s not just treating water.”
El Estero treats about 6.5 million gallons of the city sewage daily.
Only Councilman Jason Dominguez raised concerns about renaming the facility. He originally objected to the work “enhancing.”
“The concern I have is that ‘enhancing’ makes it seem like there’s something wrong with Santa Barbara’s baseline quality of life,” Dominguez said. “Why are we enhancing something with wastewater.”
He suggested “safeguarding” or “preserving” instead, but didn’t win any support from the rest of the council.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Hillary Hauser, executive director of Heal the Ocean. “It’s been so wonderful to work together with the city to go from sewage, to wastewater . . . and now it’s recycled water.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
