Fifty-four years ago, Santa Barbara County designated Los Olivos as a “Special Problems Area” because of nitrate intrusion into the groundwater.

The purpose of that designation was to limit more sewage going into the ground from both residential and commercial development.

Since 1972 the town and surrounding community that exists today has more than tripled in size and in sewage disposal into the groundwater aquifer.

The “Special Problems Area” designation did not control growth.

Both the county’s and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board’s positions have been that if the community doesn’t eliminate nitrate intrusion via the current septic system of sewage disposal, they will impose a solution.

So to control Los Olivos’ own destiny, residents voted to form a Los Olivos Community Services District eight years ago.

Since then we have elected board members to find a local solution that maintains our small community’s rural character, is cost effective, and that the governing county and state agencies will approve.

On July 8, the district board voted to move forward on a 60%-engineered design for a sewer system with a pipeline to Solvang that would be owned by the district and engineered and sized for the capacity needs of Los Olivos.

No other properties outside the district could legally access it.

At this time, engineering and design is 30% completed so cost projections are guesstimates, not a final engineer’s cost estimate.

Guesstimates show a sewer system will not be cheap, around $48 million. Once engineering and environmental analysis are completed, an engineer’s cost estimate will more accurately define what a sewer system will cost.

At that point there will be a state-mandated Proposition 218 vote. Property owners in the district will accept or reject a sewer system.

That vote will be weighted according to use and allocate costs accordingly.

For example, if the commercial core uses 80% of the capacity, it will pay 80% of the costs of construction and of ongoing operations and maintenance.

In that instance, residential properties would then pay 20%.

As with everything in this life, there is a group of people who don’t like or want a sewer system. They generally fall into two categories.

Some say that the county is not currently “red tagging” septic systems so there is no need to do anything. Simply put, that a sewer system is an expensive government boondoggle.

Others say that there is a less expensive alternative and that a pipeline to Solvang’s waste water treatment faculty will induce growth along Alamo Pintado Road.

Their alternative is an as yet to be determined version of what is called a STEP system. Small treatment plants (maybe three or four?) would be located around the district to treat fluid waste and pump it back into the ground.

Solid waste would be held on each parcel, periodically pumped and transported to a disposal facility.

The claim that this would be less expensive is questionable. Costs asserted by STEP proponents for land acquisitions, construction, maintenance and district monitoring for multiple treatment plants, solid waste holding tanks on about 383 parcels, long-term costs of district monitoring, and property owners’ costs are speculation.

For the individual homeowner, it could well be that, over time, this type of system will be as costly, maybe more costly, than a sewer system. It’s absolutely certain to be more complicated to operate, maintain and monitor.

As for growth inducement, a pipe down Alamo Pintado Road is a concern. But also of concern is approval by the county and the state of small modular plants as the long-term solution to sewage treatment.

That opens up the whole Santa Ynez Valley to “up-zoning” for residential development. Developers under California’s builder’s remedy law will use the precedent of county and state approval of smaller self-contained sewage treatment systems to convert agricultural land into housing.

So long as the county and the state control this issue and Los Olivos is designated as a “Special Problems Area” the community faces tough decisions.

Any solution will be expensive and disruptive. Any solution could well be growth-inducing in Los Olivos and, as concerning, throughout the valley.

And as we’ve experienced, being designated as a “Special Problems Area” has not stopped growth.