LIVERMORE — Winemakers in the southern Livermore Valley want to expand their industry, increasing the total acreage of vineyards, and possibly building out a resort, restaurants and other entertainment options, but to do all that, they need to hook up to the city’s sewer system, a move that would require voter approval.
Currently, most of the wineries in the unincorporated area are on septic systems, and the state has banned any significant expansion of the industry as it exists now to prevent further groundwater contamination.
Prompted by a request from the nonprofit Tri-Valley Conservancy — which works to preserve and expand vineyards and other agricultural and open space in the region — the Livermore City Council is having city staff work up a draft sewer expansion initiative that could be placed on the November 2022 ballot.
“Livermore’s current vineyards and wineries need all the support we can give them to become more profitable and gain a reputation for the fine wines it produces,” Laura Antrim, executive director of the conservancy, told the City Council at a Nov. 22 meeting.
The council also approved spending about $212,500 to pay a consultant to work up a supplemental environmental impact report on the potential sewer expansion, as well as help clarify how the current sewer system would handle such an expansion. Livermore operates its own sewer system, with about 28,,000 customers.
About 27,000 feet, or roughly five miles, of new sewer lines would be needed to hook up the wineries and vineyards into the city’s system, according to city consultant estimates. Further details on the work, including how much it would cost, aren’t yet clear, city officials said.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors, acting on a request from Livermore in 2020, put aside $6.5 million of county money to help fund the potential project.
Most wineries and vineyards in the area use septic systems. During the harvest season especially, they have to get rid of large amounts of wastewater from the production of wine, which can include diluted wine, organic particles and other material. There are about 50 operating wineries in the area, city reports said.
That dark reddish water and wine mix, often high in nitrates, can contribute to the degradation of the groundwater when dumped. In some areas, that can add to existing problems from a buildup of contaminants from earlier agricultural uses, such as hog and chicken farms, in the region over the decades, officials said.
Strict state water regulations prevent further expansion of current wineries or the addition of new ones with the current septic systems, advocates and city reports said.
“Over time, if things aren’t done to sort of allow the water to recharge and regain its quality, then it’s just going to continue to degrade, and adding more septic systems and wells out there would compound the problem,” Steve Stewart, the city’s planning manager, said in an interview Thursday.
Advocates and city officials say hooking these rural properties up to the city’s system would allow for groundwater quality to improve, and, crucially, would promote more growth in the winemaking region, realizing plans laid out in 1993 to expand vineyards to cover a minimum of 5,000 acres. There currently are about 4,000 acres of vineyards, city reports said.
Antrim, in an interview Friday, said plans for the area originally envisioned a variety of winery sizes, but the valley mostly has “micro-wineries,” along with two large producers: Concannon and Wente. Some smaller wineries have a hard time making a profit, she said.
“Some of our vineyards are not economically sustainable, so we are doing what we can to try to help increase the value of the grapes here, and the value of keeping these grapes planted,” she said.
Hooking up to Livermore’s sewer system would hopefully help attract medium-sized wineries and would allow “a destination-type hotel or resort” to be added. Antrim said that would help boost the valley’s profile to better compete with other winemaking areas, preserve the region’s greenbelt of vineyards and olive orchards, and support wineries of all sizes.
Kevin Baskin, the head of facilities at Concannon Vineyard, and a board member of the conservancy, said he thinks hooking up to the city system would be a boon for many wineries.
Concannon in 2017 was fined $635,000 by the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board for discharging eight times the permitted limits of nitrates into the groundwater.
Baskin said the winery has since improved its operations with an above-ground wastewater treatment plant that brings wine production water back into acceptable environmental levels before it’s pumped back out to the vineyards.
The winery also successfully petitioned to be annexed by the city of Livermore, so its domestic wastewater — from toilets and sinks in kitchens and bathrooms — is now hooked up to the city system.
Before that arrangement was complete, the winery was spending roughly $10,000 a month to collect and truck its wastewater offsite to be treated elsewhere.
“That was not sustainable for the long term,” Baskin said, and noted it threatened the viability of the winery as a whole.
While the total cost for the potential expansion is unclear, draft ballot language from the city says the expansion would be done “at no cost to the current ratepayers.”
“Those taking advantage of the extension would be paying for it,” Stewart said, but how the costs would be calculated and assessed is still being determined.
If the council ultimately decides to seek voter approval for the sewer extension, the city would have to pay the county to place the measure on the ballot. Stewart didn’t have an estimate of how much that would be.
“It’s not cheap,” he said.
The City Council will get a chance to review the ballot initiative language in the spring.
