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The City of Twentynine Palm’s Sewer System is still in early stages. The city says that the planned infrastructure is necessary for the growing area, not only for downtown businesses but residential areas that will rely on a healthy water table as the population grows. Like most of the Morongo Basin, Twentynine Palms relies on private septic tanks for sewage treatment. Both the city and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center have plans to modernize their wastewater treatment with sewer systems, and newest Twentynine Palms City Commissioner Octavious Scott sat down with Gary Daigneault on the “Up Close Show” and they spoke about how the sewer is essential for the cities future growth:
Octavious Scott: “We have to look at the our sewer system – or a lack of – it’s very important. We’re one of the few cities in California that doesn’t have a sewer system, everyone is on a septic tank and so that hinders growth. At the same time it’s a balancing act – we want to maintain the charm of the city, we want to maintain the culture of the city, but we also want to provide some extra businesses, and we can’t we can’t attract some of these businesses until we can solve the sewer issue.”
Building the infrastructure for the sewer won’t be cheap and getting residents hooked up to the sewer may be a long process – but City Commissioner Scott says that if all goes to plan, residents won’t be picking up the tab for the initial build out and hookup.
Octavious Scott: “So we’re pursuing we’re pursuing Federal money to do the sewer and if everything goes as planned we should be able to start we should be shovel ready within the next couple of years. But the goal of the city council and the goal the city of Twentynine Palms is to make sure that if we do this sewer system, that no resident in Twentynine Palms has to pay for the the hookup charges… and so we might have to scale the project back depending on how much money that we’re able to get from the state and from the federal government.”
Scott goes on to say that while those federal grants are expected to pay for home hookups to the new sewer – residents will still pay a monthly bill for sewage, just like any other public utility.
You can hear the full conversation that Gary Daigneault had with Commissioner Scott – where they discuss his background and journey to the city commissioner chair, along with other Twentynine Palms business – right here:
Read more on other wastewater developments in the Morongo Basin, such as Yucca Valley’s 300+ residents that have yet to start the hook-up process:
