Soda Springs gives new meaning to yellow snow
By Ryan Sabalow, Sacramento Bee
Should El Niño not live up to the hype and dump heavy snow on the Sierra, skiers and sledders at one resort could be gliding downhill this winter on snow that comes from an unusual source: purified water from the local sewage-treatment plant.
In a testament to how water-dependent industries are adapting amid California’s four-year drought, Soda Springs Mountain Resort this winter will be the first in California to use recycled wastewater for its snow-making system. The water will come from a nearby Donner Summit Public Utility District treatment plant that just received a $24 million upgrade.
Managers at the resort and water district officials assured customers Monday that the snow will be made from “pathogen-free, crystal clear,” highly treated water and that the recycled product actually will be safer than man-made snow transformed from surface water.
Nothing new up here. Quite a few years ago I ran for the STPUD board and approached HV and Blaise to back me on the premise we could use our water that we ship over the hill to the farmers in Alpine for snowmaking. The water would filter back down to the David avenue well where they get their water anyway and HV would just be buying it back again. Our water that we ship over the hill is almost as clean as other cities water. All we needed to do was get around the Porter-Cologne Act which is possible with the right people behind it. Also instead of shipping the water to Alpine County we could just move the pumping export lines to top of the summit (a shorter distance) and run it into the American River for Folsom. None of the snowmelt now that comes into the basin does our friends south of us any good as it goes to Nv. My opinion only