Cambria’s Water Reclamation Facility has existed in a cycle of uncertainty for more than a decade—built in a drought emergency, rarely operated at full capacity, and burdened by the unresolved problem of dealing with its waste.
Now, after piloting a way to leave the facility without any liquid waste, the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) is weighing whether the emerging technology known as zero liquid discharge (ZLD) could eventually replace its current disposal method.
At the April 9 CCSD board meeting, district staff confirmed the pilot project was considered successful from a technical standpoint but said the agency cannot afford to move forward without outside funding.
“Essentially staff is acknowledging that financially we can’t afford this technology at the moment,” CCSD General Manager Matthew McElhenie said, noting that the district is pursuing potential funding through federal partners, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state and regional grants.
The ZLD pilot, developed by Global Water Innovations, was designed to address a long-standing constraint on inland desalination: brine disposal. Unlike coastal systems that can discharge into the ocean, Cambria’s facility must manage concentrated waste inland.
Today, the district’s primary disposal method is trucking brine to South San Luis Obispo Sanitation District in Oceano. The process is costly and labor-intensive, with expenses tied directly to the volume of brine produced.
During public comment, residents were skeptical about the data supporting the new system. Cambria resident Christine Heinrichs said the technical report was difficult to interpret, and she called for an independent scientific review before the district commits further resources. She also outlined three disposal pathways: continued trucking, adoption of ZLD technology, or potential discharge through the San Simeon ocean outfall.
San Simeon resident Hank Krzciuk questioned the scale of the pilot testing compared to the facility’s daily output.
“The WRF [Water Reclamation Facility] concentrate production typically ranges between 20,000 and 50,000 gallons per day. That is a lot of brine,” he said. “The question is kind of a basic one. So, how much brine was successfully treated using the proposed process?”
CCSD Utilities Manager Jim Green said the pilot operated at roughly 10 gallons per minute and used about 10,000 gallons of brine in total.
The system’s developer, Clark Easter, defended the results, describing the pilot as scientific validation rather than a full-scale operational trial. He said the technology achieves higher water recovery by addressing two key limitations in reverse osmosis systems: mineral scaling and osmotic pressure constraints.
Easter said pilot results demonstrated 98 to 99 percent water recovery in similar applications and said the technology is already being evaluated at agricultural and industrial sites in other states.
“The purpose of the pilots was to advance the science,” Easter said, emphasizing that the project was designed to test feasibility, not necessarily to sell to Cambria.
Board members questioned how pilot-scale results translate into full deployment, but also acknowledged the broader brine management challenges. CCSD Vice President Karen Dean said the district has been directed through its strategic plan to evaluate multiple disposal options.
One of those alternatives—the San Simeon ocean outfall—was also discussed during the meeting. McElhenie clarified in an email to New Times that there is no active project or agreement in place.
He said the district recently initiated preliminary discussions with San Simeon and the county through a letter of intent as part of long-term planning, but stressed that the outfall option remains conceptual.
“The San Simeon ocean outfall represents an existing permitted discharge asset that, if available in the future, could provide a more efficient, lower-cost disposal pathway than trucking,” McElhenie said. “That said, there is no active project, agreement, or commitment in place, and any future consideration would require extensive coordination, environmental review, permitting, and public process.”
He added that trucking remains the district’s current disposal method, where brine is stored on-site and transported by tanker truck to Oceano under existing agreements. While dependable, the process costs about 25 cents per gallon, Easter previously told New Times.
At the April 9 meeting, the board ultimately directed staff to continue pursuing funding opportunities while evaluating all disposal alternatives, including trucking, ZLD technology, and potential regional infrastructure partnerships.
On Feb. 26, the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission unanimously approved Cambria’s water reclamation facility for a permanent Coastal Development permit. McElhenie told New Times there were six appeals to the Board of Supervisors and the hearing is scheduled for June 16. ∆
This article appears in April 16-23, 2026.