San Miguel’s wastewater facility needs updates—not only to accommodate a growing population, but to keep up with state mandates.
Those enhancements are now in the realm of possibility after the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission unanimously approved the expansion of the Machado Wastewater Treatment Facility on July 24, allowing it to more than double its daily treatment capacity as part of a $54 million project.
San Miguel Community Services District (CSD) General Manager Kelly Dodds urged the Planning Commission to approve the expansion on July 24 to comply with State Water Resource Control Board mandates requiring that wastewater facilities have the capacity to accommodate 30-year projected average daily flows and to produce recycled water for irrigation.
Located at 1765 Bonita Place on a 39-acre plot owned by the San Miguel CSD, Machado has treated the area’s water since 1944. But since 1999, it hasn’t received any updates. Right now, the facility processes about 200,000 gallons of water a day, but under state mandate, it will eventually need to process at least 500,000 gallons.
Dodds said there’s about 200 to 250 proposals for single- and multi-family home builds in the area, which are currently stalled because of the district’s water treatment capacity. He said that households using septic tanks would also need to be added to the water treatment system.
In total, the project would cost $23 million to $54 million, but San Miguel is banking on a $23 million grant from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to make it happen. Then, any new construction would be subject to connection fees.
“Without state funds, the project would be stalled,” Dodds told the commission on July 24.
Some commissioners said that they worried for the pocketbooks of local residents, considering San Miguel’s recent discussions around dissolving, similar to the San Simeon CSD currently undergoing the process.
Commissioner Annie Wyatt asked how that could possibly affect who’d be responsible for the $54 million, if state funds fell through.
“We’re facing a real prospect that either existing residents may have to shoulder more than a fair share of this burden for new expansion or the county as a whole may have to shoulder some of this burden,” she said.
General Manager Dodds said the district doesn’t want this to happen.
“Our goal is to only start construction when we have those state funds,” he said. “We don’t want to move forward prematurely and saddle the community with something they can’t afford.”
Commissioner Steve Lieberman said that the project would have to happen eventually under state mandate.
“I’m very comfortable today and what’s been presented to us,” he said.
The plan was apporved by a 4-0 vote, and General Manager Dodds told New Times via email that once engineers finalize the project’s plan, it will submit it to the county and state officials, which he anticipates will be approved by the end of the year.
“We are also working with the state Department of Financial Assistance to complete necessary agreements for construction grant funding for the project,” he said. “Though we have grant funding that covers the design and engineering portions of the project, the district will not be moving forward with the plant construction without construction grants in place.”
The project is expected to break ground early 2026 and be completed by the end of that year, Dodds said, with no expected lapse in water treatment service. Δ
This article appears in Aug 14-24, 2025.