The Machado Waste Water Facility in San Miguel hasn’t been updated since 2000, when it served about 400 connections.
“And as you can imagine, in 25 years, the town’s grown quite a bit,” said San Miguel Community Services District General Manager Kelly Dodds.
Now the facility that currently treats 200,000 gallons of water a day, has over 800 connections and sits at 75% capacity. Because of this, the San Luis Obispo planning commission recently approved a two-phase $54 million expansion project for the outdated facility.
“One [phase] will go to 325,000 gallons a day, and then the second phase will take it to 500,000 gallons a day. That first phase will take us past our projected growth through 2030, but potentially quite a bit longer than that, and then the final phase for the 500,000 gallons a day is the complete build out,” said Dodds.
According to Dodds, the new design will make the facility look significantly different.
“The new process will be a membrane bioreactor. It's a package plant. Essentially, it will look like giant shipping containers.”
For locals, this new system means according to Dodds means the water is going to be dramatically cleaner.
It also means San Miguel has the opportunity to continue growing.
“We have a project that's, 180 homes, another one that's potentially 70 homes and some apartments that are being planned. Those are dependent on this treatment plant being built,” Dodds explains.
Although typical construction concerns like added traffic, noise, and dust are anticipated, Dodds thinks the project will benefit neighbors in the long term.
“It should improve their overall air quality because they won't have to listen to the aerators all the time and treatment won't be happening right next to next to their properties," said Dodds.
“I’m pretty content with it because they’re gonna have to do it to make it grow," said Mike Hove, a San Miguel resident. "It’ll bring all the property values up in San Miguel too.”
Dodds says they are waiting on final approval for grant funding and says it is too early to predict any changes to customer rates. Construction for the project is tentatively expected to start in early 2026.
For questions or if you have concerns about the project, you can contact the San Miguel CSD at 805-467-3388.
