Dana Point : Improvements to Start at Reclamation Plant

Construction is due to start in about two weeks on a $5-million facility that will reduce odors and provide other services at the South East Regional Reclamation Authority plant in Dana Point.

Bill Sukenik, the authority’s general manager, said the new two-story building will be located on the northwest corner of the plant site at 34152 Del Obispo St. It will minimize an odor problem, which has plagued the neighborhood for years, by enclosing sludge dewatering and truck-loading operations, he said.

In addition, space will be provided for enlarging the plant’s laboratories.

He said the 13,200-square-foot structure will blend architecturally with other new buildings in Dana Point, and that it will be enhanced by appropriate landscaping.

The project is being jointly funded by a $3.2-million federal grant, a $500,000 state grant, a $500,000 state loan and $800,000 in local funds, Sukenik said.

The reclamation authority and its member agencies, using an ocean outfall line at Dana Point to dispose of treated waste water, serves 135,000 people in southern portions of Orange County, a figure that is expected to reach 400,000 by the year 2000.