"You can now flush with confidence," says Lafayette City Council member Mike Anderson. He's referring to the restroom facility at city-owned Buckeye Fields, also known as Chaney Fields, home of Lafayette Little League. The park used to have a septic tank, but it's now hooked up to the recently extended Central Contra Costa Sanitary line.
Because there was no room for leach lines when the fields were constructed, the restrooms had septic tanks that unfortunately, due to the amount of users, had to be pumped sometimes up to twice per week - at a cost of almost $20,000 per year to the City of Lafayette. The tanks were fully enclosed, according to Jennifer Russell, parks, trails and recreation director, "so odors were never an issue."
Negotiating over a period of roughly 10 years, City Manager Steven Falk worked with neighbors in the immediate area who were also on septic systems and with the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District to split the cost of extending the line further down St. Mary's Road. Over time, public works director Ron Lefler expects a substantial savings for the city.
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