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Hollister city officials claim wastewater treatment plant operator Veolia has not been properly maintaining the city’s wastewater facility since at least “early 2025,” leading to overflows and other violations, according to an April 17 compliance report sent to the regional water board.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued the city a notice of violation in February alleging eight lapses at the facility ranging from excessive odor to overflow from basins. As a result, the city is facing potential fines of up to $5,000 for each day per violation, with some dating back to 2024.
“The failures that have occurred at the facility are clearly a result of lack of maintenance and oversight,” City Manager Ana Cortez said in the report.
Cortez said in addition to the maintenance issues, Veolia has not submitted completed self-monitoring reports since 2024.
In response, Veolia Communications & Community Relations Manager Mayra Jimenez told BenitoLink the company has consistently met all authorized maintenance and operational responsibilities.
“The facility has experienced changes in incoming flows and debris conditions that it was not originally designed to handle, which have affected certain treatment processes required for Title 22 [recycled] water,” Jimenez said. “Addressing these conditions has required a combination of operational adjustments, maintenance work and longer-term capital improvements.”
Cortez’s report says the city will review its contract with Veolia and that if it determines the facility warranties were “voided” because of the lack of maintenance, the contractor will be held “responsible for costs.”
Cortez told BenitoLink the city is likely to review Veolia’s performance and consider seeking a new operator. Veolia’s contract expires in August. The city pays the operator $1.8 million annually for its services.
“The city and their consultants believe that the treatment plant is designed specifically to address debris, grit, rags, and other material and that the facility had been operating under this condition for over a decade,” Cortez wrote in her report. “Nothing has been identified that is new or abnormal in the wastewater stream that should not have been removed if the headworks [had been] maintained properly.”
Cortez said the lack of maintenance of the headworks area—where the wastewater enters the facility—as well as the influent lift station, fine screen systems and grit removal, were the primary reasons the membrane bioreactor system failed.
A membrane bioreactor system is a biological treatment method of removing solid waste.
“The failure of the screening systems due to lack of maintenance at the facility resulted in significant bypass flow around the fine screens and allowed unscreened wastewater to enter the MBR [membrane bioreactor] system, clogging the membranes and resulted in overflows from the aeration basins,” Cortez said.
Cortez said Veolia, which has operated the facility since August 2010, did not notify the city of “any significant operations and maintenance concerns” until state representatives conducted a site visit at the waste water facility in December.
In addressing the violations, Cortez said the city retained two consultants with expertise in wastewater treatment to assist in reviewing reports and equipment, interviewing staff and developing a plan to bring the facility into compliance.
According to the compliance action plan Hollister submitted with the report, the city has replaced aerators, refurbished screens and introduced solids enzymes to the solids stabilization basin.
It plans to install chopper pumps, install permanent aerators and drain and repair basins with various completion targets between April and June, according to the action plan.
The violations come five years after the facility placed first in the Small Plant of the Year category by the California Water Environment Association. The award noted at the time the plant had zero violations and that the operators received ongoing training in safety, supervision and management.
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