On Jan. 26, community members, including former Secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and California Assemblymember Anna Caballero, were given a tour of the regional wastewater treatment plant, located at the corner of San Juan Hollister Road and Highway 156.

For the past decade, the city of Hollister has struggled with wastewater issues, including not meeting state quality standards and concerns about the treatment plant’s capacity to handle future growth. Before the tour began, Hollister City Manager Bill Avera, assured the group that, thanks to the forethought and advanced design of the new plant, Hollister should be able to put the issues of water quality, cost and capacity, to rest for the foreseeable future.

“The plant can handle 5 million gallons a day,” said Avera. “Today we are processing about 2.2 million gallons a day. So, we could double the size of our community and still be able to handle it.”

Avera also said that thanks to the increased efficiency of the plant he did not expect to see an increase in the current water rates and that the plant’s output met state standards.

“This is a state of the art facility,” Avera said. “It should be around for the next fifty to seventy years.”

The tour was organized by Hollister City Councilwoman Mickie Luna.