11:17 EDT Tuesday

Sewage shutdown to aid power problems

Timothy Roberts San Jose will shut down parts of its water pollution control plant during periods of peak energy use this summer to help the state weather an expected shortage of energy.

The plant is the city of San Jose's largest energy user. When the expected savings at the plant are added to those already planned, the city government will cut its normal 24 megawatt usage by 35 percent, says Mayor Ron Gonzales.

Mr. Gonzales joined the Jerry Brown, mayor of Oakland, and Willie Brown, mayor of San Francisco, and Gov. Gray Davis Monday afternoon at San Francisco's City Hall to urge business leaders and consumers to reduce energy consumption this summer. Each mayor also outlined his city's plans for cutting energy use.

The mayor said the waste water plant's operators will plan ahead for the shut downs so that no untreated wastewater will be allowed to reach San Francisco Bay.

"It is clear that conservation is critical," Mr. Gonzales said at the gathering. "It's going to take all of us to address the energy crisis this summer. With widespread cooperation, we'll be successful."

Mr. Gonzales and Santa Clara Supervisor's chairman Jim Beall will head an energy summit on Friday to talk further about ways of meeting the energy crisis. The meeting, which will take place at Synopsis Inc. in Sunnyvale, is the second energy summit.

http://sanjose.bcentral.com/sanjose/stories/2001/04/30/daily14.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 01, 2001