Project Information

Notice of Exemption

Project Description

Media Release - Sewer Project Update WWTF Sites (Feb. 6, 2026)

Executive Summary

Final PEIR Main Document

Final PEIR Addendum

Appendix A: NOP Scoping Report

Appendix B: Town of Paradise 1994 General Plan Resolution and Amendments

Appendix C: Regulatory Framework

Appendix D: Emissions Modeling

Appendix E: Vegetation Community Descriptions and Special-Status Species Accounts

Appendix F: Swainson’s Hawk Survey and Elderberry Shrub Mapping Report

Appendix G: Tribal Consultation

Appendix H: Pump Station Energy Consumption Calculation

Appendix I: Public Comments and Responses on Draft PEIR

Final PEIR Notice of Determination

Executive Summary

Chapters 1-7

Appendix A: NOP Scoping Report

Appendix B: Town of Paradise 1994 General Plan Resolution and Amendments

Appendix C: Regulatory Framework

Appendix D: Emissions Modeling

Appendix E: Vegetation Community Descriptions and Special-Status Species Accounts

Appendix F: Swainson’s Hawk Survey and Elderberry Shrub Mapping Report

Appendix G: Tribal Consultation

Appendix H: Pump Station Energy Consumption Calculation

Notice of Availability / Public Notice

Public Scoping Notice of Preparation

Public Scoping Notice (Enterprise Record & Paradise Post)

Draft PEIR Notice of Availability

Draft PEIR Notice of Availability and Public Meeting

Final PEIR Notice of Determination

Fact Sheet

Draft PEIR Public Meeting Display Boards

Town Council Final PEIR Meeting Presentation

Public Scoping Summary Report

In 2023, a rate analysis was performed that concluded that the Paradise Sewer Project needed to be entirely grant funded in order to be financially feasible for the rate payers. After completing the Basis of Design Report in 2024, the cost estimate for the Regionalization Project with input from the design engineer and contractor exceeded the amount of publicly available grant funds for projects of this nature. As a result of these reports and discussions with the State Water Board, it was determined that it is not financially feasible to proceed with the project with the regionalization option. In January 2025, Town Council made the decision to change the scope of analysis from a Regionalized Sewer System to a Local Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF).

In August 2025, the Town Council voted to approve the following sewer project description: Hybrid gravity/low-pressure (STEP) collection system with aerated lagoon wastewater treatment process and percolation pond land discharge. While procuring design services for the WWTF, the Town started looking for a viable site for the treatment and discharge facility. A desktop study of the region and soil testing at a few potential WWTF sites were conducted by the design engineer, concluding that the soils in and near Paradise will not work for percolation ponds of this size. Therefore, the treated effluent from any treatment facility will need to be discharged to a stream instead of onto land. One of the three project alternatives analyzed by the Ad Hoc Committee in 2025 included discharge to a surface water stream instead of onto land; therefore in June 2026, Town Council approved changing the project to a hybrid collection system with membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment process and surface water discharge system, the runner-up alternative analyzed in the July/August 2025 alternatives analysis.

Town staff are currently evaluating options for the WWTF location, in partnership with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Location selection will be dependent on several factors including treated effluent disposal, residuals management, land availability and environmental impacts.

Professional studies from industry experts in every decade since 1980 have been completed and all essentially come to the same conclusion: the Town is running out of time. It is inevitable that the continual degradation of groundwater quality, and exceedance of soil capacities to absorb and treat high volumes of wastewater will require action on behalf of the Town and its constituents. Please see below for a quick recap of the various studies that have been conducted to date.

2020 HDR Phase 1 Executive Summary

2020 Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board Alternatives Analysis

2017 Final Feasibility Report

2017 Fact Sheet

2012 TOP Wastewater Treatment Historical Background and Comparative Analysis

2010 TOP Wastewater Treatment & Collection System Feasibility Study for the Downtown Community Cluster System

2004 TOP Downtown Revitalization Area Clustered Wastewater Treatment System(s) Master Plan

2000 TOP Downtown Revitalization Master Plan

1992 TOP Wastewater Collection, Treatment and Disposal Preliminary Design Report – Volume 1

1992 TOP Wastewater Collection, Treatment and Disposal Preliminary Design Report – Volume 2

1989 TOP Sewer Project Feasibility Study

1985 TOP Wastewater Management Plan Phase II Report

1984 TOP Wastewater Management Study Supplementary Phase I Report

1983 TOP Wastewater Management Study Phase I Report

The Paradise Sewer Project Ad Hoc Committee was formed in January 2025 with the goal to increase project momentum while keeping the public apprised of project progress. The Ad Hoc Committee meets biweekly with the project team to assess opportunities and potential action. Mayor Steve Crowder and Councilmember Heidi Lange were appointed to the Sewer Project Ad Hoc Committee in January 2025. Additionally, Sewer Project updates are given monthly at Town Council meetings.

Since 2015, the Town has held 65+ public discussions on the project to share information and allow for public comment. To learn more about these past meetings, click here.

The Town held a community meeting about the project on March 5, 2025, at 6 p.m. To view a recording of the meeting, click here.

The Town held two Special Town Council meetings about the project with opportunities for public comment on July 24 and August 14, 2025. To view recordings of these meetings, click here.

Sewer Project updates are given monthly at Town Council meetings as a standing agenda item. Members of the public may provide comments on the agenda item in accordance with Town Council meeting protocols.

Phase 1 of the Core Collection System will be sized to maximize the Collection System footprint using grant funding already secured. Future phases of the Core Collection System will be designed and constructed based on securing additional funding. Generally, the Collection System, if approved, would start in the southwest part of Town and expand northward and eastward.

The sequencing of collection system construction is not yet established other than design of the Core Collection System has been prioritized. Based on future planning and funding, the Town will receive input regarding continued prioritization. It is possible for parts of the Extended Collection System to be advanced at the same time as the Core Collection System; however, design and a project-level environmental clearance would be completed prior to implementation, likely tiered to this programmatic environmental review.

A hybrid gravity/low-pressure collection system combines the benefits from both a gravity collection system and a low pressure (sometimes called STEP) collection system. In low-laying areas, properties will be able to connect to the sewer with a small onsite pump, such as a pump in the septic tank, that lifts wastewater up into the sewer pipe. This allows the main sewer collection pipes to be installed shallower and therefore, are less expensive to install. In areas where gravity makes sense, parcels can connect directly to the sewer main without an onsite pump, reducing capital cost and future operating costs.

A hydraulic analysis was performed independently by two different engineering firms and came to the same conclusion – a full low-pressure/STEP collection system for Paradise’s proposed service area is not technically feasible. The elevation change within the proposed service area would create very high pressure in a full STEP system’s collection pipes. The high pressure in the sewer pipes would prevent houses and businesses at the downhill end of the system from being able to pump their septic effluent into the pressurized sewer pipelines. The problem would only get worse as future system expansions serve areas of Town further uphill. Connecting areas of low-pressure service into a gravity sewer backbone that is not pressurized incorporates the benefits of STEP, while also not precluding future expansion, connections or operation.

For the full technical analysis of a low-pressure sewer system for Paradise, click here. ​​​​​

A recycled water system has a lot of benefits, and sustainability is an important value of the Town when making decisions. However, the cost of designing, building, and operating a recycled water system would significantly increase the initial project cost. Because recycled water pipes cannot be installed in the same trenches as sewer collection pipes due to separation requirements (see DDW letter), more trenching would be required, more road would be torn up, and construction and disruptions to businesses would last longer.

Additionally, a large year-round demand or use for recycled water has not been identified, meaning a surface water discharge system would still have to be built, permitted and operated to release excess water, ultimately increasing cost.

The project is being sized to serve the downtown corridor of Paradise, termed the Sewer Service Area (SSA). Generally speaking, the SSA may include parcels along Skyway, Pearson Road and Clark Road. The Subsequent PEIR is being prepared to construct the SSA through a phased approach as well as an expanded service area in other areas of Town. The latter expanded collection system is addressed at a programmatic level of analysis at this time. Scalability is a major priority to meet the needs of the Town now and into the future, so there may be possibilities to phase implementation of the original SSA including potentially expanding the SSA as funding becomes available. 

The proposed sewer system will function better with more initial flow. Therefore, Paradise Town Council has directed staff to find a way to quickly connect as many parcels within the SSA as possible, at the lowest possible cost. However, no rules or requirements for connecting have yet been established. One option would be to develop a program that incentivizes or subsidizes early connections. The Town will continue to develop this approach as the project advances.

The Town lost 83 percent of its residents during the Camp Fire in 2018. As the Town builds back and re-establishes its pre-fire population level, the project will support the recovery of housing and economic activity within the SSA. Any inducement of the population growth that might occur because of the Proposed Project in the shorter term would be a return and/or regrowth and repopulation toward pre-fire levels. Any growth beyond pre-fire levels that could occur in the longer term would be consistent with the Town of Paradise 2022-2030 Housing Element Update. This growth would be limited by the current boundaries of the Town and the capacity of the Proposed Project infrastructure. In either case, implementation of the Proposed Project would not, in and of itself, cause the growth, but it would accommodate regrowth, eliminating an obstacle to planned growth within the Town.

The current Phase 1 of the project will roughly cost $122 million, which includes design and right-of-way procurement along with some contingency for inflation. The Town has secured sufficient grant funding to cover the cost of constructing the Paradise Sewer Project Phase 1 and is actively seeking additional funding to connect more users as quickly as possible to minimize financial impacts on property owners within the SSA. More information on construction costs and connection fees will be available as the project progresses.

Properties that do not receive sewer service, like those outside of the SSA, will not pay additional taxes or fees related to sewer service.

The Town is pursuing several potential funding sources to fund design, right-of-way efforts and construction including:

• A state appropriation (working in conjunction with the Town and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development funds
• California Department of Housing and Community Development, Community Development Block Grants – Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR)
• U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)
• U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Construction for Phase 1 is currently estimated to begin in 2028-2029.

The Progressive Design Build contract was terminated per direction from Town Council in August 2025. The design of the collection system and WWTF will continue under a design-bid-build approach that is appropriate for the smaller project scope to encourage competitive construction bids.

The Town considered the following criteria when identifying viable sites for the proposed WWTF:

• Located near the lower elevation part of town to receive gravity-fed wastewater flows
• Include a minimum parcel size of 25 acres
• Be either currently for sale or owned by a property owner that is willing to grant access for initial site studies
• Be in proximity to a surface water discharge location
• Majority of the site is on a relatively flat terrain

The Town is evaluating multiple potential sites for a WWTF. Several parcels have been identified for consideration based on size, location and suitability.

Property owners who sign a right-of-entry will allow access for visual inspections, minor, non-invasive field work (such as wetland delineation), and subsurface investigations such as geotechnical borings. Crews will gather information needed to prepare the Draft PEIR. Data will be used to help compare potential locations before any final decisions are made.

Participation is voluntary. Signing the right-of-entry simply grants permission for limited access to gather environmental and site data. No permanent decisions are made at this stage. Signing does not transfer ownership or commit property owners to sell their land. If, in the future, the property is considered for acquisition, a separate process would occur, including independent appraisal and fair compensation.

The results of the subsurface investigations are needed to advance design and inform the potential impacts of those explorations in the overall project CEQA and NEPA documents. While the proposed borings and potholing needed to inform facility siting and layout will avoid known sensitive features, such as wetlands and waters, known cultural and sensitive habitat, etc., an environmental review is needed and will be reviewed with approval of the Town Council before work can commence.

If the project is approved, contract documents for construction of the Collection System will have limitations on the length of open trench allowed adjacent to businesses to limit disruptions. Other construction alternatives to limit disruption (e.g., night work, trenchless construction) will be considered and evaluated during the design phase.