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Human Impact
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Dilapidated structures mar the Giant Forest landscape in this
pre-restoration photo.
© NPS photo.
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Maintaining Aging Structures
By the 1990s, the sewage treatment facility in Giant Forest, known as the
"Imhoff" plant (dating from the 1930s), no longer met federal and
state standards for wastewater treatment. The level of treatment was
substandard - "partial primary" only, with solids skimmed off and
the remaining effluent heavily chlorinated and sprayed over a steep
slope below the Giant Forest. The Imhoff plant had been operating
on a temporary, ten-year discharge permit since 1978, and was issued
a five-year extension until 1993. In 1993, the California Regional
Water Quality Control Board denied renewal of the discharge permit,
which would force closure of the treatment plant. The Park was required
to submit a plan to comply with wastewater treatment standards by
either rebuilding the plant, or providing a firm schedule for closure,
with reduction of wastewater flow from the plant each year until closure.
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The Imhoff Sewage Plant failed to meet State
and Federal standards and spurred the final exodus from the Giant
Forest. © NPS Photo by
Athena Demetry. |
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Because the National Park Service had committed in 1980 to removing lodging and
associated infrastructure from Giant Forest, the decision was made not
to rebuild the sewage treatment plant in or immediately adjacent to
Giant Forest. Construction of replacement infrastructure at Wuksachi
Village had been underway since 1983, but a firm schedule for closure
and removal of facilities was not in place until this denial of a discharge
permit by the State of California forced the issue.
Many of the nearly 300 lodging and commercial buildings in Giant Forest,
built between 1920 and 1950, were poorly built and aging rapidly. Maintaining
and servicing these old and widely dispersed facilities was difficult
and costly. Deteriorated sewer lines had reached their limit for repair.
Because replacement would harm the giant sequoias the National Park
Service is mandated to protect, removal of the facilities remained the
only option.
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