Modesto and state officials got creative in resolving two sewage spills into the Tuolumne River in 2021.
The state agreed to let the city put its $325,000 fine toward a 42-cabin project for unhoused people at Ninth and D streets. The money will go specifically to the restroom, shower and laundry buildings and their water and sewer hookups.
The logic? The restrooms will serve a population that might at times relieve itself near the river or in other unsanitary places.
The site, Dignity Village Modesto Interim Housing , is scheduled to open by Jan. 31 on the city-owned dirt lot. It will provide 70-square-foot homes and social services for people with serious mental illness and-or substance use disorder.
Other partners will cover most of the construction cost of about $3 million and annual operating expenses of about $1 million.
The sewage spills did not result in a public health emergency but did violate rules for keeping pathogens and other pollutants out of rivers. They were investigated by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board , a state agency.