Have You Heard Of The East Bay Dischargers Authority? Here's What They Earn

You may not have heard of the East Bay Dischargers Authority, but the small agency is responsible for making sure that wastewater from 900,000 people in the East Bay gets safely to San Francisco Bay.

The San Lorenzo-based agency has three paid employees and ranks as the 273rd highest average employee salary among the 1,508 special districts listed in a new public pay study.

The state Controller's Office has put the 2011 salary and benefits information on a website. It details city, county and special district payrolls.

The average salary for special districts across California was $54,468 a year. The official average salary for the East Bay Dischargers is $46,287 a year, but that's a bit misleading.

The district is officially listed as having eight employees. However, five of those are unpaid board members.

The average for the salaries of the three full-time paid employees is about $123,000 a year.

Here's an overview of some of those numbers.

Here's the figures for the East Bay Dischargers' three paid employees for 2011. The employees are listed by position only.

The salaries include regular pay, overtime, lump sums and other payments. The benefits and pension are what the district contributed to the employee's plan.

The authority oversees a joint powers agreement between the city of San Leandro, the the the city of Hayward and the Union Sanitary District.

The five agencies provide the revenue to pay for the authority's expenses.

The authority, formed in 1974, collects the treated wastewater from the five agencies, gives it a final treatment and then discharges it deep into San Francisco Bay. It handles 70 million gallons a day.

The service covers more than 900,000 people from San Leandro to Hayward to Castro Valley. The authority also provides service to Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore through an agreement with the Livermore-Amador Valley Water Management Agency.

Mike Connor, the EBDA's general manager, said his authority is responsible for dealing with the five agencies' federal and state permits and for meeting the federal Clean Water Act.

The region had no violations since 2006. Connor said that's important because violations can cost $1 a gallon, which adds up quickly.

Connor, who has a PhD in marine biology from MIT, said much of the authority's work requires specific technical skills. If someone makes a mistake, then the Bay gets polluted.