Officials from a regional board plan to meet with various parties in coming weeks to discuss a plan to address the potential effects of percolation ponds at Santa Paula's proposed water recycling facility.

Members of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board met with several people at the Santa Paula Train Depot on Monday, including geologists, the city's public works director and a concerned family.

Officials at the meeting determined the scope of work that would be done on a "work plan," which can be considered a study, said Cliff Finley, director of public works.

The plan could be ready in several weeks, but its final deadline is Aug. 3, said Rod Nelson, chief of the groundwater permitting and landfills unit with the regional board.

In the plan, a computer program would model groundwater flow that would come from the ponds, Finley said.

Several percolation ponds could be at the new facility, which would be in southwest Santa Paula. Treated wastewater would seep through the ponds' sandy soils and eventually reach the groundwater.

The Malzacher family, residents of Santa Paula, said they were concerned about mounding — rising groundwater — that could be caused by the ponds.

Some members of the Malzacher family said they believe that if groundwater rises, their property could be damaged, and they also believe the ponds could pose public health risks.

If an excess of water saturates the ponds, groundwater could rise to surface levels and degrade nearby wells, Finley said.

"We don't want to damage the Malzachers in anyway," he said.

The city's water recycling facility has to be completed by September 2010, a deadline set after the regional board issued Santa Paula a permit with new water discharge requirements. The permit also calls for the potential impacts of percolation ponds to be studied.

If the city does not meet discharge requirements by building its new facility by 2010, it could pay thousands of dollars in fines per day.

In a lawsuit the Malzachers filed against the city of Santa Paula more than a year ago, a geologist said in court papers that the percolation ponds would result in a "substantial rise in groundwater elevation."

The lawsuit was dismissed because ground had not been broken at the new facility's site, said Kate Neiswender, an attorney for the Malzachers.

If the ponds do pose a problem, the city could change the plant's design and possibly spend additional money doing so, Finley said.

Adding more percolation ponds could be another change, he said.

Additionally, if there is a problem with the ponds, it would be when the plant is at its maximum build-out, pumping about 4.2 million gallons of treated wastewater a day, which could happen by 2025, he said.