Mold Remediation in Fremont, CA

FREMONT, CA — Fremont wastewater bills could go up $25 to $27 each year for single-family homes, if a proposed rate hike by Union Sanitary District is approved.

The current annual rate for single-family homes is $611.58. If approved, the rate would increase to $636.03 starting in July 2025.

The District is proposing rate increases over the next five years to continue funding capital projects required by new state regulations for the San Francisco Bay and to support reliable and robust operations for the next 40 years.

A Public Hearing on the proposed rate changes will be held on Jan. 27, 2025.

The proposed increases are based on the results of a comprehensive study of the cost of providing sewer service from July 2025 through June 2030, in compliance with Prop 218, according to the district.

Find out what's happening in Fremontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If you would like to review the study, it is available online.

For background information, the District reports, "In July 2024, the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) adopted new, more stringent nutrient reduction requirements for all 37 Bay Area wastewater facilities. USD had anticipated the potential for these new regulations as far back as 2015 as it began evaluating its future infrastructure needs. These deliberations led to undertaking the Enhanced Treatment and Site Upgrade Program (ETSU), the largest capital improvement project in district history, with a total project cost of $509,511,993. Construction began in 2022 and is scheduled to be completely operational by 2030. This undertaking makes USD an early adopter of nutrient removal technologies. Acting early allowed USD to secure low-interest loans from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State, which significantly lower the District’s interest expense and allow USD to minimize rate increases."

A community meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, at the Fremont Main Library, 2400 Stevenson Boulevard. Staff will make a presentation and answer questions. "All community members are invited to attend," said General Manager Paul Eldredge. "We hope everyone takes the opportunity to come see what is happening at USD and to get updates on the San Francisco Bay Third Watershed Permit and construction activities at the wastewater treatment plant."

Union Sanitary District operates a 33-million gallon per day wastewater treatment facility in Union City and provides collection, treatment and disposal services to a population of over 342,000 in Fremont, Newark, and Union City.

"The cost of operating and maintaining these facilities continues to rise significantly every year, often outpacing inflation," said Eldredge. "USD will continue to seek cost saving and other measures to keep increases as low as possible."

The District maintains more than 839 miles of sewer lines, seven pump stations, and the buildings and equipment at its 33-acre wastewater treatment plant in Union City.

FREMONT, CA — Stargazers who want to catch the Geminids meteor shower, which NASA says is the best shooting star show of the year, should plan to get as far away from Fremont's city lights as possible for the peak Friday and Saturday.

Dark skies improve any stargazing experience, but this year could mean the difference in seeing a good number of the bright, fast meteors because the moon will be nearly full for most of the hours between 2 a.m. and dawn, when meteors are most likely. Under ideal conditions, up to 120 yellowish meteors are visible per hour.

The National Weather Service forecast is discouraging, with cloudy skies and rain expected.

Check the moonset time to make sure the sky is as dark as possible.

Produced by debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the Geminids began appearing in the mid-1800s, but the shower wasn’t particularly noteworthy and produced only 10 or 20 meteors an hour, according to NASA. They have grown in intensity to become one of the major meteor showers of the year, the agency said.

Find out what's happening in Fremontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The year closes out with the Ursid meteor shower, which runs Dec. 17-26 and peaks Dec. 22-23. The moon will still be bright at about 54 percent illumination, and that may interfere with viewing after midnight until dawn. At their peak, the Ursids produce about five or 10 shooting stars an hour. The shower is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 8P/Tuttle, discovered in 1790.

Shooting star seekers, take note: 2025 starts with another stunner, the prolific Quadrantids, which under perfect conditions can produce as many as 200 meteors an hour at their Jan. 4 peak. The shower runs Dec. 26-Jan. 16.

Most meteor showers have a two-day peak, but the peak of the Quadrantids is only a few hours, according to NASA, which calls it “one of the best annual meteor showers.” The Quadrantids are rich in bright fireballs, larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak.

Do you have the best Christmas decorations in town? Send us photos and a description for Patch's 2024 holiday tour of lights.

Bea Karnes, Patch Staff

FREMONT, CA — Can the holiday lights on your home be seen from space? Does it look like the Las Vegas strip?

If you've spent days or weeks painstakingly hanging strands of lights on your house, palm trees and shrubs, or hauling multiple figurines out to your lawn — Patch wants to hear from you.

Soon, we're compiling a Patch California tour of lights, where readers can explore the best holiday light displays in the Alameda County area.

We aim to have the list up as soon as possible — so email photos and a description of your winter wonderland to Kat Schuster at kat.schuster@patch.com.

For many of us, taking in our neighbors’ outdoor holiday lighting displays and other decorative touches is as much a part of the season as exchanging gifts and singing Christmas carols.

Find out what's happening in Fremontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

There’s a good reason twinkling holiday lights and colorful displays make us feel good, according to mental health experts.

“It does create that neurological shift that can produce happiness,” Psychologist Deborah Serani, a senior professor at New York’s Adelphi University, told NBC’s “Today” show. “I think anything that takes us out of our normal habituation, the normal day in, day out ... signals our senses, and then our senses measure if it’s pleasing or not.”

Decorating for the holidays “will spike dopamine, a feel-good hormone,” she said. “For a lot of us, Christmas is a magical time, it’s a time of innocence. It’s a time of joy.”

That’s why Patch and T-Mobile are partnering to find the lighted homes around town to visit.

A few details:

If you’re including a video, please upload it to YouTube and send us the link so we can embed it (make sure it's marked “public”). We also request that the homeowner submit their own yard or a close relative.

We’ll keep updating the countywide list throughout December.

Once you've provided the information — and submitted a photo or two or a video (after you uploaded it to YouTube) — you will be entered and included in our roundup.

Pro-tip: If you haven't photographed your light display before, a good time to take photos is at dusk.

IMPORTANT: By submitting a photo, you're giving Patch permission to publish it for this feature and future stories. Photos should be original and taken by the person submitting the photo.

So, be sure to check back for updates and sign up for your local Patch.com newsletters as well!

Please copy and paste the following information into an email, along with photos or videos, and follow these guidelines:

We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Remember, email Kat Schuster (kat.schuster@patch.com) to submit photos of your holiday lights.