OCEANSIDE — City Council recently granted Camp Pendleton a one-year extension to use the city’s wastewater facilities but urged the base to find an independent solution soon.

Officials said that although Oceanside wants to be a good neighbor to Camp Pendleton, the city must also consider its own needs. Current redevelopment projects are putting bigger demands on wastewater treatment facilities.

At the Feb. 20 council meeting, City Manager Peter Weiss warned that as the city moves forward with redevelopment, the current infrastructure will be woefully inadequate. Weiss recommended an increase in water capacity and improvements to sewer outfall at current plants.

A Camp Pendleton representative told the council that the base has begun to update its wastewater facilities from the previous system that pumped water into the Santa Margarita River basin. He said that to comply with wastewater disposal regulations, Camp Pendleton invested in a new treatment plant in 2006. The facility that will treat water and pump outfall into the ocean is estimated to be constructed and up and running in five years.

According to the representative, the base’s growing population calls for additional water reuse measures. Plans call for a reverse osmosis machine that will clean water so that it can be pumped back into the Santa Margarita River and treated water will be used to irrigate the golf course.

Camp Pendleton’s use of the city’s wastewater facility will be looked at on a year-to-year basis.