Sewage waiver options considered

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- With the decision about whether to apply for an

extension of a controversial sewage waiver looming, the Orange County

Sanitation District began looking at alternative methods for treating its

waste.

At an informational meeting Wednesday evening, sanitation board

members listened to four treatment options, two of which would take the

district to a higher level of treatment.

Another meeting is set for Wednesday, as the board faces a December

deadline for submitting an application for the waiver.

“What the board is deciding on has a large impact on how this agency

operates in the future,” said sanitation district spokeswoman Lisa

Murphy. “It’s not a decision we take lightly.”

First granted in the 1980s, the waiver allows the district to

discharge 240 million gallons of partially treated waste water from an

outfall pipe leading 4 1/2 miles out to sea.

Federal regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency hand out the

waiver, which allows the sanitation district to operate outside of the

standards laid out in the Clean Water Act of 1972.

The current waiver, the third version, will expire in June 2003.

At its informational session Wednesday, the board also listened to the

costs associated with each treatment option.

Under the first option, listed as “Permit Limits,” the board would

reduce treatment of its sewage to the minimum standards laid out in the

EPA’s discharge permit.

That option, Murphy said, has basically been discarded.

Board members could also opt for the status-quo option. Right now, the

district treats half of its sewage to what is known as “primary” and half

to what is known as “full secondary,” a higher level.

City officials and environmentalists have called on the district to

step up its entire treatment program to the higher level.

Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway is among that crowd.

“I’m always going to support secondary treatment,” Ridgeway said. “If

I lose on [that], I will be vigilant that disinfection continues.”

The district is also moving forward to implement a plan to bleach the

sewage before it is released into the ocean.

Nine cities, including Newport and Huntington Beach, have called for

an end to the federal waiver.

Using full secondary on the sewage discharge, which collects in a

plume off the shoreline, would probably result in a $32 increase for the

average homeowner per year. Right now, the average homeowner pays $87.50

per year, Murphy said.

The district would need to spend $423 million between now and 2020 to

go to that level -- $271 million more than what the district would

normally spend.

The board, a 25-person group that includes Ridgeway, is also

considering what is known as “microfiltration,” a newer treatment

technology. That method would cost $460 million and result in a $36 rate

increase, Murphy said.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .