Thumbing noses at odor controls?

Sandwiched between a power plant, a sewage treatment plant and a toxic dump site,, southeast Huntington Beach “takes the burden for the rest of the county’s dirty work,” said Jon Ely, longtime resident and member of the Southeast Huntington Beach Neighborhood Assn. Now, residents fear, the area may become smellier as well.

As part of budget cuts totaling $474 million, the Orange County Sanitation District plans to cut $65 million from its odor control measures ? including those in effect at the sewage treatment plant at Brookhurst Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.

The sanitation district will have to increase rates for the 2007-08 fiscal year to cover rising costs, officials say, and the budget cuts will allow it to hold that increase down to 15% rather than 20%.

The district will weather the cuts by rehabilitating older facilities instead of replacing them. But that amounts to a broken promise, Ely said.

The sanitation district assured residents in 1999 that it would use the best technology possible to reduce chemical emissions at its Brookhurst Avenue and Fountain Valley sewage plants.

However, said Ely, “They lied to us. Now they’re cutting the improvements they promised.” The offensive odor is not just sewage. “It’s not like your dog poop smell which floats over,” Ely said. “These are incredible in smell ? these chemicals that kids in my neighborhood are breathing.”

According to Dave Ludwin, the district’s director of engineering, the sanitation district is not reducing the level of service to the community, because it’s investing about $150 million in the Fountain Valley and Brookhurst Avenue plants. If the district were to move ahead without modifying its plan, the price tag would be $200 million, he said.

Instead of upgrading or replacing the odor-control facilities at the Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley Plants, Ludwin said, the district plans to “rehabilitate” them and “bring them up to standard.”

But neighbors think the district should go ahead and raise its rates to cover the costs of all the promised upgrades. They say the rates are among the lowest of the large sanitation districts in Southern California.

“They’re basement-bargain sewer providers, and I doubt if any of its board members live near these plants,” Ely said.

The cuts will be finalized in May by the district’s board.

“To cut the funds for odor control in a residential area is foolish,” said Steve Homer, chairman of the neighborhood association.

The stakes are higher now, residents say, as the district gears up to meet secondary treatment capabilities at its plants. New state regulations will require the plants to clean the water more thoroughly before discharging it into the ocean.

Residents are afraid the increased capacity will mean more odors in the area ? which are especially troubling given the proximity of Eader Elementary School.

“They [district’s board] don’t understand what we have to put up with,” said John Scott, a neighborhood association board member who remembers times when the odors were so terrible they woke him up at night. He moved to southeast Huntington Beach 33 years ago.

Scott said the smell problem has gotten better over the years, but he’s not ready to call off the fight.

“My whole feeling is it’s not the time to quit, and it’s still a problem for those who live across the street from it,” he said. hbi.06-ocsdodor-CPhotoInfoLS1PL29020060406ix80j5knKENT TREPTOW / INDEPENDENT(LA)The Orange County Sanitation District Treatment Plant Number 2 off Brookhurst Street and Pacific Coast Highway is proposing making budget cuts to its odor control and toxic emission facilities despite persistent complaints from nearby residents about odors.