South Laguna : Group Prepares to Fight Sewage Discharge Plan
A handful of residents have banded together in a nonprofit corporation to battle a plan to discharge partially treated sewage into the ocean.
The five-member Save Our Sea (SOS) has not outlined its formal tactics yet, said Nancy Skinner, chairman of the group’s executive committee, but she said the group is busy gathering data to oppose a plan by the Aliso Water Management Agency and operators of other sewage treatment plants to take advantage of a 1977 congressional amendment that allows them to ask for waivers to the federal Clean Water Act.
If it wins approval, the water agency could discharge sewage with only 65% to 75% of its solid wastes removed. Currently, all solid wastes are removed.
William Sukenik, the agency’s general manager, has called secondary treatment of the sewage “superfluous.” With the change, the agency estimates it could save at least $200,000 per year.
The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board is scheduled to consider the proposal March 4.
The board originally considered the plan in November but postponed its decision until March in response to opposition from residents.
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