Agency Drops Bid to Reduce Treatment of Raw Sewage

Bowing to opposition from south Orange County residents, the Aliso Water Management Agency on Thursday unexpectedly dropped its bid to reduce treatment of raw sewage before it is dumped in the ocean off Aliso Beach.

“It was unanimously concluded . . . that the environmental protection and enhancement of the ocean environment is more important than the apparent economic benefits of reduced treatment,” AWMA board Chairman John V. Foley announced Thursday.

The decision, which came unexpectedly at the agency’s regular monthly board meeting, means that raw sewage will still be treated to remove 99% of virus- and bacteria-carrying matter before it is discharged from the outfall about 7,400 feet off Aliso Beach.

Keeping Coast Clean

“The water off Laguna Beach is probably the cleanest water along the Southern California coast, and it looks like the decision today will keep it that way,” said Newport Beach internist Dr. John F. Skinner, one of a coalition of individuals and groups who formed Save Our Sea (SOS) to battle the plan.

Skinner said the group will now join other south county residents in a fight to persuade the adjacent South East Regional Reclamation Authority (SERRA) to withdraw a similar application.

Together, the two agencies serve residents of Capistrano Beach, Dana Point, South Laguna, Laguna Beach, San Clemente, El Toro, San Juan Capistrano, Lake Forest, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and parts of Mission Viejo. They discharge 25.5 million gallons of treated effluent daily through outfalls at Aliso Beach and Dana Point.

Waivers Possible

Federal law requires that sewage discharged to the nation’s surface waters be treated to secondary levels, which remove 95% of all solid materials and 99% of viruses and bacteria carried by fecal matter.

However, a 1977 amendment to the federal Clean Water Act allows operators of treatment plants that discharge into the ocean to apply for waivers from full secondary treatment.

Approval of a waiver would mean that sewage would flow into the ocean with only 65% to 75% of the wastes removed, under the theory that since the effluent is not entering drinking water supplies the ocean will dilute and disperse any harmful matter.

AWMA, a joint powers agency of seven south county water and sanitation districts, applied for the waiver about two years ago as a cost-cutting measure projected to save at least $200,000 annually. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had given tentative approval. The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board was expected to take final action this month.

‘Superfluous’ Treatment

When opposition first surfaced last fall, AWMA general manager William Sukenik said he considered secondary treatment “superfluous.”

Skinner and others, including state and county health officials and a representative of the state Department of Fish and Game, argued that anything less exposed swimmers and marine life to unacceptable health risks.

Skinner, who maintains an apartment in South Laguna, predicted that reduced treatment could lead to an increase in gastrointestinal infections among swimmers and surfers. His wife, Nancy, said area residents surveyed said they were willing to pay the extra 10 cents or more a month that would be saved by reduced treatment.

First to Be Given Waiver

The neighboring Orange County Sanitation Districts, which serve 23 of the county’s 26 cities and discharge 230 million gallons a day off Huntington Beach, in March became the first major sewage treatment agency in the country to be given a waiver from treating to full secondary levels, said James Anderson, executive director of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The difference, according to Anderson, is that OCSD had never been able to meet the secondary treatment level. To come into compliance, OCSD would have had to come up with more than $145 million in capital improvements.