The Region - News from Oct. 9, 1985

Los Angeles sewer service fees, now an average of $5.40 on most water bills, may have to be increased to as much as $14 to pay for $1 billion in improvements needed for the aging sewer system over the next eight years, city sanitation officials said. The city, looking for ways to stop raw sewage spills into Ballona Creek, is planning to spend $1.6 million alone for overflow tanks there. The growing sewage problem has has caused political headaches for Mayor Tom Bradley, most recently in the form of criticism from Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, who called Bradley “the state’s largest toxic waste polluter.” Deputy Mayor Tom Houston replied that the spills were not toxic, adding that Nolan “has serious sewage problems in his own area.”