$150,000 Fine Against L.A. Sought in Bay Sewage Spill

Reacting to a major raw sewage spill last month in Santa Monica Bay, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board staff has recommended that the City of Los Angeles be fined $150,000. That is the largest fine ever suggested by the staff.

The Los Angeles City Council could decide to oppose the fine at a scheduled Oct. 28 board hearing or waive a hearing and pay the fine without argument. Either way, the large proposed fine adds to the political headaches that sewage spills have caused for the city and Mayor Tom Bradley in recent months.

While Bradley, the expected Democratic candidate for governor next year, has criticized Gov. George Deukmejian’s environmental record, including his handling of toxic waste sites, Deukmejian earlier this month shot back, referring to the city’s “serious problems . . . in managing its sewage system.”

Based on an earlier board staff recommendation, the council authorized payment of a $30,050 fine in August after a total of 85,000 gallons of sewage overflowed on four separate occasions into Ballona Creek, which empties into Santa Monica Bay at Playa del Rey.

Less Than Maximum Fine

The water board could accept, reject or modify the proposed $150,000 fine if the city chooses to have a hearing, said David Gildersleeve, the board’s supervising water resource engineer.

The proposed fine is considerably less than the maximum of $950,650, but it is “the largest this regional board staff ever has recommended,” he said. He said it is based on three recent discharges, two small and one large, of raw sewage into Ballona Creek.

On Aug. 2 150 gallons spilled, and on Sept. 6 another 15 gallons overflowed, both at a Culver City site that is a “relief valve” for the Hyperion sewage treatment plant near El Segundo. On Sept. 21 a major spill occurred, causing approximately 100,000 gallons of raw sewage to spill into the creek. While sanitation workers shoveled chlorine salts onto the sewage to kill the bacteria, they could not stop the waste from pouring into the ocean.

A few days after the Sept. 21 spill, Bradley called for the immediate construction of holding tanks to provide stopgap protection against overflows in the city’s aging and overburdened sewer system.

The council on Friday unanimously voted to spend $1.6 million to build four 250,000-gallon sewage overflow tanks by June, 1986.

But according to a report issued by the water board staff, “prior to the Sept. 21st spill, it appeared that the city’s approach was to do just enough to get by in the interim until permanent corrective measures are completed.”

While the report said it was “appropriate” to consider the corrective steps already being taken by the city, “the amount of administrative civil liability for repeat violations should be progressively higher . . . this amount is much larger than the initial penalty, and should therefore serve as a warning. . . “

But although city officials agreed to pay the fine the last time, there are some indications this time that they may balk.

May Seek Delay

Assistant City Atty. John Haggerty said he probably will ask that the hearing date be delayed so that city lawyers will have more time to review the case. “It just might be a different case this time,” he said. “I think we could make a good case, if the city so chose, that the overflows occurred in a way that was exceptional, that could not be expected.” Haggerty said city officials don’t yet know what caused the overflows.

Council President Pat Russell said that she expects the council to decide in the next week whether to pay the fine without a hearing.

Los Angeles Board of Public Works President Maureen Kindel said, “There is no question that the spill occurred.” But she questioned why the board staff would want to further penalize the city. “What is the point of taking it out of our hide when we’re doing all we can do? Whatever could be the point?”

Asked if she believed that the proposed fine might have been affected by the politics of the anticipated governor’s race, Kindel said, “I cannot tell. I can’t say. Maybe somebody else will say that.”

Mayoral Aide’s Reaction

Deputy Mayor Tom Houston said he hoped that instead of a imposing a fine the board would allow the city to devote the $150,000 to finding out exactly what has caused the overflows, all of the worst of which have occurred on Friday, Saturday or Monday afternoons. Kindel said Tuesday that preliminary testing indicates that the source of the overflows is in West Los Angeles.

Bradley, who for the last two weeks had been in South America on a Port of Los Angeles trade mission and had been the object of some sharp attacks in recent Deukmejian speeches, cut his trip short and returned home Saturday.