$150,000 Fine Levied Against L.A. Over Spill of Raw Sewage

Turning aside pleas by Los Angeles officials that the city is not to blame for repeated sewage spills, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board on Monday fined Los Angeles $150,000 for dumping more than 95,000 gallons of raw waste into Ballona Creek.

The five-member board unanimously upheld a staff report recommending the fine, despite a lengthy presentation by city officials, who outlined numerous actions taken to mend the leaking sewer system.

“They are going to have to bite the bullet,” board member Paul D. Flowers said.

Flowers suggested that the fine be doubled, “so they will start to think something has to be done.” However, the board did not act on his recommendation.

City Can Appeal

The City Council has 30 days to consider whether to appeal the fine to the statewide Water Quality Control Board. If that commission upholds the fine, the city could seek a Superior Court ruling overturning the decision.

Council President Pat Russell said the council will make its decision after a review by the city attorney’s office.

The fine--the second against the city in three months--was also the second ever ordered by the board. In August, the city was fined $30,500 for earlier spills. The council decided to pay that fine without a challenge.

In addition to increasing the fine, the water quality board sent another signal that it intends to push the city into compliance with state anti-pollution laws. Board Chairman James H. Grossman ordered the staff to draw up a list of all penalties under the board’s authority, ranging from fines to an outright moratorium on construction in Los Angeles.

“It’s obviously an extreme measure, only taken if a real environmental emergency (occurs),” Grossman said. “We have an obligation to follow up with the city. . . . I don’t think we can continue to fine them.”

The $150,000 fine assessed Monday, like the earlier fine, resulted from sewage spills at the Bureau of Sanitation’s Jackson Avenue overflow facility in Culver City. On Aug. 2, 150 gallons held there seeped into Ballona Creek, followed on Sept. 6 by a 15-gallon spill. Fifteen days later, about 95,000 gallons of raw waste overflowed into the creek bed.

The Jackson Avenue facility is basically a safety valve for the sewer system. Normally, sewage flows from the city to the Hyperion waste treatment plant in Playa del Rey. However, when pressure builds on the Hyperion trunk line, sewage backs up and overflows into the Jackson Avenue facility.

Bureau of Sanitation Director Delwin A. Biagi told the board that the two small spills were unavoidable seepage, while the big spill resulted from an unexpected, and thus far unexplained, surge in the flow of sewage moving toward the Hyperion plant.

In pleading with the board to put off the fine, Biagi said that since the spills, the city has stationed a crew at the Jackson Avenue facility to monitor overflows. He said the city has also raised by one foot the walls of the overflow structure there and placed a vacuum tanker truck and chlorine salts at the facility to help clean up spills.

The state staff and board members applauded the city’s actions but said they occurred too late.

“It’s true the city has no control over when toilets flush . . . (but) it could have prevented the system from deteriorating to its present condition,” said Nelson K. W. Wong, senior water resource control engineer for the board.

City Engineer Robert S. Horii, arguing against the fine, said if the sewage was not allowed to overflow, the buildup of pressure could have blown a hole in the sewer line downstream.

“How much more pressure can it take? We don’t know,” he told the board.

Grossman noted in the hearing that the sewage issue has become a battling point between Mayor Tom Bradley and Gov. George Deukmejian, who are expected to oppose each other in next year’s gubernatorial race. He told the audience, including Los Angeles city officials, that the fine was not motivated by political concerns.

“This board is not a political board,” said Grossman, a Deukmejian appointee to the board.