North County Sewage Plan Assailed : Treatment Waiver Draws Fire at Water Quality Hearing

Visually, they were an odd band of allies--savvy, carefully coiffed politicos in three-piece suits; grizzled veteran environmentalists; senior citizens and sun-bleached surfers in colorful “kneebuster” beach shorts.

But differences in appearance aside, the 100 or more people who besieged the Regional Water Quality Control Board meeting here Tuesday shared a mission: to fight any relaxation of standards for sewage treatment.

Two items on the board’s agenda attracted the army of protesters, many of whom picketed outside the meeting with placards reading “Save Our Surf” and “Keep Sewage Off the Beach.”

One was a request by Oceanside and the Fallbrook Sanitary District for a waiver allowing officials to reduce treatment of about 11 million gallons of sewage before it is discharged into the sea each day.

The second target of protest was a similar waiver for San Diego County and Escondido, which discharge upwards of 14 million gallons daily through an ocean outfall in Cardiff. The board approved that waiver in October, and proceeded with several minor revisions on Tuesday.

But a North County group called People for a Clean Ocean, citing health concerns and the lack of any scientific study of the effluent’s impact on the ocean environment, has filed an appeal and stalled issuance of the appropriate permits.

City and county officials pursuing the waivers argue the reduced level of treatment will have no significant impact on water quality and marine life and poses no threat to the public health. They say the less-stringent treatment standards will save money and help them accommodate the tide of new residents flooding the region.

“The data is clear,” said Jim Turner, Oceanside’s water utilities director. “Every study I’ve seen proves that the additional treatment is not necessary to protect the environment. What we have to overcome is the emotions of people who won’t accept that.”

The permits would allow the agencies to abandon a sophisticated form of “secondary” sewage treatment and switch to “advanced primary” treatment. Secondary treatment uses microorganisms to consume waste, while the less refined form of treatment is merely a settling process that sifts out the larger particles.

Federal and state officials concede the waiver will increase pollution but claim that the level will remain within state standards and will not threaten human and marine life. The wastewater has been found to contain 34 “priority” pollutants, including pesticides such as DDT and heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium.

Oceanside currently handles its own sewage plus about a million gallons a day from neighboring Fallbrook. Nearly 11 million gallons daily from the two sources are discharged through an ocean outfall about 1.5 miles off Oceanside’s shore. The pipe’s capacity is 30 million gallons a day.

Escondido discharges its sewage and that of Rancho Bernardo through an outfall near San Elijo Lagoon. San Diego County funnels a smaller amount of sewage from several coastal communities into the same pipe.

Turner said the waiver would save Oceanside as much $300,000 a year in reduced treatment costs. Over the next 20 years, the city would save $25 million that otherwise would be necessary to finance sewage treatment plant expansion to handle population growth, Turner said. Escondido officials estimated they would save about $225,000 a year if their waiver survives the appeal.

Despite the attractive cost savings, Oceanside officials Tuesday insisted they would not jeopardize the health of the ocean and of beachgoers just to save a few dollars.

“I came to Oceanside in 1939, and one of Oceanside’s most important attributes . . . is its recreational and beach activities, like swimming, surfing, scuba diving and so on,” said Councilman John MacDonald. “I would not support a recommendation that would endanger those activities in my community.”

But residents who turned out to oppose the lower level of treatment remained unconvinced. They cited scientific studies associating the discharges with diseases in fish and damage to kelp beds, and argued that it was unwise to approve a waiver before the full impacts of the sewage upon the ocean environment is known.

Moreover, they said, they would gladly absorb higher water and sewer bills to ensure cleaner ocean water.

The most emotional aspect of opponents’ arguments concerned the presence of disease-causing viruses in the lesser-treated sewage. Richard MacManus, president of the Cardiff Town Council and founder of People for a Clean Ocean, said primary treatment does not kill such viruses; they can live for weeks in the sea.

“If you can give me a 100% guarantee that my child won’t get hepatitis, that my property value won’t be affected because I live in Cardiff by the sewer, then maybe I’ll consider this,” said MacManus, whose group claims the support of 3,000 North County residents. “But frankly I don’t see any guarantees here. I see a lot of risks.”

Oceanside resident Donna Fuller agreed, urging the board not to “throw caution to the wind” by hastily approving “something that might jeopardize ecological and public health.” Fuller’s 8-year-old daughter, Kristin, also had a message for the board.

“I like the beach when it’s clean,” she said. “Please don’t mess it up. If you do, someday I might be the one who has to clean it up.”

Under the federal Clean Water Act, all sewage discharged into the ocean was to receive at least secondary treatment. At the urging of agencies in Southern California, however, Congress amended the act to allow sewage dischargers to receive waivers if they demonstrate their practices will neither damage public health and marine life nor exceed applicable state standards.

The amendments triggered an avalanche of applications from agencies along the coast seeking waivers. Most of those heard by the board have been approved, though a bid by Los Angeles was rejected last November and two applications in Orange County were withdrawn because of public protest.