Las Virgenes Dispute : Water District Gains Allies in Sludge War

The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which is fighting a $5.9-million penalty by the federal government over use of a sewage disposal facility in Calabasas, has won some support in Congress.

House members voting on the Water Quality Act of 1987 have pledged congressional action if necessary to end a dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Las Virgenes district.

The year-old controversy involves unwanted sludge, the gooey waste left when household sewage is treated at water reclamation plants. Its disposal is a headache for sanitation agencies.

Las Virgenes officials literally and figuratively broke new ground in California by developing a 91-acre sludge farm next to Las Virgenes Road at the northern end of Malibu Canyon six year ago.

The Calabasas-based water district uses plows to inject sludge into the ground at the farm. Crops such as cattle feed are then planted.

EPA administrators say they are pleased with the way the farm cleanly disposes of sludge. But they have complained that it is handling only about half the amount of sludge Las Virgenes officials predicted it would.

As a result, the EPA last year demanded that Las Virgenes return just under half of the $12 million in anti-pollution grants that financed construction of the farm.

Water district officials have refused to pay, contending that the contested $5.9 million was spent only after the EPA closely studied the grant application and then approved the district’s projections.

In his first action as a congressman, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) raised the issue Thursday on the House floor.

“By EPA’s own program staff admission, there is no evidence of waste, fraud or abuse,” he told other lawmakers. “Nonetheless, the Las Virgenes district has been forced to enter into the expensive process of refuting this disallowal.”

Other congressmen debating the House’s first resolution of the year said they will support further congressional action on behalf of the Las Virgenes district if it is necessary.

Las Virgenes officials on Monday welcomed the support.

“It is a statement of congressional intent,” said District General Manager Edward McComb, adding that he hopes the EPA calls off the repayment demand.