Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Veto Override Gives Sludge Pipeline a Lift

A proposed $20-million experimental sludge pipeline off the coast of Huntington Beach moved one step closer to realization when the U.S. Senate voted 86 to 14 to override President Reagan’s veto of the $20-billion Clean Water Act.

An amendment to the act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a permit for construction of the eight-mile experimental pipeline, which is planned to discharge treated concentrated sewage, or sludge, into the ocean at a depth of 1,000 to 1,300 feet.

Passage of the Clean Water Act is not a guarantee that the controversial pipeline, opposed by many environmentalists, will be built by the county sanitation districts. But it does give the EPA the authority to issue permits for such a project.

Even if the EPA authorizes the five-year pipeline experiment, the line will not be built for at least five to seven years, said Blake P. Anderson, operations director for the sanitation agency that would operate the sludge line.

To date, Anderson said, the EPA has not even drafted the application for the sanitation districts’ permit. In addition, the sanitation districts’ board of directors has yet to authorize the agency to finance the expensive research project.

But Wednesday’s Senate override means that “now we can get on with the question: Can sludge be appropriately discharged in deep ocean waters and cause environmental impacts equal to, or less than, other alternatives,” Anderson said.