Capistrano Beach : Put End to Odor, Court Orders Sanitary District

A Superior Court commissioner in Santa Ana on Tuesday ordered the Capistrano Beach Sanitary District to cover its foul-smelling sewage or be found in contempt of court.

Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk issued the temporary restraining order, which is effective this morning, at the request of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In the last three weeks, the AQMD has cited the sanitation district nine times for creating “a public nuisance” with nauseating odors.

District officials said the odors began after workers at the sewage plant shut down a tank called a digester for cleaning, then dumped raw sewage from the digester into three uncovered holding ponds in a nearby field.

Palk’s order requires workers to control odors by covering all sewage on the premises with a foaming agent, by covering all sewage in open-air drying beds and by transporting sewage in enclosed containers. She also ordered the district to remove all sludge from its open-air beds by July 7 and told district officials to appear in court July 1 to explain why a permanent injunction should not be issued against them.

The sanitary district’s attorney, Richard Anderson, said his clients would be applying a “foaming blanket” to the sewage holding ponds today. He added: “If they have a problem, they plan to take care of the problem. They don’t contend they have a right to emit odors.”