Panel Studies Alternatives to Malibu Sewer Proposal

The committee studying alternative sewer plans for Malibu is considering three disposal systems for the coastal community that would cost $50 million less than the plan introduced by Los Angeles County last year.

The proposals, outlined in preliminary draft reports presented to the committee this week, would allow most residents to continue to use septic tanks. However, residents in the landslide areas, such as Big Rock Mesa, would be able to hook into a system in which their effluent would be pumped to a central disposal area in Malibu’s Civic Center.

Malibu’s Civic Center area would require its own small-scale sewer system to handle the waste water from downtown businesses, restaurants, large apartment complexes and excess sewage from Pepperdine University. The cost to construct the proposed systems is estimated at $34 million, compared to the $86-million regional sewer the county proposed last October to build along the coast.

In addition, the systems can be installed in a matter of months, compared to the three to five years estimated by the county to install the regional plan, according to committee members. A management district would be set up to run the systems.

“I think the main idea here is that we’re trying to pick the right horse for the right race,” said Andrew Benton, Pepperdine’s representative on the citizens sewer committee. “In some cases, an on-site disposal system is perfectly acceptable. But in those (landslide) areas, anything that permits continued introduction of water would not be acceptable.”

Yet the toughest part remains for the committee, which must grapple with ways to refine and integrate the recommended disposal systems and then sell them to residents and county supervisors. County supervisors must still approve any sewer system in the area as long as Malibu remains unincorporated.

Malibu residents will have a chance to ask questions about the proposed sewage systems at a community forum at Pepperdine University’s School of Law auditorium at 7 p.m. Monday. Several hundred people are expected to attend.

Studying Financing

The committee, which was formed in November after more than 1,000 angry Malibu residents asked county supervisors to reject the $86-million sewer plan, is still studying ways to finance the proposed systems, including issuing assessment bonds.

However, residents who opt to maintain an on-site disposal system could face payments between $2,000 and $73,000 depending on the condition of their septic tanks, according to the consultants reports. The studies were done by Engineering Science of Pasadena and the Questa Engineering Corp. of Point Richmond, Calif.

Committee members and several residents said they were pleased with the draft proposals.

“Our charter was to come through with a viable alternative (to the county plan) that still deals with the issues that exist in Malibu, and I think we’ve done that,” said committee member Fred Zepeda. “I saw as our charge to come up with a plan, and I feel that we’re damn near that.”

Zepeda, who chaired a subcommittee that dealt with the geologic problems in the landslide areas in the east end of Malibu, said that the proposed systems offer “flexibility” to residents who live on the beach or in the mountains more than 20 miles away.

Disposal of Waste

The committee had to contend with ways to stop septic tanks from leaking water into the unstable hillsides as well as find a way to dispose of heavy-duty waste created by some of the beachside restaurants in the community.

The consultants recommend a septic tank effluent pumping system (STEP) in the landslide areas, which would require placing a plastic pipe, about 12 inches in diameter, about three feet underground along both sides of Pacific Coast Highway from Tuna Canyon to the Civic Center. The pipes would carry the effluent from the hillside septic tanks into the same plant that would handle the sewage from Civic Center businesses.

Although some county officials said that a STEP system requires more maintenance than a conventional sewer system, the start-up costs are much lower, and it would only take a few months to install the pipes, reducing the impact along traffic-choked Pacific Coast Highway.