Local News in Brief : Sewer Plan Includes Use of Septic Tanks

The committee studying alternative sewer plans for Malibu has recommended a $34-million disposal system that would allow a majority of residents to continue using septic tanks.

The recommendation, which will now be sent to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, calls for construction of a small-scale sewer system in Malibu’s Civic Center area and a septic tank effluent pumping system that would carry waste water from troubled landslide areas, such as Big Rock Mesa, to a disposal plant near the Civic Center.

County supervisors must still approve any sewer system in the area as long as Malibu remains unincorporated.

Malibu residents have resisted a county-approved regional sewer system for 20 years. But the committee’s proposal--adopted in a vote Tuesday night--may be more palatable to them because it would cost at least $50 million less than the sewer plan recommended by county officials last year. An environmental impact report and engineering study must be completed before supervisors set any public hearings on the sewer plan.