L.A. Sues to Force 5 Cities to Report on Use of Sewers

Attorneys for the city of Los Angeles have sued to force five smaller cities, including Glendale and Burbank, to file reports on their use of the troubled Los Angeles sewer system.

Those two cities, along with Beverly Hills, El Segundo and Culver City, have resisted enforcement of a law, approved unilaterally last year by Los Angeles officials, that requires cuts in any development that generates sewage.

Attorneys for Los Angeles said that the suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court--was prompted by the cities refusal to file periodic reports on new development, as required by the law.

Officials for the smaller cities contend that Los Angeles has no jurisdiction to meddle in their affairs. Burbank and Glendale officials reacted angrily Tuesday to the lawsuit and said they would fight it as unconstitutional.

“I think Los Angeles is out of order in trying to do this . . . and I refuse to put up with it,” Glendale Mayor Carl Raggio said. “It’s hard for us to live next door to them when they act like a rogue.”

Resentment in Burbank

Burbank Mayor Al F. Dossin echoed the resentment: “I don’t know where Los Angeles gets off telling us how to run our city.”

Attorneys for Los Angeles, meanwhile, say the city has the legal power to protect the sewer system from a threatened breakdown due to excessive growth. No Superior Court hearing of the lawsuit has been set.

Los Angeles officials said last year that a disproportionate amount of waste was flowing into sewers from cities that contract to use the system. By 1991, city engineers have said, rapid growth threatens to flood the sewer system with more waste than it can safely treat.

Assistant Los Angeles City Atty. John F. Haggerty said the law requires the cities to file the quarterly reports, which are to contain information on new development, the number of building permits issued and the amount of sewage expected from those developments.

Below Allotments

Burbank and Glendale officials said they have contracts to discharge certain amounts of sewage into the Los Angeles system and that both cities are below their allotments. They added that they have taken steps to reduce the amount of waste sent to Los Angeles in recent years.

Burbank has spent $14 million in a treatment plant that will handle about 5 million gallons of sewage a day. The city sends about 7 million gallons of sewage a day to the Los Angeles Hyperion treatment plant, 3 million gallons a day less than allowed, officials said.

Burbank Public Works Director Carl Brooks said he wondered how Los Angeles could impose restrictions on growth when Burbank was under its contracted capacity.

Raggio said Glendale recently instituted a 10-year plan to regulate development. He added that Glendale sends only 15 million gallons a day out of the allowable daily 25 million gallons to the Hyperion plant.

“Los Angeles has mismanaged, not us,” Raggio said. “Their problem is their problem.”