Sanitation Districts Won’t Alter Ocean Dumping Practices

The Sanitation Districts of Orange County voted Wednesday night to continue dumping about 260 million gallons of partially treated sewage into waters off Huntington Beach annually rather than spend $1.4 billion on added treatment facilities to cut the amount of solid waste pumped offshore.

Despite testimony of representatives from environmental groups that such continued dumping threatens the public health, the 37-member board voted overwhelmingly to apply to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a second five-year waiver from water quality standards in the federal Clean Water Act. Six members of the board voted not to seek a waiver and to add to treatment facilities.

The districts’ board of directors, which represents 80% of northern Orange County, decided that the impact of ocean dumping of sewage treated to less than full secondary standards as required has been minimal and that the alternative would be too costly, amounting to increased sewer fees of $25 per household each year.

Board Vice Chairman A.B. (Buck) Catlin, before casting his vote at the hearing in the Fountain Valley Community Center, said there is no evidence that the marine environment offshore has been harmed by current dumping practices.

“As long as the sanitation districts pursue stringent restrictions, we will not damage the environment to any deeper extent,” Catlin said.

Catlin said full secondary treatment of sewage requires more landfill space for an increased amount of sludge.

Those who favor improved sewage treatment facilities, such as environmental groups concerned about marine life, say the increasing amount of sewage--an estimated 400 million gallons a day by the year 2020--would put a strain on the environment. They contend that improved treatment would ensure that the impact on marine life and beaches never gets worse than it is today.

If current dumping practices continue, “cockroaches will be the best animal to survive in the new environment,” said Margaret Johnson of Huntington Beach and a member of the American Cetacean Society, which seeks to protect marine mammals. “The ocean out there is not one big tidy bowl. We want the ocean clean.”

Members of the sanitation districts’ board who expressed the most support for adding additional facilities represented Orange County’s beach communities.

“We cannot take a chance on the environment,” said board member and Huntington Beach City Councilman Tom Mays. “The ocean began life, and it can also end it.”

The debate over sewage treatment has gone on since 1972, when Congress passed the Clean Water Act, setting a standard that all of the country’s waterways should be fishable and swimmable.

The law required treatment plants to process sewage twice to remove at least 85% of the solids before dumping the effluent into water. The act was amended in 1977 after coastal cities complained that they were being held to standards intended for lakes and rivers even though oceans have a greater capacity to absorb sewage.

The amended bill allowed the EPA to grant waivers to coastal areas that could prove that they were meeting clean water standards without full secondary treatment of their sewage. The county sanitation districts received a five-year waiver in 1985. It expires next year.

Waiver Plans Dropped

Two southern Orange County sanitation districts several years ago dropped plans to seek waivers in the face of opposition from local environmentalists. Now, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego have opted to spend billions to upgrade sewage treatment facilities.

Currently, the Orange County sanitation agency, which has facilities in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, provides primary treatment--sewage processed once--to all its sewage, and secondary treatment to half. Under primary treatment, 75% of the solids are taken out, sanitation district officials said. Under secondary treatment, 85% of the solids would be removed.

According to a sanitation agency report on the issue, 18 acres of the ocean bottom would be affected by the county’s sewage outfall without secondary treatment. With full secondary treatment, only five acres would be less pure than surrounding waters.

The county’s sewage goes through a massive pipe that lies beneath Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach, continuing underneath Pacific Coast Highway and out along the ocean bottom for about five miles.

There, 200 feet below the surface, it dumps almost all of Orange County’s partially treated sewage. The sewage outfall has been operating for almost 18 years. No evidence of damaged marine life has been reported.

Despite the decision, most county residents will pay more in future sewage fees, as county facilities will have to be expanded to accommodate the increased flow of sewage expected by 2020.