Accord Ends S.D. Impasse on Sewage : Deadline: City must complete a $2.6-billion upgrade of treatment facilities by the year 2003.

Attorneys have reached agreement on the key issues of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 17-month legal battle with San Diego over a multibillion-dollar upgrade of the city’s sewage treatment system, San Diego and federal sources said Wednesday.

The pact calls for the city to complete a $2.6-billion to $2.8-billion overhaul of the system by December, 2003, sources familiar with the negotiations said.

The four agencies involved in the complex talks have also agreed to continue talks over possibly hefty fines against the city for sewage spills into local waterways dating back to 1983. If the two sides cannot reach agreement on fines--or construction of sewage treatment projects in lieu of fines--the penalties could be the subject of a separate trial in federal court.

If ratified by the San Diego City Council and high-level officials in the U.S. Department of Justice, the EPA and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, the agreement would commit San Diego to solving its longstanding violation of the federal Clean Water Act by building the most costly public-works project in the city’s history.

The deal also would set a national precedent.

The EPA has never agreed to a construction timetable for a sewage system upgrade that stretches into the next century. Los Angeles has until 1998 to complete its treatment project, and Boston, which went to trial on the issue, has until 1999.

“No other city has shown us a need to go past 1999,” said Hugh Barrol, assistant regional counsel for the EPA office in San Francisco, who nevertheless declined to comment on the specifics of the deal. “San Diego has got a lot to do and they’re starting late.”

Ted Bromfield, chief deputy city attorney for San Diego, also refused to comment on the settlement.

“We have a proposal that’s being reviewed by both sides,” he said. “It could be changed by either client.”

But knowledgeable sources said that attorneys for the four agencies have reached agreement on virtually all aspects of the case. Only two, largely semantic, issues reportedly remain.

The city is demanding that it not be held responsible for any delays in its project caused by the need for federal approval and funding of a new treatment plant for the 10 million gallons of Mexican sewage that cascades across the border and into San Diego each day, sources said.

Also, attorneys for the Justice Department, which represents the EPA, are asking for assurances that the city will meet deadlines for construction of water-reclamation facilities that cleanse sewage for reuse in irrigation of parks, golf courses and highway medians.

In addition to the construction timetable, the proposed pact calls for the city to strengthen enforcement of laws that prohibit industrial users from pouring heavy metals and other contaminants into the sewer system. The city also would ensure proper operation and maintenance of its sewer system, particularly its pump stations, possibly by increasing spending, sources said.

The proposed pact is being reviewed by EPA and Justice officials in San Francisco and Washington. State officials could not be reached for comment. The City Council, which is in recess, will be briefed when it returns Jan. 9.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster delayed the scheduled start of a trial on the construction timetable from Jan. 9 to Jan. 30 because of substantial progress in the negotiations, Bromfield said.

Three City Council members interviewed about the tentative deal Wednesday said they had no information on it. But Councilman Bob Filner, who, along with Councilman Bruce Henderson, is convinced that the upgrade is not environmentally necessary, said the settlement will not deter him from pressing for changes in the Clean Water Act that would cancel the need for the construction project. The two councilmen contend that the city’s current sewage discharge, which is not as clean as the proposed plant’s effluent would be, is not harming the ocean.

“Why are we going ahead with something we don’t need?” Filner asked.

The EPA and the state sued the city last year for missing a July, 1988, deadline for compliance with the Clean Water Act, and for spilling untreated sewage into local waterways.

The federal law required that all cities upgrade their sewage treatment systems to so-called “secondary standards,” under which 85% to 90% of suspended solids are removed from the effluent before it is dumped in the ocean. The city’s current “advanced primary” treatment removes 75% to 80% of the solids.

The lawsuit also seeks potentially millions of dollars in fines for the past sewage spills.

City staff members and consulting engineers have drawn up plans for a $2.6-billion to $2.8-billion renovation of the sewage treatment system. Besides upgrading the city’s Point Loma treatment plant--which now handles 190 million gallons of sewage a day generated by 1.7 million people in 16 cities and sewage districts--the city is proposing to add a secondary treatment plant in the South Bay, a South Bay ocean outfall and six water-reclamation plants around the county.

The reclamation plants ultimately could generate as much as 135 million gallons of reusable water each day.

In court documents filed Nov. 20, the EPA demanded that the city complete the upgraded sewage system by December, 1999. The city contended, however, that construction of the project was technically impossible before August, 2007.

This month, the city offered to finish construction sometime during 2004, setting the stage for the compromise reached by attorneys.