San Diego
The San Diego City Council agreed Monday to help fund a National Academy of Sciences study that will review whether coastal cities should be required to undertake costly upgrading of their sewage-treatment systems to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.
San Diego faces the prospect of spending $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion to upgrade its sewage system to comply with a provision of the act that requires so-called “secondary” treatment of the 190 million gallons of sewage dumped in the ocean daily.
The $450,000, 30-month study will examine, among other issues, whether the city’s existing “advanced primary” treatment system is environmentally adequate for San Diego and other coastal cities, as some scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography contend.
Secondary sewage treatment is about 10% more effective than advanced primary treatment in removing suspended solids from effluent.
The study will be conducted by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
