Neighbors See Selves Going to Pot : Togetherness: Locals in normally upscale area will have to use portable toilets in street until sewer pipe is repaired. Some actually are looking forward to it, sort of.

Next week, the concept of Neighborhood Watch will take on a new meaning in Laguna Beach.

In an upscale neighborhood that includes the homes of actress Bette Midler and former football star O.J. Simpson, the city will begin sewer repairs and has asked residents to refrain from taking showers, flushing toilets or otherwise using water from about 9 a.m. to midnight. For their convenience, the city will provide his and her portable toilets--in the street.

“I don’t know,” said Allen Magers, a resident of the Victoria Beach community where sewer work will begin on Wednesday. “I’d like to share a shower with a couple of them, but I don’t know about a potty.”

Over the next month, as many as 20 homes at a time will be disconnected from city sewer lines for stretches of about 15 hours while repair crews renovate a 50-year-old pipe.

The sewer line runs roughly parallel to Coast Highway, from Cardinal Way at Coast Highway, north to Calliope Street at Glenneyre Street. Although water service will not be disrupted while repairs are under way, residents will be asked not to take showers, use washing machines or flush toilets while their homes are disconnected from sewer lines. Otherwise, water could back up into the homes, Municipal Services Director Terry Brandt said.

Homes are likely to be disconnected from their sewer pipes from 9 a.m. until midnight, he said. To ease the frustration for residents, the city will install portable toilets-probably one for males and and one for females--on each block where work is under way.

“Won’t that be fun in the middle of the night,” said Alice Jarman, a resident of Victoria Drive.

Mary Ann Jones, a Sunset Terrace resident, said she doesn’t much mind falling into line but thinks some of her neighbors will be miffed at the prospect of a community outhouse.

“They’d blow their stacks,” she said, “because they hardly ever even look at each other.”

Some residents, however, said the situation could be much worse.

Michele Crow, a McAulay Place mother-to-be who is just recovering from morning sickness, said it could have been a “ruinous” predicament for her a month ago.

“Thank God I’m sort of past that point right now,” she said. “I feel a lot better knowing I won’t have to be running down to the public toilet.”

And some residents were downright cheerful at the prospect. “That sounds like a real good way to get acquainted with the neighbors,” said neighborhood resident Anne McDonald, adding that it will be “a wonderful thing” to have the sewer line repaired.

The repair technique, which is being used for the first time by the city, involves inserting a flexible plastic tube in the line, which eliminates the need for excavation. Brandt said the city had little choice but to use the technique since the pipe is 40 feet below ground in places, making excavation expensive and, in some areas, virtually impossible.

Besides, using the plastic insert instead of digging up the pipe could save the city as much as $1 million, said Fred Moore, sales manager of Insituform Southwest, the Monrovia company handling the repairs. All the more reason to keep a stiff upper lip, residents said.

“That’s a considerable savings,” Magers said. “I think it might be worth it to share a toilet if they’re going to save that much money on it.”

On Thursday, repair crews were videotaping the sewer lines to look for cracked joints and root intrusion. Work will begin Wednesday at Sunset Terrace, progressing north to Victoria Drive. Crews will be off Thursday and will resume work Friday at Sunset Terrace, working their way north to Coast Highway.

All in all, most Lagunans seemed determined to take the inconvenience in stride.

“Laguna is pretty loose anyway,” resident Beth Liljestrom said. “We’re all kind of a little odd to be living here, so I don’t think there will be too much trouble over it.”