EPA Sewage Treatment Plan for San Diego Rejected
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a sewage-treatment and water-reclamation system that the federal government was trying to force the city of San Diego to build.
U.S. District Judge Rudi M. Brewster ruled that the proposed system would not be in the public interest. It would waste money and water, he said.
The decision is a victory for the city and the San Diego Area Wastewater Management District. They are parties to the lawsuit and opposed the proposed sewage-treatment system.
It represents a defeat for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its almost six-year legal battle over the way San Diego treats its sewage.
The lawsuit was filed by the EPA and the state of California in July, 1988, in an attempt to bring the city’s level of sewage treatment up to the federal standard, known as secondary treatment.
The state recently dropped out as a plaintiff and became a defendant instead, supporting the city.
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