Sewage Plant to Close Over Dumping Charge

A South County water district has agreed to shut down its Capistrano Beach sewage treatment plant as part of a settlement with the district attorney’s office over criminal charges that the agency illegally dumped waste water into an open field next to San Juan Creek.

The deal, which caps the first major environmental investigation of an Orange County public agency, also calls for the Capistrano Beach Water District to pay $75,000 in penalties and costs.

The San Juan Creek flows to Doheny State Beach, where swimmers and surfers have complained of skin rashes and infections. But in announcing the settlement Wednesday, prosecutors said they “found no evidence that the discharged waste entered the creek.”

Still, dumping the sewage within “a stone’s throw of the creek” presented an unreasonable risk, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Lyman of the environmental crimes unit.

In filing charges in May 1997, prosecutors accused the district of engaging in an illegal practice “that became policy” of ordering its truck drivers to collect sewage sludge and then let it seep into the ground outside its Victoria Sewage Treatment Plant.

The district attorney’s office charged that the dumping occurred because the treatment plant could not handle the waste.

Lyman said the settlement was the best outcome possible for the public. Even if the criminal case was proved in court, prosecutors would have lacked the authority to close the plant, which has a long history of environmental problems, she said.

“This place should not be operating,” Lyman said. “The public, I think, should be happy that they will not be in the business of treating sewage anymore.”

Paul S. Meyer, an attorney representing the district, said sanitation operations will not suffer with the plant closure. Under a recently completed consolidation with surrounding water agencies, the Capistrano Beach Water District will be allowed to treat its sewage waste through nearby plants.

“The agency is still operating [and] . . . will continue providing water to its customers,” Meyer said.

Officials plan to eventually construct a sewage flow station that will divert waste from the Capistrano Beach Water District into the nearby Southeast Regional Reclamation Authority.

Initially, prosecutors had charged chief plant operator Steven Cory Sanchez with 18 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts. They also charged the district and its general manager, Dennis Emerson McClain, with criminal “imputed liability,” meaning that while they may not have known about the dumping, they should have been aware of it.

Under the settlement, Sanchez pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to a misdemeanor charge of directing district employees to dump sewage material. He has been placed on three years’ probation and must perform 200 hours of community service. All charges against McClain and the district were dropped.

The district admitted to no wrongdoing under the deal.

Prosecutors and the Orange County Health Care Agency investigated the Victoria Sewage Treatment Plant for a month in 1996. Investigators saw district employees dumping sludge on the nearby field. Examination of the soil showed high levels of fecal coliform, which indicates presence of human waste.

They found no evidence that district officials or McClain had personal knowledge of the practice, Lyman said.