Sound the Alarm More Effectively

Sewage happens, to paraphrase a bumper sticker. And too often, quantities of it accidentally escape into Ventura County waterways.

In those cases it is the responsibility of county Environmental Health Division officials to promptly and prominently warn the public to stay out of the polluted--and possibly hazardous--waters. That isn’t happening as consistently as it should.

Consider two recent spills:

* Last Monday when about 600 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into a storm drain that flows into the Ventura Keys at Peninsula Street and Bayshore Avenue, Ventura city officials posted numerous warning signs and sent a press release to news media to sound the alarm.

* But a year earlier, when what turned out to be 1.2 million gallons of raw sewage was dumped into Canada Larga Creek and flowed down the Ventura River to the ocean near Surfer’s Point, it took a week before even a minimal warning was issued. Even that was limited to a few signs within a quarter-mile of the treatment plant where the spill took place. That left several miles of creek and river unposted--although tests showed high levels of bacteria all the way to the coast as long as two weeks after the spill.

Part of the problem is that county environmental officials consider marine spills--those in or near the ocean--to be much more serious than those upstream. It’s true that Ventura County’s beaches attract swimmers and surfers by the thousands and that they need to know when water pollution makes it risky to dive in. But the county’s many creeks and rivers attract plenty of recreation-seekers too.

The Canada Larga Creek spill occurred near Foster Park and flowed into the Ventura River. Hikers, fishermen, dog walkers, bird watchers and others needed to know that those gurgling waters carried coliform counts much higher than acceptable.

That isn’t just common sense--it’s state law.

In 1997 the state water code was revised to require that “upon receiving notice of [sewage] discharge . . . the local health officer and administrator of environmental health shall immediately determine whether notification of the public is required to safeguard public health and safety. If so, [those officials] shall immediately notify the public of the discharge by posting notices or other appropriate means.” Some counties also have ordinances requiring immediate notification to the media and the Board of Supervisors.

The Ojai Valley Sanitary District has been ordered to pay $223,000 in fines because its workers ignored warnings of a pump failure and failed to take immediate action to halt the spill, allowing untreated waste to gush into the creek for nine days. Officials at the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board said the discharge posed a health risk at the time, but there is no record that anyone became ill.

Residents of Ventura County rightly expect their utilities to take vigorous precautions to keep untreated sewage out of the waterways. But when accidents do happen, county environmental health officials must move more quickly and effectively to sound the alarm than they did in this case.