Lawmaker Seeks Funds for Sewers

Orange County’s deteriorating sewer system is “the tip of an iceberg, and below it you’ve got this big bubble waiting to explode--with all of this human sewage,” a state legislator said Wednesday.

Assembly member Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) said aging and poorly maintained sewer pipes are a “significant health threat,” and she vowed to prod the Legislature to return more property tax money to cities to repair sewer systems. Other state and federal officials also decried the situation and called for action.

“This is absolutely critical,” said Bates, a former Laguna Niguel City Council member who serves on the Assembly Select Committee on Coastal Protection. “This is about cities looking at long-term and short-term needs, and the state does play a role in that.”

Sewer lines in Orange County have broken down at least 198 times so far this year, spilling more than 300,000 gallons of raw sewage, a review by The Times found. Much of the bacteria-laden waste is channeled into storm drains and creeks, and eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean.

All of the 30 beach closures so far this year--eight more than last year--have been caused by raw sewage spills. Experts say a bigger culprit in Southern California’s chronic coastal pollution is urban runoff, but experts admit they don’t know how much raw sewage contributes to the problem.

State and federal officials say they are becoming less tolerant of sewage spills. On Wednesday, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board released a complaint it filed against the Moulton Niguel Water District because the district was responsible for eight sewer spills--which released 39,000 gallons of raw sewage that tainted the ocean--during the first six months of this year.

The regional board recommended that Moulton Niguel be fined $83,360 for the spills. The board set a hearing for Sept. 13, two weeks after a similar hearing for Laguna Beach, which is responsible for eight spills in 18 months that closed beaches for 29 days.

The Moulton Niguel Water District has not determined whether it will contest the regional board’s proposed fine, said Larry Dees, director of operations for the district, which is spending $1.3 million to upgrade five pump stations.

“Every time we find a problem in our system, we fix it right away,” Dees said.

But Chad Nelsen, environmental director for the Surfrider Foundation, said cities and water agencies should be doing more up front to prevent problems.

“This is just another case of the cities being totally reactive,” Nelsen said. “It’s a too-little, too-late kind of a thing, and it’s really a shame.”

The county’s sewer problems have been brought on by years of neglect, said U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). Rohrabacher, a surfer, said he has witnessed the waters off Orange County become more and more polluted.

“It’s clear there are some major problems with urban sewer systems in Orange County, and particularly in Huntington Beach,” Rohrabacher said. “The City Council members have been hoping that this problem wouldn’t explode on them while they’re in office. For 20 years, city officials have been pushing it off for tomorrow. . . . Sewer pipes have been neglected, and now it’s a threat to the public safety.”

Much of Huntington Beach’s coastline was closed for weeks last summer because of high bacteria counts. While the source of Huntington Beach’s pollution has not been identified, city officials have blamed urban runoff, the toxic brew that drains from inland dairies, lawns, streets and parking lots and flows through storm drains to the ocean.

A committee that spent two years studying the aging sewers, streets and storm drain system in Huntington Beach identified more than $88 million in needed repairs.

Huntington Beach Councilwoman Shirley S. Dettloff defended the public works program, saying the city spent $2 million to find the source of last year’s beach pollution and has reinforced the downtown area’s sewer lines, some of which date back to the 1920s.

“We want to find the source of any pollution going out to the ocean,” Dettloff said.

The Orange County Sanitation District is also spending $4 million this year for matching grants for cities in need of sewer repairs. The program is providing money for 25 projects, including Huntington Beach, district spokeswoman Lisa Lawson said.

Rohrabacher said it is up to local governments to fix their sewer systems. Still, he said, he plans to introduce legislation in Congress next month to establish a “coastal trust” that would collect revenue from offshore oil interests.

That money would be used to pay for coastal water quality studies, artificial reef projects and measures to counteract coastal erosion. His measure would also seek to use NASA satellites to map the flow of pollution near beaches.

“We’ve reached a threshold where we can’t just try one approach,” Rohrabacher said.