Treating Runoff
In your Oct. 1 editorial “A Step Toward Clean Beaches,” you failed to include several missing pieces of the urban runoff puzzle, namely: (1) Waste treatment plants do not have the capacity to handle the total volume of all of the inland cities. Highly developed watersheds preclude all but the coastal communities, meaning over 90% of the low-flow nuisance water flowing year round remains “toxic soup.” (2) The detritus and chemical composition of runoff overwhelm treatment plants. These facilities were designed for human waste--the bacteria in their holding chambers are for organic materials. (3) No one wants to admit it, but the resulting treated water must be emerging in the ocean outfalls in a degraded state.
Diversion is a temporary solution. It is not the cavalry coming in to save us from our own negligent behavior.
ROGER VON BUTOW
Clean Water Now! Coalition
Laguna Beach
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