For Sanitation District’s Critics, the Issue Is Clear

Re “Sewage Issue Gets Murky,” Jan. 27:

I’m not surprised at all that the Orange County Sanitation District removed a turbidity meter--a pollution monitoring device--when the readings showed the treated sewage to be cloudier than allowed.

It should be expected that when the sewage is only treated halfway that the sewage would be cloudy. This should be a wake-up call to the public. Demand the sanitation district treat the sewage to full secondary standards before releasing it into the ocean. Demand the sanitation district give up its waiver, which allows halfway treatment.

I know what makes that sewage cloudy. It’s toilet water. I want a clean ocean, one that is not polluted by sewage.

Karin Moran

Surfrider Foundation

San Clemente

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Evidence continues to mount that the Orange County Sanitation District is putting its own interests above the public’s health and welfare. Once again, data is suppressed that points toward potential health effects from the district’s sewage discharges into the ocean.

This time, a turbidity monitor has been rigged such that it cannot give high readings, even if the water being tested is fully contaminated. This is akin to rigging a thermometer to go no higher than 98.6 degrees, regardless of the health of the patient.

Turbidity is an indirect test for fecal matter in water. The more fecal particles, the murkier the water and the higher the turbidity levels. It is a testing requirement under both California and federal law, despite the district’s protestations that their testing is voluntary and not pertinent to the water quality of their discharge.

Based on their history of cover-ups and obfuscation, their assurances that there are no ill health effects at our swimming beaches are not worth the paper their press releases are written on.

This type of action is a reflection of the attitude of top management and is unacceptable. It is time for change at the district. Top management should be thrown out along with their 301(h) waiver.

Orange County deserves full sewage treatment and disinfection prior to discharge into our ocean.

Robert J. Caustin

Founding Director,

Defend the Bay, Newport Beach

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In a medical laboratory, the instruments that run tests are calibrated daily with an industry standard.

Then commercial samples with known concentrations are run through as test samples. If the reading on these samples is not within the given range, a new batch of standard material is used to recalibrate and a new batch of samples is run. If the samples don’t fall within the given range again, then you can deduce that the instrument is not working and send someone to fix it.

Of course this is all recorded and documented because the laboratory has many inspections during the year for quality assurance.

In their inspection, it was noted that Orange County Sanitation District did not properly calibrate its instrument. If the district was using that instrument to monitor turbidity as one of the 120 indices required under the Clean Water Act for having the 301(h) waiver permit to discharge partially treated sewage into the ocean, then they were in violation of that requirement. They should not be allowed to renew the waiver.

Kris Hardeman

Fullerton

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Orange County Sanitation District doesn’t like what their turbidity gauge indicates, so it gets rid of the gauge.

They don’t like what their own 1996 20-meter study found, so they don’t publish the report. They don’t like the public outcry opposing the waiver allowing the ocean dumping of partially treated sewage, so they ignore the public.

The issue may be murky, but the pattern is clear.

Dennis Baker

Corona del Mar

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News that the Orange County Sanitation District dismissed data from, and ultimately removed, a turbidity meter that was showing readings indicating excessive turbidity of treated sewage is not totally out of character.

In 1996, scientists at the district did a 20-meter study, which showed elevated fecal bacteria in the water column that would have jeopardized their ocean discharge permit, had it been known. However, this study was not released to the public until 2000, well after the permit renewal period, and well after the sanitation district got the rules changed in 1997 to accommodate the data.

Even to this day, a formal report on this study has never been released, despite promises by the district over seven months ago to do so. It is this lack of candor and openness that casts doubt on the sanitation district’s ability to monitor itself. The simple and elegant solution to this dilemma is to require the sanitation district to give up its waiver from full secondary treatment requirements of the Clean Water Act.

At an estimated $50 a year for the average family in Orange County, this is an affordable safeguard that when people go to the beach, they can be confident that sewage particles from the sanitation district’s ocean outfall won’t come back to haunt them.

Jan D. Vandersloot

Newport Beach