County’s Sewage Waiver Targeted

An Orange County assemblyman introduced a bill Thursday that would end a local agency’s ability to dump dirtier sewage into the ocean than is allowed almost anywhere else in the nation.

The Orange County Sanitation District has a five-year waiver allowing it to release the moderately treated sewage. The district must decide by the end of the year whether it will apply to renew that waiver, which expires next year. The bill seeks to stop that renewal.

“For too long, Orange County Sanitation District has had its head in the sand, and they’ve been putting our head in the toilet,” said Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove). “Our water-quality standards were set at about the same time men were wearing leisure suits.”

As currently worded, the bill also would put an end to similar waivers in San Diego, Goleta and Morro Bay. However, Maddox said that wording could change, depending on what legislators from those areas want.

The Clean Water Act requires two levels of treatment to kill most bacteria and viruses before sewage is discharged into oceans, rivers and lakes. Since 1977, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been allowed to grant waivers to this requirement if doing so would not harm the environment or public health. In California, state water regulators must also sign off on the five-year waiver. Maddox’s bill would forbid the state from approving a waiver unless the sewage undergoes a higher level of treatment.

The Orange County Sanitation District is one of 36 agencies nationwide that have waivers. In Orange County, only half the sewage receives two levels of treatment. The district, which serves more than 2 million people in central and northern Orange County, is the largest waiver-holder in the nation, discharging 243 million gallons of moderately treated sewage into the ocean daily--enough to fill the Rose Bowl three times.

The sanitation district has said treating the sewage to a higher level would require a $400-million plant to be built, while creating no benefit because the district releases the sewage 41/2 miles offshore and 200 feet deep.

Blake Anderson, general manager of the Orange County Sanitation District, said he was distressed that Maddox had submitted the bill after consulting with environmentalists who oppose the waiver, but not with the district.

“There seems to be a common behavior around all this--people are quite willing to talk about us, but very few people are willing to talk to us,” Anderson said.

“I would like to thank Mr. Maddox for a $400-million Valentine’s Day present,” he said. “If this is a state matter, then I suppose the state will pay Orange County the cost to do the upgrade.”

Environmentalists who began a grass-roots effort to end the waiver more than a year ago were thrilled.

“It’s as if someone shined a light on this nasty little secret that Orange County has had for so long,” said Doug Korthof, a member of the Ocean Outfall Group, whose city-by-city campaign has persuaded city councils in Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa to oppose the waiver. Fullerton is expected to pass a similar resolution next week.

Maddox said he became interested in this issue last summer when he took his then 11/2-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter to Huntington City Beach, and started thinking about ocean pollution. After doing a little research, he learned of the district’s waiver.

“I wouldn’t let my dog drink out of the toilet. Why would I want my kids playing out in the ocean?” he asked.

“I’m anticipating broad support on this [bill]. It’s unconscionable that this amount of sewage is being dumped into the ocean. Most people are shocked to find out this shadow government called Orange County Sanitation District is engaged in this kind of practice.”