End District’s Secondary Water Treatment Waiver
Re “Water District, City Oppose Sewage Waiver,” March 14:
The Orange County Sanitation District has a waiver allowing it to avoid full secondary treatment of 240 million gallons per day of waste water. All other districts its size have given up the waiver and gone to full secondary treatment. Secondary treatment removes 90% or more of live bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Dumping this filth into the ocean does not make sense, given our large, growing population.
AB 1892 would allow diversion of urban runoff into the outfall without full secondary treatment. But first, AB 1969 must be passed, forcing the Sanitation District to give up its waiver and fully treat sewage to at least the secondary level, the bare minimum of every other discharger its size.
The conditions under which the waiver was granted included no harm to fisheries, recreation or habitat. We now have evidence that there is bacterial contamination that leads to beach closures.
Please support AB 1969 so the district will be forced to give up its waiver and move to full secondary treatment.
Bruce Wareh
Huntington Beach
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