It’s Time to Raise Sewer Fees

Sewage cleanup lacks the star power of, say, 500-year-old oak trees, but it is at least as important an environmental issue. While the Orange County Sanitation District should be commended for looking at ways to soften the blow of long-overdue rate hikes, it should not be cowed by foes into backing off from raising rates.

The district already has promised to stop pumping partially treated sewage into the ocean off Huntington Beach. That requires new equipment and more capacity to treat sewage. It’s true, as opponents of any rate increase argue, that sewage was never proved to be the source of the mysterious bacterial pollution that fouled waters off Huntington Beach and led to extended beach closures.

That’s not the point. Sanitation districts and the customers they serve do not have a right to pollute the ocean, an issue under federal jurisdiction. Orange County’s waiver to pump the sewage was one of a handful nationwide. The federal government has taken a ever-dimmer view of the remaining waivers, and there was a strong chance the sewage agency would not get a renewal.

Similarly, the northern and central parts of the county cannot limp along with aging, poorly maintained sewers. Any homeowner knows that when an old sewer line continually backs up, it’s cheaper in the end to make repairs. The same is true for the district.

Possibly the most important item on the sewage agency’s $2.36-billion shopping list is the equipment to treat waste water to the point that it’s drinkable, through a joint project with the Orange County Water District. Cities are pumping out more ground water than the water district can return to the aquifer that supplies half the county’s water. Absent new technology to reclaim water and inject it back underground, coastal aquifers will continue to be tainted by seawater.

The district had proposed a doubling of annual fees from $87.50 to $175 per single-family home, or 15% per year for five years. Under that proposal, rate increases would have averaged $1,938 or more for 500 large users with waste-water permits, such as hospitals, universities, manufacturing and commercial operations. But the board backed away from that plan and instead approved a 15% fee hike. Any subsequent rate increases would require a two-thirds majority vote.

Residents who on average pay less than $90 a year -- before the 15% hike -- are getting a relative bargain. Even if the five-year plan had been OKd, the $175 annual cost would have been lower than the $242 average statewide. It’s a small price to pay for a continued pure water supply, especially if residents want to avoid rationing down the line. Importing water would be more costly.

It’s true that the proposal to double sewage bills over five years came at a particularly bad time for many. Board members should continue to explore whether some refurbishment and upgrading of facilities could be financed long-term to spread the increase over more years. And it must find ways to keep rates cheaper for those on fixed incomes, perhaps through “lifeline” rates.

The county, which recently welcomed its 3-millionth resident, has an ever-increasing population. It cannot continue to let water run down the drain without giving some thought to where each drop comes from, and where it goes.