Increased Sewer Fees and Their Consequences

Re “It’s Time to Raise Sewer Fees,” editorial, July 6:

As usual, we renters will wind up by paying for all the raises. Recently, we were forced to pay for upkeep of meters in the apartment complex plus sewage fees, all of which added more than $40 to our utilities bill.

When I complained to the mayor’s office, I was told most Orange County residents are property owners and therefore control the vote.

Living on a fixed income is no easy task, and if fees continue to rise, many of us will become street people.

It is with a sense of despair that I read your article. The property owners will just pass this rise on to us so that their huge incomes will not be touched or diminished.

Some of the tenants in this apartment complex who dared complain to the manager were given 30-day notices of eviction, and I am sure if we dare to complain, similar notices of eviction will follow. This means we plead for a resounding no to the rise in sewer fees.

Jonathon Summer

Anaheim

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Re “Blame Activists for Sewage-Fee Increase,” letter, June 29:

Former Orange County Sanitation District board member Russell Patterson writes that “politics is the reason” that the sanitation district needs a rate increase and that “self-proclaimed environmentalists” are to blame for goading the board into voting not to continue resisting the requirements of the 1972 Clean Water Act.

In fact, a widespread outpouring of sentiment by Orange County residents who believe that the ocean should not be a dump convinced a majority of the board to finally (after 20 years) move toward compliance with the law and do what well over 90% of the waste-water agencies in this country are doing -- treating their waste water to full secondary (or better) standards. This will not only reduce by millions of pounds per year the fecal solids discharged into the ocean but also move the district closer to the ultimate goal of no ocean discharge.

Environmental, water conservation and, yes, economic forces are combining to prompt efforts such as the district’s laudable Groundwater Replenishment System project, which will allow the beneficial reuse of nearly half of the current waste-water discharge. Ironically, had public sentiment not forced a decision to end the waiver, the district’s remaining ocean discharge after implementation of the ground-water project would have been dirtier than at present. Setting a higher standard for all waste water will protect the environment, encourage further water reuse and help make Orange County more self-sufficient for drinking water.

The proposed rate increase for all this (after five years) amounts to 24 cents per day, and the final yearly sewer fee will be less than in Los Angeles and only about half of the rate in San Diego and San Francisco. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Rick Wilson

Aliso Viejo