EPA seeks tighter rules on sewage dumping

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- Federal and state water-quality regulators have

proposed tightening the standards for the county’s largest sewage agency.

Regulators with the Environmental Protection Agency released a

proposal at a June 18 meeting that would hold the Orange County

Sanitation District to higher monitoring standards and require

chlorination by Aug. 12.

“I would agree with the assessment that these are more stringent

protections,” EPA spokesman Mark Merchant said. “In that case, it will

hopefully improve water quality in the area.”

The EPA and state’s Water Resources Control Board have scheduled a

July 19 meeting to consider the change. It would come two days after the

district is expected to decide on whether to revamp its sewage treatment

process, to which opposition has been growing in recent months.

Each day, the district releases 243 million gallons of partially

treated sewage into the ocean via an outfall pipe on the ocean floor four

miles off the Santa Ana River mouth.

City leaders in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and other

municipalities have pushed the district to step up its treatment of the

waste water.

Under the new proposed permit, the district would be required to

bleach the sewage, then remove the bleach using a dechlorination

chemical. Releasing high concentrations of bleach into the ocean would

kill fish and damage other marine life.

The proposed permit would also hold the district accountable for

keeping the water clear within three miles of the shore, from surface to

bottom.

Now, the district is only required to worry about a top layer of water

10 feet deep and three miles out.

The district’s 25-member board had already approved

startingchlorination, in which the agency uses industrial strength bleach

to kill bacteria and some viruses in its sewage.

That approval came on March 27. On April 24, the board authorized no

more than $200,000 to develop plans for chlorination, which would cost $8

million per year.

On Wednesday, the district board will consider whether to purchase the

chemicals for the disinfection process. Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway,

Costa Mesa Sanitary District and Newport-Mesa Unified School District

member Jim Ferryman, and Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook sit on the

board.

The EPA’s proposed changes would alter a waste discharge permit last

given to the district in 1998. In 1999, the state Legislature passed

Assembly Bill 411, which lowered the levels of bacteria allowed to be

present in the ocean.

District officials said they headed to the EPA to request the change

in their permit so it would conform to that law.

“What we said was ‘our goal for disinfection was to meet AB411

standards,”’ said Robert Ghirelli, the district’s technical services

director. “They took that and created this permit.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .