Officials seek third sewage waiver

Plan Avoids $1.5 Billion In Upgrades To Facility

San Diego Union Tribune

By Mike Lee

November 21, 2007

The City Council set up a high-stakes showdown with environmentalists yesterday when it decided to seek a third waiver from federal law for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.

On a 7-1 vote, the council approved San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders' controversial plan to avoid – or at least delay – about $1.5 billion in improvements at the facility. The plant treats sewage less thoroughly than the “secondary” standard set by the Clean Water Act. Sanders wants an exemption because he said the current setup doesn't harm the environment.

Environmentalists say tests to date don't support his assertions.

“I suspect that . . . this is . . . the beginning of the battle, one that I prefer we not get into,” said Councilwoman Donna Frye, who cast the no vote.

San Diego runs the largest sewage processing plant in the country that doesn't at least have a plan to reach the federally mandated secondary treatment level designed to reduce solids and other pollutants. The Point Loma plant cleans wastewater from San Diego and several other cities to the advanced primary level, then pipes it about 4.5 miles offshore.

Yesterday's vote followed speeches by about 20 community and business representatives who said major upgrades would waste taxpayer money. An official from the city's independent budget analysis office said seeking another five-year exemption is “the most prudent course of action at this point.”

Top officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have said they won't prejudge the city's application, but state regulators warned a few years ago that San Diego should “not expect to receive waivers forever.” The last waiver application generated controversy, but the city ultimately secured the waiver after it agreed to a few environmental concessions, including a study of beneficial uses for treated wastewater.

At yesterday's council hearing, environmentalists said they aim to block another exemption on the basis that the city can't prove its current system is not harming the ocean. They want San Diego to commit to upgrading the Point Loma plant even if the city can't afford the work for several years. They also want San Diego to reuse more wastewater rather than dumping almost all of it in the ocean.

“It's the same old story. Nobody wants to spend money today. Nobody wants to plan for the future,” said Marco Gonzalez, a lawyer for the Coastkeeper and Surfrider groups.

Frye urged her colleagues to seek common ground with Gonzalez to avoid a potentially costly lawsuit.

Outside the hearing, Gonzalez said he wasn't hopeful that could be done.

“We are moving toward litigation,” he said.

Sanders' wastewater chief, Timothy Bertch, expressed hope that the city's environmental monitoring over the past several years would prompt a “favorable decision” by the EPA and state water pollution officials.

“The waiver application is stronger than any we have submitted before,” he Bertch said.

Sanders signaled his intention to seek the waiver in October when he unveiled a scientific study commissioned by his office. Several scientists from UCSD and SDSU looked at existing ocean monitoring data and said no proof exists of serious harm related to the plant. However, they also noted uncertainty about some important factors, such as how far the plume of partly treated sewage travels from Point Loma.

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