O.C. May Vote on Sewage Waiver

The Orange County Sanitation District is considering a November ballot measure that would ask voters whether the agency should continue dumping partly treated sewage from an outfall four miles off the Huntington Beach coast.

The sanitation district has a special waiver from the EPA that allows it to do less treatment of sewage than most other districts in the country.

Supporters said the nonbinding referendum would help the agency decide whether to ask the EPA to extend the waiver.

Eight Orange County cities have come out against extension of the waiver, fearing the partly treated sewage is polluting the ocean and could be a cause of the high bacteria levels that have periodically closed beaches in the last few years.

Sanitation district officials said there is no evidence sewage from the outfall is polluting the beaches. Ending the waiver, they added, would force the agency to spend $400 million for new sewage treatment facilities.

The ballot measure idea has already won some support among sanitation board members.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Placentia Councilman Norman Z. Eckenrode, who sits on the board. “We’ll be able to get a reading from the voters as to what position we should take.”

Critics, however, fear the campaign would focus on how sewer rates might rise if the waiver isn’t renewed.

“They’ve got the money to spin it any way they want,” Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook said. “And you can bet that’s what they’ll do. They’ll tell people their [sanitation] rates will double or triple.”

Sanitation officials are now examining how a ballot measure would be worded and the process for placing it on the ballot. Their findings will be presented to a steering committee June 26.

The federal waiver, which is up for renewal next year, allows the agency to treat half of the waste water it pumps into the ocean at levels less than those adopted by most of the nation’s 16,000 sanitation districts.

Some environmentalists complained that putting the issue before voters is designed to give political cover to the board.

“I think the directors are abrogating their responsibility to make a decision,” said Jan Vandersloot of the Ocean Outfall Group. “They’re looking for an excuse for not having to make the decision.”