Amtrak Admits Raw Sewage Is Dumped in O.C. : Pollution: After earlier denying practice, officials insist it’s safe. County’s environmental health manager is still concerned.

Reversing earlier denials, Amtrak officials admitted Tuesday that one of its trains dumps raw sewage on tracks in Orange County.

The train is the Desert Wind, which runs daily between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City through northern Orange County, Amtrak officials said. It passes daily in each direction through Fullerton, Placentia, Anaheim and Yorba Linda.

Orange County Environmental Health Manager Robert E. Merryman said that he is concerned about the dumping but that no complaints have been received from residents near the Amtrak tracks, nor have there been any reports of illness.

“Railroads have been doing this for more than a hundred years,” said Arthur L. Lloyd, Amtrak’s San Francisco-based spokesman. “There are no harmful health effects.”

Merryman, however, said: “This is not a proper way to dispose of human waste. There are pathogens (microscopic organisms) that can cause disease if they get into the right environment.”

But Merryman said the county probably lacks jurisdiction to force Amtrak to stop the dumping since the tracks occupy a federal right-of-way.

The sewage dumping issue was first raised locally Monday by Dana W. Reed, a member of the county Transportation Commission. During the commission’s meeting Monday in Santa Ana, Reed asked staff members to examine whether Amtrak trains were dumping raw sewage here. Reed acknowledged that he was concerned not only about the sewage (a similar situation has led to a criminal trial in Florida against Amtrak), but also about using the issue as leverage in OCTC’s efforts to improve Amtrak’s service locally.

Contacted immediately after OCTC’s meeting on Monday, Amtrak’s Lloyd said no Amtrak trains passing through Orange County dump raw sewage. He added that some interstate Amtrak trains elsewhere do.

Lloyd reversed himself Tuesday, saying he had “forgotten” that the Desert Wind passes through Fullerton.

“You can assume that the train dumps raw sewage somewhere in Orange County along the way because it’s triggered whenever the train hits speeds above 25 miles per hour,” Lloyd said.

Amtrak’s Lloyd said the sewage is not chemically treated, but is converted into a clear liquid that becomes a fine spray when discharged at high speeds.

Amtrak’s San Diegan trains instead retain sewage in tanks that are pumped out at stations, he said.

“I think it’s a disgusting thing to do,” Reed said Tuesday of the discharges, adding he believes that the state and local authorities should consider legal action against Amtrak if Congress fails to heed a request from the California legislature to end the practice. Congress oversees Amtrak.

Fullerton City Manager William C. Winter said he would seek more information about the sewage dumping to see whether there is a legitimate environmental concern.

“Just on the surface of it I was surprised that this was going on,” Winter said. “It didn’t seem like the proper way to handle it.”