O.C. Sanitation District Is Shirking Its Duties

Re “Stirring Up the Water,” Editorial, Feb. 3:

I agree that the Orange County Sanitation District should not be taking on urban runoff when it is not fulfilling its original mandate to clean the sewage produced from toilets. The district has a waiver that excuses it from full treatment of sewage. It should give up the waiver and treat all sewage to full secondary standards before adding urban runoff. We would like to be able to swim in the ocean knowing it’s free of sewage.

J.L. Denison

Long Beach

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Throwing away data and monitoring equipment that indicate a problem seems to be the best way for the Sanitation District to hold on to its $550-million reserve.

The turbidity analyzer may have not been required, but that’s not a good excuse to throw it away.

It’s not uncommon for the district to throw out “anomalously high values” from their data so that their statistical mean will look better on paper.

It’s obvious that the turbidity meter wasn’t the first thing to be thrown out just because it didn’t show what the district wanted. Thrown-out data and equipment are just ways to avoid using reserves for the intended purpose: treating the sewage.

Curtis Zavodny

Long Beach

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The fact that the Orange County Sanitation District removed a turbidity meter that measures clearness of the water, and opposes reinstalling it, means they are not doing all they can to assure clean, clear water in the ocean.

In what condition are we leaving the ocean for our children’s children?

Diana Mann

Long Beach