NEWS ANALYSIS -- Will sewer debacle have trickle-down effect?

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Like all communities, Surf City has its share of

problems and its sewer system is one of them.

The Downtown and Old Town sewers are fixed, the city’s moving forward

with a sewer fee to fund the system’s maintenance and operation and

initial tests of ground water where sewage leaked from broken pipes in

the 1990s turned up no sign of contamination.

But some city officials are concerned that other communities facing

similar infrastructure challenges, like that of Huntington Beach, could

be affected by the city’s experience.

“If you do your job and go look for a problem, only to be charged with

some kind of crime, I think it has a chilling effect on encouraging

managers and employees who are responsible for these systems in other

cities,” said Rich Barnard, the city’s spokesman, referring to the recent

misdemeanor charges incurred by the city. “We bought a television truck

to find the problem and took action to correct it, though it may have

taken some time to get the money together.”

Michael Gold, assistant director for the Orange County division of the

League of California Cities disagreed.

“I think, if anything, it would have the opposite effect and encourage

cities to look into any possible sewer problems,” Gold said, adding that

it was a lack of funding that compacted Surf City’s difficulties.

“There’s a statewide deficit of about $14 billion for the regular repair

of sewers and roads in California cities and counties, and that’s a

result of inadequate funds.”

Woes over the Downtown and Old Town sewer lines began in 1996, when

city officials suspecting problems, used a video camera to detect breaks

in subterranean pipes. Since then, the city has spent more than $2

million on repairs.

Meanwhile, some residents said they weren’t aware of the scope of the

problem the city was faced with.

“I was surprised at the amount of leaks in the sewer pipes,” said Dean

Albright, who also sat on the Citizen’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee

and toured the ailing pipelines a few years ago. “There were places where

the clay pipes were gone altogether.”

The slip-lining process, Albright added, where material is run through

the pipes and heated to seal all leaks and essentially form a new, inner

pipe, was one of the cleverest things he’s seen the city do and probably

saved a lot of money.

“I think the city has been very above-board and proactive on this,”

said resident Dick Harlow, chairman of the citizen’s committee. “That’s

why it formed our committee in the first place, and the only crime I can

see is the waste of tax dollars on the behalf of the district attorney’s

office in bringing the city to court and making it defend itself.”

The committee unanimously supported a fee for the sewer system in

1996, and is behind the one currently under development, so long as the

money is only used for the waste water system.

Diane Baker, executive director of the Huntington Beach Conference &

Visitors Bureau, said the sewer debacle is unlikely to seriously affect

the city’s image.

“Visitors don’t read the day-to-day news, and are generally only

worried about the beaches,” she said. “But I think the message that this

city is working to keep itself safe and clean for its visitors and

residents is clear.”

There have been some misconceptions, such as the amount of sewage that

escaped from broken pipes and comments that the leaks were connected to

ocean pollution, that simply aren’t true, Barnard said.

City officials have said there is no way to tell exactly how much or

how little waste water flowed from the Downtown and Old Town pipes before

the leaks were sealed, and evidence from recent ground water tests for

contamination have come up empty, supporting past studies that the sewer

system is not a contributor to ocean pollution.