EDITORIAL

The City Council deserves applause for its decision earlier this month

to jump aboard the growing coalition of coastal cities that plan to

oppose a federal waiver allowing the Orange County Sanitation District to

pump partially treated sewage 4 1/2 miles off the city’s shores.

The waiver, which is set to expire in 2003, was granted to the

district by the Environmental Protection Agency. Without it, all

236-million gallons of sewage the district sends into the ocean each day

would have to be treated fully. Now, half of the sewage has only had the

solid waste removed. The waiver, environmentalists say, leaves it rife

with bacteria.

Huntington Beach leaders, residents and business owners all have many

reasons to want the water to be as clean as possible.

For the city’s businesses, the importance of a clean beach and water

was clearly demonstrated in the summer of 1999, when constant beach

closures wrecked usually profitable months for Downtown businesses.

For residents who go to the beach, being able to go in the water --

let alone sit anywhere on the sand they like -- is part of why they live

in Huntington Beach. Denied that joy and benefit, they may as well live

in Missouri.

For the council, when a decision will benefit all its constituents,

the verdict might seem an easy one. But it was still a bold one, as it

joined only Seal Beach as early opponents of the waiver. (Just this week,

Newport Beach added a third, influential voice to the opposition.)

Now, this trio of cities needs to work on other, non-coastal towns to

get aboard the waiver battle. Come November 2002, when the sanitation

district will decide whether to push for the waiver’s continuation, the

county’s cities will need to be united in opposition. It will be the

right thing to do.