Sanitation district to install new $50-million pump

Paul Clinton

Orange County Sanitation District engineers say they’ll spend $50

million to replace an ancient sewage pump adjacent to the Santa Ana

River.

District engineers announced the project on June 3 and hope to begin

construction next spring. It is expected to take between two and three

years and won’t disrupt traffic on city streets, district spokeswoman

Sonja Wassgren said.

The aging pump needs to be replaced before it fails, she said.

“It’s wearing out its useful life,” Wassgren said. “It needs to be

replaced.

The announcement also kicks off the environmental review of the

project’s impact on the surrounding area.

The pump is part of Treatment Plant No. 2, a sewage treatment annex

1,500 feet from the ocean. The pump moves sewage into the outfall pipe

and into the ocean 4 1/2 miles out to sea. More than 240-million gallons

of partially treated sewage is released each day.

The treatment plant is located on a 110-acre site bounded by

Brookhurst Street on the northwest, Pacific coast Highway on the

southwest and the Santa Ana River on the east.