EPA sewer order lifted

Cindy Frazier

The city reached a watershed moment May 18, when the Environmental

Protection Agency lifted a Sept. 30, 2002 order to fix the city’s

leaky sewer system or face huge fines for fouling Pacific Ocean

waters.

Two and a half years and many millions of dollars later, the

city’s 95 miles of sewers are well on the way to a complete overhaul,

according to Assistant City Manager John Pietig.

“Beach closures and sewer spills are half what they were in

2000-01, and the volume of spills is one-tenth what it was,” Pietig

said. “Things have gotten much better, but we’re not there yet.”

The city’s sewer system serves the area north of Nyes Place, while

the rest of Laguna is served by the South Coast Water District.

Laguna was hit with a civil liability assessment in August, 2000

by the state Regional Water Quality Control board, which fined the

city $60,000 for eight sewage spills between January 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000.

In a five-year period, the city-operated sewer system averaged 13

spills a year. The spills ranged in volume from a mere 100 gallons to

the largest -- 200,000 gallons, which occurred during the El Nino

winter of 1998, which brought heavy rains to the area.

Between July 1, 1997 and June 30, 2002, there were 64 sewage

spills reported in the city sewer system, according to the EPA. In

the years 2000 and 2001, 16 spills occurred.

The problem, according to the federal agency, was an aging system

overrun by tree roots, and overwhelmed by restaurants pouring grease

and ground-up food down the drain. Private sewer lines that linked to

the main sewer lines were also clogging the system.

After the regional board fined the city, the City Council formed a

committee in 2002 and began a strategic planning effort to solve the

sewer crisis. That’s when the federal agency got involved.

When the strategic planning committee asked the EPA for its

blessing on its proposed strategic plan, the federal agency responded

with a 15-page order requiring the city to solve the problem -- or

else.

In August 2002, the EPA formally ordered the city to create a

Sewage Spill Reduction Action plan, with fines of between $5,000 and

$50,000 a day for noncompliance. The order remained in effect for

about two years, and allowed the city to apply to have the order

lifted at the end of 2004. City Manager Ken Frank asked that the

order be lifted in January.

“They wanted to ensure that the city follow through,” Pietig said.

City officials responded to the order by adopting a mission

statement that the city has a “zero tolerance policy regarding sewage

spills.”

They created a 10-year plan, with $25 million in capital

improvements -- which has since been revised upward to $30 million.

They created a new Water Quality Department with its own division

head, and passed new laws forbidding restaurants from disposing of

grease or even having food grinders on the premises.

Restaurants were ordered to remove food grinders, and new eateries

were warned not to install them.

The restaurant issues were probably the most difficult, but Pietig

says restaurateurs formed a “partnership” with the city to educate

employees about the best practices for food handling to avoid

overloading the sewer system.

Of 17 miles of sewer line identified as being in need of

overhauling within five years, 10 miles have been repaired, and the

city has embarked on a program to clean almost every mile of the

sewer system at least once a year. Some problem sewers get a

quarterly cleaning, Pietig says.

To identify problems from within, the city uses a robotic video

camera that rolls through the sewer lines, recording what it sees.

Some 60 miles of the city’s sewer system have been “screened” this

way.

“We’re very proud to get this much done, but there is still more

to do,” he said.

All of this is very expensive.

To finance the sewer strategic plan, city officials obtained $2.3

million in federal grants, through the efforts of Congressman Chris

Cox and Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The EPA gave the city an $873,000 grant in 2002, and the city

applied for a state low-interest loan of $11 million the same year.

In addition, ratepayers have endured two 10% rate increases, and

recently the City Council approved a 3.5% annual increase for another

eight years to pay for the sewer overhaul.

In the end, officials hope fewer beach closures will pay

dividends.