Editorial: City dodged a bullet

Laguna Beach got a veritable slap on the wrist recently from the Regional Water Quality Control Board San Diego Region, which imposed a paltry $70,000 fine to punish the city for allowing 590,000 gallons of raw sewage to foul the beaches last October.

That’s only $8.50 per gallon. The board could have fined the city $5.9 million. That’s $10,000 per gallon.

No wonder City Manager Ken Frank sounded grateful for the monetary punishment meted out by the state, which, by the way, could really use the cash. (Now maybe the city should take similar pity on parking meter violators.)

That spill closed four miles of beach, took out a portion of South Coast Highway for days, and ended up costing $210,000 in emergency response.

The spill was preceded by a smaller one in April 2008 that affected a 1.5-mile stretch of beach. The spate of sewer spills was ironic, because the city had been awarded a national honor as a “Beach Buddy” by the Natural Resources Defense Council in 2007 “” the only city on the West Coast to be honored for water-quality efforts “” and followed that up with a “five-star” rating for beach water quality in early 2008.

It goes to show that keeping the beaches and ocean free of pollutants is a never-ending task.

The board seems to be upping the ante in imposing fines on cities. In 2000, Laguna was assessed $60,000 for eight sewage spills that occurred between Jan. 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000.

The city’s record of spills has been dismal. Over a five-year period in the 1990s, the sewer system averaged 13 spills a year, ranging in volume from 100 gallons to 200,000 gallons, which occurred during the El Niño winter of 1998, which brought heavy rains.

Between July 1, 1997, and June 30, 2002, 64 sewage spills were reported in the city sewer system, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2000 and 2001, 16 spills occurred. In 2000, the EPA ordered the city improve the sewer system or face massive fines.

Frank believes the board took pity because the city has spent far more than $5.9 million to repair and replace the aging system. It’s a 10-year plan calling for some $30 million in expenditures. The city is fortunate indeed that the board saw the light and allowed the city to keep its $6 million in the sewer-improvement pot.