Sewage Treatment Plan Doesn’t Make Sense

Though secondary treatment is not a perfect system (Letters, July 15), the Orange County Sanitation District does not have an answer for removing bacteria and viruses from the coastal playgrounds of Huntington Beach.

The district is proposing a $1.5-million experiment using microfiltration after primary treatment of sewage.

Microfiltration is known to work when it follows secondary treatment. It is not known whether it will work with primary-treated sewage with its high solid content. If this experiment takes two years to evaluate, and if the results are inconclusive, the district has wasted time, money and coastal resources better spent on full secondary treatment.

With primary treatment, 120 million gallons of partially treated sewage is pumped into the ocean only 4.2 miles off Huntington Beach.

Although we depend on hard data to make expensive decisions, common sense dictates that with millions of gallons of partially treated sewage mixing with seawater, infectious critters may indeed be visiting our surf zone. Secondary treatment removes most live pathogens and almost all of the toilet debris.

Southern California has not been able to keep up with the demands of our growing population and industry. We build freeways and HOV lanes but still have gridlock. We have too many people, too many cars and not enough space. Now we watch the Orange County Sanitation District cling to a temporary waiver rather than manage growth and pay the price for our coastal prosperity. Five cents per person per day is all we ask.

Greg Jewell

Westminster