Water agencies wrestle with a potential rate increase

By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

Local wastewater customers could pay a lot more for sewer services if the Regional Water Quality Control Board has its way.

At a Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) and Triunfo Sanitation District (TSD) joint powers meeting last week, officials discussed the impacts of tighter regulations proposed by the board.

Presently, customers pay about $52 every other month for single-family residence sewer fees, but the new policy could double or triple that amount, said Arlene Post, director of resource conservation and public outreach for LVMWD, noting that earlier regulations had already impacted the rate considerably.

The water districts estimate the stricter standards will cost $150 million to implement, equaling about $12,000 per customer. These figures only include what is needed to build the extra processing facilities and not the cost of the ongoing operations afterward, said Post.

"It’s safe to say that this would be the most expensive regulation ever adopted in the watershed," said Randal Orton, resource conservation administrator for the joint venture partnership, which handles wastewater treatment for LVMWD and TSD.

Both agencies are responsible for the operations of the Tapia water reclamation plant and the Rancho Las Virgenes composting facility in Malibu Canyon.

The regulation would require the agencies to limit total nitrogen in the creek below Tapia to 1 milligram per liter and total phosphorus to 0.1 milligram per liter year- round.

LVMWD and TSD are responsible not for what is in the creek but for what comes out of Tapia, said Post.

The tighter standards would affect all wastewater customers served by the districts, which include portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

But the agencies aren’t even sure the technology exists to meet the new standards, said Orton, a scientist with two PhDs.

Even if the reduction of nutrients were feasible and affordable and the districts had land to build the extra facilities to process out the extra nutrients, the results are not proven, he said. "These are by far the most stringent nutrient criteria for the region," he said.

The goal is to reduce the algae in the creek, but "I have zero confidence that there would be any change in the level of algae below our treatment plant," Orton said.

"There’s nothing inherently bad about nitrogen levels and phosphorus levels that are out in the watershed, but they do lead to excess algae in the creek," said Orton.

The Malibu Creek Watershed is a high-profile area that’s always been under tight scrutiny. Although the agencies have been good stewards of this popular resource, the regional water board wants to impose even tighter rules. Agency officials believe the new standards amount to an unfair experiment, the benefits of which are not guaranteed.

"With the prospect of having the customer pay so much, we feel there needs to be far greater surety about what the reports say and the feasibility of the results," he added.

But the problem is not new, and the district has had to deal with tighter and tighter regulations every time wastewater disposal permits are up for renewal.

In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted to reduce nutrient levels in Malibu Creek to no more than 2.5 milligram per liter total nitrogen and 0.4 milligram per liter total phosphorus. The district would have had to spend $88 million to accommodate these standards, but they were not finalized at the time.

When the EPA completed its nutrient requirements in 2002, the agency proposed even tighter standards at 1 milligram per liter total nitrogen and 0.1 milligram per liter total phosphorus, but these standards only applied to summertime, when Tapia is not allowed to discharge any wastewater into the creek.

Standards were more lenient for wintertime, when Tapia is allowed to discharge wastewater from Nov. 15 to April 15, making the requirement difficult but doable, said agency representatives.

LVMWD and Triunfo have to obtain new permits that set wastewater quality standards every five years, and the agencies are required to meet these guidelines within a specific timeframe. When standards are not met, the regional board can impose fines.

If the board passes the new regulation in March 2005, LVMWD and TSD will still need time to build the facilities to achieve the new standards.

"But it’s very complex and very new, even the scientific processes that were used in many of the studies are very new," said Post.

Aside from nutrient levels, the permits also require monitoring and sampling of the creek and they regulate other constituents in the recycled water, but the greatest stumbling block this time around is the nutrients issue, said David Lippman, director of Facilities and Operations at LVMWD.

Both Triunfo and LVMWD are government agencies, not private operations.