Flush ordinance

I am witting to express my disappointment regarding the city of Calabasas' recent proposal to adopt the proposed OWTS (septic tank) ordinance. This ordinance will require all Calabasas city homes with onsite wastewater treatment or septic systems to have their septic systems inspected and permitted every three years.

In concept the ordinance seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, the way this ordinance has been written will allow the city unlimited access to homes and property to conduct repeated and unnecessary inspections. If so deemed, extensive system upgrades can be required to access the system components or just to conduct the inspection.

These upgrades could be potentially very expensive and ultimately would do nothing to improve system operation and effectiveness. What is ironic is that these inspections will be required regardless of the fact that there has been no downstream contamination from our area and that most of these systems have been maintained perfectly for years.

It is common to require various code safety upgrades whenever a property is sold. It would be more appropriate if the OWTS ordinance was simply included with other required upgrades at the time of a home's sale. The city of Malibu has had a similar ordinance on the books for a few years, and it has worked perfectly and fairly.

I am encouraged to see that the city of Calabasas is trying to be environmentally proactive, and I do applaud their foresight in meeting the state's clean water challenge. Unfortunately, this ordinance will end up creating more bureaucracy, increasing costs for the homeowner and will ultimately do nothing to guarantee clean water.

The city's OWTS inspection program is essentially a good idea but overwrought and excessive. Ted Mattock Calabasas