Las Virgenes sewer customers to give input on new Tapia permit

Water district wants regulations to be relaxed


The Las Virgenes-Triunfo Joint Powers Authority, comprising the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and Triunfo Sanitation District, is requesting sewer customers served by either agency to send comments on the pending permit for the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

“The five-year permit renewal process is an opportunity for the public to make their concerns known to the regional board,” said Charles Caspary, authority chair and president of the LVMWD board of directors. “Everyone has a stake in the outcome and the addition of significant terms and conditions to the permit can cost millions, which would then be passed along to customers in the form of higher rates.”

The joint powers authority recently completed some $10 million in improvements rising from the last review of its last permit, issued in 2005, and ratepayers could fund as much as $8 million for a project to upgrade the stringent disinfection of recycled water recovered from the wastewater treatment process. The draft permit seeks to change receiving water quality monitoring for Malibu Creek and the Los Angeles River.

“That represents a considerable expense, yet does nothing to improve water quality,” Caspary said. “The JPA stands ready to support processes that are protective of public health, safety and the environment; we have proven that time and again by investing millions of dollars. Ratepayers are right to demand their funds are being used for quantifiable, positive outcomes that are supported by sound science. The current economy is no place for experimental or speculative uses of the public’s money.”

Customers who cannot attend the board meeting can mail comments. The address of the regional board and a template for comments are available at www .LVMWD.com.

The last time Tapia’s permit came before the regional board, many customers wrote letters and more than 100 residents attended meetings.

A date for Tapia’s permit hearing before the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board at Metropolitan Water District headquarters, adjacent to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, has not been announced. Meetings and agenda items are subject to change; customers should check www.LVMWD.com or the regional board’s website before leaving to attend.

The Tapia Water Reclamation Facility is in Malibu Canyon. Each day it converts nearly 10 million gallons of sewage into highly treated recycled water, which is used for irrigating golf courses, parks and highway landscapes in the service area.



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