The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state officials filed suit Monday against Los Angeles, demanding that the city stop its frequent sewage spills, which are occurring at a rate of almost two per day.
"The high number of spills we've seen in the last few years is a serious public health problem," said Alexis Strauss, director of the EPA's regional water division.
Los Angeles recently spent $1.6 billion to upgrade its Hyperion sewage treatment plant to meet environmental standards. Although that plant is now considered state-of-the-art, the massive but outdated system of 6,500 miles of sewer pipes leading to it is insufficiently maintained, state and federal officials said.
The EPA did not take any action against Orange County, where health officials last year recorded 376 sewage spills that released at least 4.6 million gallons of waste, according to figures released Monday.
Sewage spills forced at least 38 Orange County beach closures last year, compared to 22 such situations in 1999.
State water authorities have begun to crack down on parties in Orange County responsible for excessive sewage leaks, among them Laguna Beach, the Orange County Sanitation District and the Moulton Niguel Water District. Also, water officials demanded that Huntington Beach search for the source of millions of gallons of sewage that leaked from old and cracked pipes during the 1990s. City officials estimated four years ago that more than 71,000 gallons of sewage was escaping each day but did not begin fixing the problem pipes until 1999.
Six current and former Huntington Beach officials were called this month to testify before the Orange County Grand Jury, which is investigating whether the city had covered up its leaky sewer-pipe problems during the summer of 1999. For two months that summer, four miles of Huntington Beach were closed while officials searched for the source of the pollution.
Los Angeles officials, who have been negotiating with the EPA since November, called the suit unnecessary.
The action is an "inexplicable rush to litigation," said Judith Wilson, director of the city's Bureau of Sanitation.
Privately, city officials suggested that the EPA had acted simply to prevent the Bush administration from changing the agency's bargaining position once it takes office.
