Sewers

Re "Water Officials Link Malibu Septic Tanks to Beach Pollution," Nov. 13: When they can pay upward of $3 million for a home, they can pay the approximately $20,000 assessment for a sewer. After all, they are continuing to build in Malibu, and it can only get worse. MARSHALL KLINE Los Angeles

At a reception last month in New York, I introduced myself to the Polish film director Agnieszka Holland. "Ah," she said, extending her hand. "I am sorry that I did not include your mother in the movie. " She was referring to "In Darkness," a nominee for best foreign language film at this year's Academy Awards. We'd had friendly correspondence over the last two years. So why did she feel the need to apologize before another word was spoken? Because her film is a fictionalized interpretation of the central episode in my mother's life.

If I were to assess people of the canyon based on (Al Martinez) as an example, I would presume they were prejudiced, narrow-minded, selfish, jealous and make many tasteless and unsuccessful attempts to be clever at the expense of an entire community's reputation. Had you invested as much time researching and understanding the pros and cons surrounding the efficacy of installing sewers in Malibu as you did in striving for literary cuteness, you might have discovered that the end hardly justifies the means.

Swamps aren't very sexy. Dank places filled with slithering creatures don't scream tourism, unless you're from Louisiana. So how would one fare in New York City? "Swamps in Louisiana have tremendous adventure-travel opportunities," says Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne. On Wednesday, he flew to un-gator-like Manhattan to oversee the installation of a 12,100-cubic-foot re-creation of a Louisiana swamp built inside the city's bustling Chelsea Market. The exhibit is free and might be a good way to sample the bayou before going to visit.

Thousand Oaks will send contractors this week to test sewer lines in various areas of the city, using a method that emits smoke from roof ventilation pipes in homes and businesses. City officials are attempting to give advance notice to residents in affected areas. Workers will place notices on many of the doors along those blocks where testing will be conducted. Testing will be Wednesday through Friday.

Sewer fee increases of $24 over the next four years have been proposed to pay for systemwide improvements needed, in part, to comply with stricter environmental regulations, officials said Monday. "The standards that we met are becoming more stringent," said David Bruns, who heads the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts' department of financial planning. "As they become more stringent, we have to construct facilities, and once they are constructed, we have to operate them."

Worried about which trees are more likely to damage your sewer line? "All trees and shrubs can clog sewer lines, if the sewer lines already have leaks in them," said Frank McDonough, a botanical information consultant with the L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. "The only thing you can do to minimize the possibility of damage is to make sure that the tree you plant is not listed as an invasive tree," he added. "They are less likely to damage a good sewer line."

To help reduce sewer backups that pollute the ocean, county supervisors Tuesday approved spending $90,000 to help pay for a study on attacking fats and oils that clog sewer pipes. Cost of the study is $500,000 and will be shared by the Orange County Sanitation District, the county and cities.

Four Orange city workers are about to become environmental gumshoes as they embark on a high-tech mission that will take them into the city's deepest and darkest sewers. The project was approved last week by the City Council and will take at least five years to complete. The workers' assignment: Inspect and videotape the city's vast sewer and storm drains network in search of illegal sewage dumping.

The city is paying a consultant $70,000 to develop a computer system to monitor the sewer network in central Anaheim. CH2M Hill California Inc., an engineering firm, will create a system in which sewer flow is monitored through some of the area's 2,700 manholes and other points of entry into the sewage system, according to city documents.

"In Darkness" is a pitiless glimpse into the inferno, into hell not only on earth but below it. Based on a true story, it takes you into the sewers of the Polish city of Lvov during World War II, a place where a group of Jews lived for more than a year under circumstances that are almost unimaginable. But, as directed by the veteran Agnieszka Holland, "In Darkness" is not a typical Holocaust film. For one thing, even more than in her 1990 film "Europa, Europa," Holland's directing style is cool, almost dispassionate.

A coastal bluff in San Pedro is slowly buckling and sliding toward the ocean, splitting open a coastal highway with sinkholes, cracks and deep crevices that are widening day by day. Crews are hurrying to move sewer and water lines and utility poles and to reroute two major storm drains that join under Paseo Del Mar. Los Angeles city engineers have been monitoring the slide's movement on the 100-foot-high bluff next to White Point Nature Preserve since...

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon called Tuesday for the expansion of a proposal to hike sewer fees, saying the current plan to increase them nearly 40% over five years is too timid. Alarcon, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley, said a package of larger increases would serve the city as a jobs initiative, putting more people to work and allowing more pipes to be repaired. "It's our opportunity to create a bit of a stimulus program," he said. Alarcon made his remarks as the council's Energy and Environment Committee delayed a decision on sewer fee increases for a fourth time.

Los Angeles' top budget officials are calling for a five-year package of sewer fee increases totaling nearly 40%, a proposal that at least one council member says is badly timed, given the financial pressures on households and businesses. A key council committee is expected to vote Tuesday on the proposed package, which consists of 6.5% increases in each of the first three years, followed by 7.5% in the fourth and fifth years. Under the proposal, the Bureau of Sanitation would collect $501 per year in sewer fees from an average single-family household in 2015, an increase of $142 annually.

The Kronish House, one of a handful of Beverly Hills residences designed by Modernist architect Richard Neutra, appears headed for demolition. Soda Partners, the limited partnership that owns the nearly 7,000-square-foot residence north of Sunset Boulevard, has secured a permit to cap the sewer line, a step that often precedes a request for a demolition permit, said Jonathan Lait, Beverly Hills' assistant director of community development....

It was a wedding the guests would never forget. Everybody of consequence in the village had been invited to a banquet to celebrate the marriage of the son of one of the wealthiest families. Fifty tables groaned under a lavish spread of dumplings, steamed chickens, pork ribs, meatballs, stir fries, all of it exceptionally delicious, guests would later recall. But about an hour into the meal, something seemed to be wrong. A pregnant woman collapsed. Old men clutched their chests. Children vomited.

Authorities may add a shredder to a sewer line to deal with a decade-long annoyance: County Jail inmates flushing clothing down their toilets. Jail jumpsuits, bedding and rags have clogged pumps at a treatment plant and threatened sewage spills, according to the Goleta Sanitary District. So the county may add a shredder to the line, at a cost of $60,000. Why do inmates do it?

The Local Agency Formation Commission on Wednesday rejected a request to allow Los Angeles County to retain jurisdiction over sewers and landslide assessment districts in Malibu, even if the coastal community votes to become a city.

Wasting no time, newly elected Calabasas City Council members have helped scrap a controversial plan to extend a sewer line into Old Topanga Canyon. The sewer construction plan had prompted a city crackdown on 40 homes with septic tanks, including raids at several houses. While checking septic systems, inspectors cited homeowners for other alleged building code violations. "I think the very dark cloud that is hanging over this city will be lifted," Councilwoman Mary Sue Maurer said Wednesday night as the panel voted unanimously to halt the sewer planning.

McGrath State Beach, a popular camping spot by the Oxnard shore, will close indefinitely in September for lack of $500,000 to replace an aging sewer line and lift station, state park officials said Thursday. "We have to close the park because the sewer infrastructure has gotten to a point of decay where I can't in good conscience keep it open," said Richard Rozelle, superintendent of state parks and beaches in the area. In 2010, engineers studied the sewer line, which crosses the bird-rich estuary of the Santa Clara River and concluded that it could fail in two years.