Editor,
(This letter was also sent to the City Council.)
Without a recycled water system and no intention to do anything to reduce ocean discharges, Laguna Beach sends all secondary sewage to the ocean next to our bluebelt and marine protected areas. Would we dump sewage water in the greenbelt?
Please review the latest attached report and notice Laguna Beach sends 1.6 million gallons per day to the Coastal Treatment Plant and is billed 1.6 million gallons per day for the discharges at the Aliso Creek Ocean Outfall (ACOO). Irvine sends us 1.3 million gallons per day or 20% of ocean discharges.
Why is Irvine dumping wastewater to Laguna to make the sewage plume even bigger?
When will we get our act together and end ocean discharges?
Are 1 to 2 billion gallons of sewage discharges per year good for Laguna’s ocean, economy or quality of life?
The Coastal Treatment Plant repairs require somewhere between $23 million and $33 million over the next 10 years with no modernization improvements indicated in reports. The Army Corp of Engineers can access $100 million for restoration of Aliso Creek and the county has earmarked $32 million more.
With smart public and private industry leaders, we can wrap these funds together as a public private partnership to create a world class wastewater and co-generation facility to serve our world class community and tourist economy.
Let’s get started on a big picture plan to protect the ocean from present and future sewage discharges.
Mike Beanan, Laguna Beach
