Huntington Beach May Impose Fees to Fix Sewers

Huntington Beach, which last week took the extraordinary step of admitting criminal culpability for allowing massive amounts of sewage to leak from aging pipes, is now poised to make another dramatic step: imposing hefty property fees to fix the city’s sewer system.

The decision will be closely watched by environmentalists, as well as by officials in other cities, many of whom are grappling with the same problem: how to repair aging, dilapidated sewer lines.

Orange County agencies have identified at least $2 billion in sewer upgrades needed in coming years, though few have determined ways to pay for the improvements. If the City Council approves a $5 monthly fee, Huntington Beach will join a small number of cities that have decided to bite the bullet and charge landowners as a way of reducing the risk of sewer spills.

“If politicians think that the public won’t support paying for this, they’re dead wrong,” said Christopher J. Evans, executive director of the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation. “There has never been a better opportunity in Orange County history to get the public behind paying for improvements to infrastructure.”

The fees, which would be assessed on property owners, would be used to repair and maintain decaying sewer lines--some of which date to 1910.

Twice before, the City Council rejected less expensive sewer fees. There is now general agreement that some type of charge is needed. The city’s guilty pleas last week for knowingly violating state water laws by discharging pollutants from the sewer system have added a sense of urgency.

“I think more people have a better understanding of the scope of the problem, the seriousness of the problem and the consequences of the problems if it’s not solved,” Councilwoman Connie Boardman said.

The council has been formulating the fee proposal for months, and could vote on it at its April 16 meeting. If approved, the city would begin charging homeowners in October, officials said.

“It’s an absolute necessity,” Councilman Peter Green said. “The sewers are in bad shape. We’ve got to have that fee.”

Aging pipes long have been considered “out of sight, out of mind” across the nation, making sewer repairs a low fiscal priority when measured against schools, police and parks.

Upgrade Comes With Large Price Tag

The nation’s 16,000 waste-water systems, which treat about 17 billion gallons of waste water a day, face a staggering price tag to update dilapidated systems: about $23 billion annually, according to the Assn. of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies.

“It wasn’t a glamorous element in the budget,” said Wayne Baglin, a Laguna Beach city councilman who has long pushed for fees to rework his city’s aging sewers.

Last year, Laguna Beach, which has been fined for repeated sewer leaks, increased sewer rates to begin repairing its system.

Now, Huntington Beach has found itself in the spotlight over massive sewer leaks.

On Wednesday, Mayor Pam Julien Houchen pleaded guilty on behalf of the city to three violations of state water laws by failing to report the leaks to state and county health officials. The charges were brought by the district attorney’s office after the grand jury conducted an investigation and city officials were brought in to testify.

In a plea agreement, the city was sentenced to five years’ probation, during which officials must cooperate with a cleanup order, which already had been filed by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. The city also was fined $250,000 to assess and clean up damage from the leaks.

City leaders say they have been working for years to improve the sewer system. Last fall, Huntington Beach launched a $2-million project to reinforce decaying sewers in the downtown area with plastic piping.