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State slaps water district with $204,000 fine
July 2nd, 2009, 3:00 am · 20 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
That dripping sound you hear? Money leaking from South Coast Water District’s coffers.
The state slapped South Coast with a $204,000 fine Wednesday, punishment for pumping brine so salty into the ocean that it violated discharge permits.
Saltier than ocean water?! Indeed. That brine was what was left after transforming distasteful groundwater into guzzle-ready drinking water. (Read about that here.)
Folks at South Coast are bummed - not just because of the fine’s large size (the district can afford it), but because it bodes ill for the future of recycled water there.
South Coast hoped to double the amount of drinking water it pumps from the ground - to 20 percent of its supply - but that will be impossible as things stand.
“We’re disappointed,” said general manager Mike Dunbar.
The district will likely appeal, said district counsel Betty Burnett.
With the state facing a tremendous water crisis, it seems like a bad time to be discouraging the search for new sources of H20, ya?
WHAT, EXACTLY, HAPPENED?
- Treatment to make ground water drinkable requires the removal of all sorts of salty yuck (manganese, iron, sodium chloride, etc.). And that salty yuck was disposed of in the San Juan Creek outfall pipe, and then in the Pacific Ocean.
- When construction of the new groundwater plant began in 2005, the brine was supposed to mix in the pipeline with treated wastewater, and then flow out to sea miles off shore. That wastewater would dilute the brine’s saltiness, and the combined brew would be tested at the ocean outfall to be sure it complied with discharge permits. (That’s an ocean outfall pipe off the coast of Florida, by the way, just so you have an idea of what one looks like).
- But in 2006, the San Diego Regional Water Board changed its mind. It decided to move what we’ll call the “salty yuck testing point” from the ocean outfall pipe miles off shore, to inside the groundwater recovery plant.
- That meant the raw brine was being tested before it was diluted by the treated wastewater. Which meant that its salty yuck factor was way high.
- So, there was way too much salty yuck, state water officials say - and that salty yuck flowed into the ocean at regular intervals for more than a year.
- To be precise, there were 68 violations of the area’s waste discharge permit between August 2007 and December 2008, the state says – and each violation is subject to a mandatory $3,000 fine.
Thus the violations; and thus the district had to spend another $200,000 to send the brine to the sewer system rather than directly out to sea.
Why would all this endanger plans for another groundwater well? Because the se
wer system can only handle so much brine, South Coast says.
It’s not like South Coast is crying financial hardship; it can afford the fine with nary the blink of an eye. (The district had $49.7 million tucked away in cash and investments last year, while its operating expenses were only $26.6 million.)
The California Regional Water Quality Control Board in San Diego imposed the fine largely because it felt there was no other choice - the fines are mandatory, the law says.
By taking the matter up to higher powers in Sacramento, South Coast hopes things will change. It wants that testing point to be at the ocean outfall, after mixing with treated sewage - not undiluted at the plant.
We’ll see. What’s another few hundred thousand dollars when water rates are jumping 20 percent?!
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I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think there’s something fishy when one government agency fines another government agency. Guess who ultimately gets stuck with the bill….the taxpayer.
This is another state agency completely out of control. The water quality control board is fining the water district NOT for the salty water that actually goes into the ocean, but for the salty water PRIOR to dilution.
That would be like fining people for what’s in the water they flush down the toilet PRIOR to it being treated at the Sanitation District. This is INSANE!!
Oh, and one other thing… we’re talking about SALT WATER!!!! Yes, it may be a little saltier than the ocean water, but I’m sure it gets diluted within a few hundred feet of the outfall pipe.
ABOLISH the Regional Water Quality Control Board and ABOLISH the Coastal Commission!!
I completely agree with you on both counts…however there is one problem that will come up if both of these Governmental Agencies are disbanded. They will place several hundered ‘otherwise’ unemployable persons right back on the State Payroll - the Dole, unemployment insurance..that is until it runs out. You see if you are ‘employed’, note I did not say work, ‘employed’ by these Tax Payor funded money sucking agencies, it’s obvious they were not hired by the private sector. Private firms most likely interviewed these…well people with degrees or in most cases no degrees but certificates, and tossed them right back into the pond. If you have ever had the ‘Privilage’ of attempting to deal with these…mis-fits and rejects, you would understand that the State is the only employer where they could find ANY employment. Can you imagine these folks out on the streets and seeking employment in the private sector….unimaginable and scary!
This is ridiculous. What if they gave a fine and nobody paid?
(The district had $49.7 million tucked away in cash and investments last year, while its operating expenses were only $26.6 million.)
We’ll see. What’s another few hundred thousand dollars when water rates are jumping 20 percent?!
So the District has $49,700, 000.00 “tucked away” and yet needs another 20%—why?
I think they WANT a water crisis…..
I agree Jerry! tax business and churches, everyone should have to pay thier fare share.
However will the water district afford the airplane now? Oh I know, we’ll end up paying for it ALL!!
I can’t believe how absurd this situation is. They have a permit which allows certain limits AT THE OUTFLOW. That’s not what is being tested so the results of the testing are completely irrelevant. Yet the water district is being told to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars? The state needs to either measure the outflow as described in the permits, adjust the permits to accommodate the dilution that will be introduced by the addition of waste water farther down the line, or STFU.
The water district made 20,000,000 dollars extra after operating expenses. Yet water bills keep rising ????
Are the $49,7million in excess funds restricted by law for specific uses, or can they be used for anything? What justification is given for such a large surplus? Whose money is it? Is it organized as a non-profit?
Seems there are a lot of peculiarities that go on in these water boards. And, their members lengthy terms of ’service’…and all that power. One thing humans need to survive is water! Crops don’t grow without water, then people don’t eat. Everything could come to a screeching halt without adequate water. Even those ubiquitous California land developers can’t rake in the profits without water flowing to the houses they build. (although one developer north of L.A. did sell houses built without a long term source of water, leaving the homeowners ‘holding the bag’).
Seems these water board feifdoms have too much power over our very survival and too little accountability, oversight and checks to balance out the power they hold. More transparency is desperately needed.
Maybe Tean is right. Maybe they do want a water crisis. It’d be the ultimate power play.
Follow the money….
As these absurdities continue, more law-abiding, productive, tax paying citizens will still leave the state in larger numbers than those that enter. So go ahead and keep it up. The nitwits in Sacramento, San Francico and Los Angeles will blindly go about their merry business even while the money train they’ve been on all these years has seized up and stopped running.
California USED to be the place to aspire to live. No longer, at least for those looking for decent neighborhoods and schools. The longer we ignore reality the worse the rust will erode the money train even as it sits stalled on the tracks.
I think the point we’re missing is that South Coast Water is trying to be more self sufficient. Though there may be fines while the kinks are being worked out, I commend them for not relying on water sources hundreds of miles away. Give it 2 years and if the fines have not dropped off then there’s a real problem.
Other Districts (Moulton Niguel Water) are dealing with the water crisis by digging big holes then filling them up with imported water. The added storage will be nice but there may not be any water available to fill thier holes. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but if it does MNWD Board President RIchard (Dick) Fiore can use those holes to “bury” some of his fellow Board Members’ corruption.
The San Diego Regional Board is making up new rules and requirements as they go along, and reinterpreting old ones. I’m all for keeping our beaches clean, but come on, it’s getting ridiculous. It’s staff run amok. It won’t be long when every molecule will be regulated and there won’t be any businesses left in California to discharge. When the Regional Boards don’t have anyone else to fine and are forced to close down because there’s no more money and the employees have to move out of state to get jobs is when it will dawn on them that, hey, maybe I was a little over the top.
raker1 - as to the district’s 49 mil net assets…. some of the money is restricted for debt repayment, and such, but much of the money is “restricted” only by what the board decides to do with it….
I think ALL of the various water boards are nothing more than political stepping stone employment agencies.
Recently the MWDOC sends a jet to get the OC rep who is living in La Quinta in Riverside County (Home of PGA West) to view a coring sample in Temecula in Riverside County (South Wine District.)
They raise water rates all at the same time.
Now the So Coast district is fined but seems to have quite a bit of money tucked away.
And then what crackes me up is the So Coast district is working with the San Diego Regional Water Board but apparently not close enough to because SDRWB changes its mind on a major pipe discharge point and So Coast is surprised?
Has to be politicians running this scam game because if this happened in the private sector these people would be losing their jobs.
Why is it that whenever I read these comments about Water District Board corruption the Moulton Niguel Water District always rears it’s ugly head?
Sorry folks, but below is the drill, the history, I was at the hearing and have been tracking this item for 9 months. And no, I wasn’t paid a dime for my time:
(1) These water/sanitations districts not only know the rules of the water quality road, but when these quite specific rules are broken a breach of public trust has occurred. They have staff attorneys whose sole job is to advise them of potential violations. They AGREE to play by those rules, no one held a gun to their empty, greedy, power-hungry heads. They’re entrusted with what goes into our bodies as drinking water and also what our families shower/bath in. As you can research yourselves, they have TONS of our $$$ set aside, their boards have become a veritable cottage industry income/revenue instead of community service. The President of SCWD, Dick Dietmeier makes about $3,000/month or more.
(2) Most of the South OC water/san districts are fined on a yearly basis for something (sewage spills, stream/ocean pollution, failures to file administrative docs, etc.) That info is ALSO available online, and reports are critical because these people are basically trusted to guard/monitor themselves via these reports.
(3) SCWD could have settled for $57,000 early on (about 25% of the $204,000), but refused—So the negative PR is really because they should have just coughed up the $$$ and no one but water quality insiders would know.
(4) 12 of the 68 violations took place after SCWD was told to cease this activity on September 18, 2008. At $3,000/violation, SCWD could have paid $36,000 less than $204,000 at that point…..Plus the usual reimbursement for enforcement staff time.
(5) SCWD and the parent JPA (SOCWA) admitted that they knew they were in exceedence, admitted they couldn’t figure out why but continued last year 2008. Why didn’t they just stop and figure it out?
(6) Groundwater, like the highly contaminated aquifer below MCAS El Toro, can have innumerable carcinogenic pollutants. These constituents are in the soil, they get sucked out when the water is pumped. That’s a risk assessment feature of groundwater—We’re not in a pristine environs, we’re in a highly urbanized one where all kinds of harmful things percolate or filtrate downwards into the aquifers.
(7) Better safe than sorry, citizens need to understand that the water board isn’t their enemy, they’re more like judges following the letter of the law—They are all that’s keeping these local districts honest. Ask yourselves: Would you trust your water/san district to watch out for you, protect you without ANY oversight but their own?
(8) Look for SCWD to keep complaining and portraying themselves as looking out for us—Then spend $205,000 of our $$$ to avoid paying a $204,000 fine. It’s SCWD readers should be angry with.
(9) Like taunting a cop (Hey, shoot me!), I ask readers again: How hard would it have been to just shut down until they figured it out instead of knowingly placing the district in EPA’s gunsight?
Next we will have the water district sue the state, so the attorneys can make more money. State agencies should not be able to sue each other, but the state should have the authority to correct violation or fire someone.
Adding salt to the ocean is bad? LOL.
You cant make this stuff up!
I would tell the San Digo people to go shove their fine up their …. !