The things that can go wrong with treated water ...

Residents really rely on Councils and their workers in the delivery of clean water:

January 4, 2006

ESCONDIDO – A state water board has fined the city $1.8 million for numerous water-quality violations at its Hale Avenue sewage treatment plant.

In a letter dated Dec. 30, the state Regional Water Quality Control Board accused the city of a laundry list of violations at the plant. They range from a 354,000-gallon spill into Escondido Creek that affected the San Elijo Lagoon in Encinitas to 47 occurrences of overflows of wastewater from the plant between January and March of last year.

The board also penalized the city for failing to meet deadlines for completing compliance reports. Under one violation, the city allegedly did not submit status reports on its water-reclamation program for seven years.

The fines include a $1.2 million penalty the board imposed in 2004 for nearly 400 sewage-treatment violations over a period of weeks because of a failure of the treatment process used by the city plant.

Pat Thomas, the city's public works director, blamed heavy rains last winter for the sewage spills and overflows that resulted in additional fines last year.

"We've certainly made our best attempt to stay compliant with the board's complaints and permits," Thomas said yesterday.

Asked about the overdue reports, Thomas could not verify when they were submitted. He said he was unsure whether status reports were filed for the recycled-water program the city created a decade ago in response to a state mandate.

See - Escondido fined $1.8 million over water treatment.