San Diego - experts call misconnected recycled water 'safe' ...

... but local authority is already paying out compensation.

Excerpt from the Union Tribune:

Two experts call water at business center safe

9 November 2007

Chula Vista – Two experts hired by the Otay Water District have concluded that treated sewage water that flowed to an Eastlake business center for two years was not a health risk to the employees there.

The district released letters from water-quality and infectious-disease experts as it begins processing legal claims filed by many of the 17 stores at the Fenton Business Center.

“It is extremely unlikely that any of the tenants that consumed normal amounts of this water, or washed, bathed or brushed teeth, would have any long-term ill effects,” wrote Gonzalo R. Ballon-Landa, a San Diego physician who specializes in infectious diseases.

On Aug. 17, district officials discovered that a recycled-water line for the center had mistakenly been hooked to a meter for drinking water. The center had been getting recycled water, or treated sewage, since it opened two years before. The problem worsened last spring, when Otay began pumping 100 percent recycled water through the pipes instead of a 4-to-1 mix it had been using.

The problem was corrected, but two food-related businesses that said they were hurt by the bad publicity have since announced closures. Dream Dinners, a meal-preparation service, closed Oct. 26, and the Candy Bouquet, a gift store, is closing Nov. 21.

Amy Wise, co-owner of the Candy Bouquet, scoffed at the experts' reports.

“We've all been sick,” she said. “They can say all they want to; there's no way anyone can tell me recycled sewer water is as safe as drinking water.”

The water district hired Malcolm Pirnie, an environmental consulting firm, to analyze test results of water from the recycled pipeline leading to the Fenton Business Center. The firm concluded that the water generally met state and federal drinking water standards.

“Nothing in these water quality results is of any concern to drinking water safety from a water quality perspective,” Vice President Michael McGuire said in his letter to the district.

The Otay Water District has received 78 claims from employees and customers of 11 businesses at the center, said General Manager Mark Watton. He said the district hopes to settle a majority of the claims seeking compensation before lawsuits are filed.

“If they're reasonable and straightforward claims, we want to treat it in a fair and expeditious manner,” Watton said.

At its meeting this week, the Otay board approved a claim of almost $11,000 to compensate customers of Dream Dinners, and another claim of $7,500 from a dance studio at the center.

See - Was the recycled water safe to drink?

If the water is perfectly safe to drink, why is the local authority paying out compensation ...