The Point Loma sewage treatment plant, which treats approximately 170 million gallons of sewage a day, is the nation's second largest facility exempt from secondary sewage treatment standards. Instead, San Diego operates under a Clean Water Act waiver that allows less restrictive advanced primary treatment before sewage is discharged into the ocean. San Diego Coastkeeper and the local chapters of The Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club challenged the adequacy of the renewed permit in 2002, which continued Point Loma's waiver from secondary treatment and could have allowed increased discharges from the facility. The City also appealed the permit, claiming that in adopting the permit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency illegally relied on provisions of 1996 legislation (The Ocean Pollution Reduction Act). Since January 2003, the parties have been engaged in settlement negotiations.
In April 2004, Coastkeeper (along with local chapters of the Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club) will complete negotiations with the City of San Diego, thereby settling multiple appeals over the discharge permits for the Point Loma wastewater facility. The settlement will require the City of San Diego to:
If the demonstration of Biological Aerated Filtration technology is successful over the next year, Point Loma may be able to upgrade the plant for a tenth of the cost the City has estimated. This would allow the City to meet the same secondary standards as more than 16,000 sewage agencies nationwide.
Not only is this settlement and associated studies a critical battle for the health of San Diego's waters, but the outcome could also impact efforts underway to require secondary treatment at California's other sewage agencies with waivers - Orange County, Goleta and Morro Bay.