'TOILET-TO-TAP' TAKE 2 DWP QUIETLY CONVERTING CONTROVERSIAL REUSE SYSTEM.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Los Angeles city officials have started a new program to maximize use of recycled water, an effort San Fernando Valley critics worry is a backdoor way of reviving ``toilet-to-tap,'' shelved just over a year ago because of public outrage.

Without public hearings, the Department of Water and Power has embarked on a massive and expensive conversion of the $50 million toilet-to-tap pump and piping system with the goal of irrigating local city golf courses in the Sepulveda Basin with recycled water in a matter of months.

The system was originally built to pump water from the Donald C. Tillman Reclamation Plant to spreading fields near Hansen Dam, where it would have filtered down into the San Fernando Valley's water table and eventually been retrieved for drinking water and all other uses.

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, said that while responsible use of treated wastewater should be encouraged for industry and irrigation, using the system intended for toilet-to-tap could open the door to its eventual realization.

``The city could say, instead of just wasting (the treated wastewater), why not put it into the water table? This could be a backdoor mechanism to do that,'' Silver said.

Silver, a member of a city Sanitation Department steering committee looking to develop long-term policies for using recycled water, said he was unaware the DWP was going ahead on its own. ``Shouldn't all this be done in open meetings and with public discussion? This is how they got into trouble the last go around; they went ahead with the project without adequate public input.''

Critics were not surprised the specter of toilet-to-tap has come up so quickly after Valley secession was defeated, since it was one of a number of emotional and controversial issues that city officials took off the table until after the Nov. 5 vote.

Still, Mayor James Hahn continues to oppose any efforts to use recycled, treated wastewater as part of the city's water supply, said his deputy, Matt Middlebrook.

``The mayor has stated his opposition to recharge. ... He stands by his opposition,'' Middlebrook said.

Gerry Gewe, DWP assistant general manager for water, said if the toilet- to-tap infrastructure isn't used, the city will have to repay $40 million in federal and state funds used in its construction. He also said DWP must reassure Northern California the region is using its water responsibly.

Gewe said ratepayers likely will have to foot the bill for the new system but that no budget has been established.

The existing toilet-to-tap line will be tapped into with pipes to the golf courses, and also, at the end of the line, for pipes to irrigate the Hansen Dam Recreational Area, and to provide industrial coolant at a nearby steam power plant.

A second trunk line is planned along the proposed East-West busway, with pipes to potential users like Pierce College and golf courses in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Gewe said he doesn't anticipate ``a lot of public process.''

``We're just putting lines in,'' Gewe said. ``There's no real requirement (for public involvement) per se.''

The only protection that treated wastewater won't find its way into the city's drinking water is that the city doesn't have the two permits required to use the spreading fields.

``Someone goes to jail,'' he said, if the wastewater is released without authorization. Adel Hagekhalil, division manager for wastewater engineering services for the Sanitation Bureau, said the agency's steering group will build on what DWP is doing and will be making recommendations to guide the entire city over the next couple of decades.

The 78-member Sanitation Bureau steering group also will seek to look at ways to use reclaimed water to free up more potable, or drinking, water, as well as ways to better manage storm water runoff.

``This is early in the planning,'' Hagekhalil said.

Concern remains, however, among some Valley activists since an earlier steering committee recommended that new or expanded wastewater facilities be built upstream, and that the reclamation of treated wastewater for potable use, or the ``toilet to tap'' option remain open.

``The majority ... of the interviewed Steering Group members would support the use of recycled water for any use,'' a summary of the first steering group's recommendations states.

The new steering group holds its first meeting Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the bureau's office at 2714 Media Center Drive. Hagekhalil said there was no correlation to the November election, and that the implementation phase was proceeding on schedule.

``A lot of this is driven by interests south of Mulholland,'' Silver said. ``They don't want to see any more sewage processing or handling there. They'd like to shift it upstream, which is a nice way of putting it, but upstream means the Sepulveda Basin. I find that objectionable.''

Mark Gold, executive director for Heal the Bay in Santa Monica and a member of the steering group, said he is concerned about inland water quality issues, not just those south of Mulholland, or the bay.

He said his group agrees that the public's concerns over reclaimed wastewater have to be treated seriously.

``We didn't dismiss the public concern,'' Gold said. ``We want to face it head on.''

Charles Brink, a Northridge community activist and member of both steering groups, said he thinks the recommendations are reasonable and that there is great sensitivity to Valley residents' concerns.

``Absolutely first and foremost is the need to deal with public concern over health issues,'' Brink said. ``The public perception is the same as reality in implementing policy.''

Hagekhalil said a new water reclamation plant probably will be needed within 15 or 20 years to meet the needs of the anticipated 1 million new people in L.A. by 2020. While that could mean building anywhere upstream of the Hyperion Treatment Plant, the further upstream it is built the less pumping would be required for the treated wastewater to reach its destinations.

``We want to go after the obvious right now - irrigation and industrial uses - and maximize those, before we look at the other options,'' Hagekhalil said.