CITY MAY BE SPARED MORE FINES.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

State water officials who slapped the city with a $2.3 million fine for a massive sewer spill in February are not actively pursuing additional penalties for several smaller, more recent leaks.

While state officials haven't made a final decision on the case, they say they aren't currently advocating additional punishment for the city.

``There's no plan at this time to pursue a fine,'' said Karen Caesar, a spokeswoman for the Regional Water Quality Control Board in Los Angeles.

Local lawmakers cautiously welcomed the news.

``Obviously I'm glad we're not going to incur more fines over the wastewater issue,'' said Councilman Andy Fox.

City Councilwoman Linda Parks said one of the smaller leaks had been discussed during a water board hearing over the large spill in summer, which may have led to the board's decision to impose the $2.3 million fines.

The city's troubled Unit W sewer pipe has experienced a series of smaller sewage leaks since the line ruptured during a February El Nino storm when 86 million gallons of raw sewage spilled.

In July, a second spill sent 14,400 gallons of sewage spewing from the pipe and on Aug. 18 a third spill caused between 12,000 and 15,000 gallons of sewage to leak into a dry basin near the pipe.

In the August spill, regulators did not believe the wastewater reached the Arroyo Conejo or other water courses but were testing water bacteria levels. Workers worked through the night to vacuum up the sewage and transported it to the Hill Canyon Treatment Plant.

Regulators were also investigating a fourth leak on Aug. 24 in the same pipe that released an unknown amount of sewage. Workers in that incident also vacuumed up the sewage, said Casear.

In early August, the water quality control board hit the city with a $2.3 million fine for the February spill, one of the larger fines imposed by the board and which is now on appeal.

The city is now undergoing a massive wastewater system upgrade project, after years of discussion about needing to improve the old system, beginning with a program this summer to repair the ruptured Unit W line.