DISTRICT REPRIEVE VIEWED MORE TIME EYED IN BASE-SEWAGE ISSUE.

Byline: Jim Skeen and Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writers

LANCASTER - State water-quality regulators are considering giving Lancaster's sanitation district 3 1/2 more years in which to stop treated sewage from overflowing onto Edwards Air Force Base's Rosamond Dry Lake.

But coupled with the new deadline, the regulators are also considering punishing failure to meet it with possible sanctions including fines or a ban on hooking new homes up to the Lancaster sewer system.

``I agree with the Air Force their mission is compromised by having only one lake bed,'' said board member Jack Clarke of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board Lahontan Region. ``It's been compromised for 40 years.''

Meeting in Lancaster Monday night, the water-quality board had considered issuing a cease-and-desist order with an April 2009 deadline, but delayed action to look at adding punishments if the deadline is missed. The board is likely to consider the order again in October.

The board at its Oct. 13-14 meeting is also likely to consider a similar cease-and-desist order with a 2009 deadline for Palmdale's sanitation district, whose treated sewage has contaminated groundwater with nitrates.

Water-quality officials are also considering sanctions against the Palmdale sanitation district.

The present Lahontan board has never imposed a sewer hookup ban, which would forbid construction of homes and businesses unless they are on septic tanks.

Lancaster's sanitation district - formally known as Los Angeles County Sanitation District 14 - is working on a $200 million plan to expand its treatment plant and use treated sewage water to irrigate farm crops on thousands of acres the district is buying south of Edwards' border.

But the expansion won't be completed in time to meet a state-imposed deadline of Aug. 25, 2005.

A sanitation district official said the district can't meet the deadline because the public and the Lahontan board pushed for upgrading sewage treatment to make the effluent used on farmland safe for human contact, which is over and above the requirements of state law.

East-side landowners and residents oppose the land acquisition, saying the sanitation district too quickly eliminated other options.

``This is a problem caused by reckless action of District 14,'' said Barbara Fersick, president of the Roosevelt Town Council, which represents an east Lancaster community. ``We're dealing with an agency we don't trust.''

Edwards Air Force Base officials have reluctantly agreed on extending the deadline to 2009, but want the sanitation district kept to the schedule. Like larger Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards officials use Rosamond Dry Lake as an emergency landing strip, but they can't when the effluent overflow floods it.

Air Force officials also complained that sanitation officials' public explanation of the expansion plan - which is expected to triple Lancaster homeowners' annual sewer fee from $67 to $222 - focuses on Edwards.

``The district refuses to acknowledge their management responsibility to ensure the long-term viability of the Antelope Valley's infrastructure due to population growth in the Lancaster area,'' Col. Wendy Masiello wrote in a letter to the water-quality board. ``Instead, they continue to focus on Edwards Air Force Base's need to use Rosamond Dry Lake for mission purposes as the sole reason for the 2020 plan.''

In the interim, sanitation officials said they are considering measures to reduce the lake overflow by finding a wintertime use for treated effluent that for eight months of the year is sent to Apollo Park's lakes, among other measures.