SEWAGE SPILLS TRIGGER PROPOSALS; L.A. OFFICIALS FACE RESIDENTS' ANGER, POTENTIAL FINES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Faced with outrage over massive sewer spills last month, Los Angeles officials plan to speed up replacement of an aging sewer line and divert future overflow into the storm drains as an interim measure.

Appearing before the City Council on Wednesday, Sanitation Bureau officials said they would meet with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board today to explain how 39 million gallons of water-diluted sewage spilled onto city streets.

``We could be facing some penalties as a consequence of our wet-weather spills,'' Sanitation Bureau Director Judith Wilson said. ``I'm hoping we can show them our action plan and impose an acceptable schedule that expedites work.''

The spill Feb. 23 was triggered by an El Nino-spawned storm. Rain water flooded the sewer system and seeped into cracked, 70-year-old pipes.

Wilson told the council that 24 million gallons of water-diluted sewage spilled onto the streets of Eagle Rock, 9.8 million gallons overflowed in El Serreno, 3.2 million gallons spilled in South Los Angeles, 1.1 million overflowed in Silver Lake and 75,000 gallons spilled in the North Hollywood vicinities of Lankershim and Burbank boulevards and Tujunga Avenue and Cahuenga Boulevard.

Dozens of South Los Angeles community leaders joined City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas in demanding immediate action to fix the sewer system.

``We're here today to say we've endured the odor and health risks, the bad roads and sinkholes, long enough,'' said Ridley-Thomas. ``This is a matter that can wait no longer.''

The Rev. Sylvester Washington of the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church told the City Council that sewage recently backed up into the baptismal pool of his church.

``We are quite concerned,'' Washington said. ``We have what I believe is an emergency.''

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's director of public health, said the county is concerned about the spills.

``It doesn't take a public health expert to know that raw sewage running in the streets, running in driveways, getting on lawns, seeping into cellars, is bad for the public's health,'' Fielding said. ``Raw sewage carries viruses like hepatitis.''

Wilson said part of the problem was caused by disrepair and lack of capacity in an 11-mile-long, 70-year-old main sewer line scheduled for replacement. Storm water infiltrated the system, contributing to the overflows.

Wilson said she hopes to knock one year off the four-year schedule for the the $240 million replacement of the line, the East Central Interceptor Sewer (ECIS).

Voters already have approved the bonds to fund the project, she pointed out.

In the meantime, Wilson said the city plans to build diversion pipes between the sewer system and the storm-drain system to be used when overflow appears imminent and only after the flow has been heavily chlorinated.

The proposal for emergency diversion, which requires approval from the water-quality board, was only reluctantly supported by City Council members.

``It is better than having it in people's houses or schools or in the streets,'' Councilwoman Ruth Galanter said.

Karen Caesar said the Water Quality Control Board will consider the city plan in deciding whether to seek penalties.

Before the massive spill last month, the water-quality board had been stepping up enforcement against the city, fining Los Angeles $150,000 for a 150,000 gallon sewage spill.

City engineers recently began considering the use of an open trench rather than tunneling during installation, to save time and money, but that proposal has run into delays and political bickering.

Under an expedited schedule, Wilson said, the project should be completed in mid-2002 if trenching is used or at the end of 2003 if tunneling is used.

She also said the city may repair cracked pipes in the Eagle Rock area at a cost of $15 million.

Galanter said the problems dramatize the urgency of completing a $700 million, 10-year renovation of the city's sewer system.

In North Hollywood, the immediate plan is to divert sewage into storm-drains, chlorinate maintenance holes where sewage overflows, and quickly warn local schools of the possible health hazards when spills occur, Wilson said.