Sewage

Residents may notice a red or a greenish-yellow tinge in the ocean this week or in the coming weeks. But it's nothing to worry about. The Orange County Sanitation District plans to insert dye into sewer lines to test for leaks from four bathrooms on Huntington State Beach between Magnolia Avenue and Beach Boulevard. "There was an indication that there are leaking lines they just don't know where they are ending up," said Lisa Murphy, spokeswoman for the sanitation district.

The City Council deserves applause for its decision earlier this month to jump aboard the growing coalition of coastal cities that plan to oppose a federal waiver allowing the Orange County Sanitation District to pump partially treated sewage 4 1/2 miles off the city's shores. The waiver, which is set to expire in 2003, was granted to the district by the Environmental Protection Agency. Without it, all 236-million gallons of sewage the district sends into the ocean each day would have to be treated fully.

Another portion of Huntington Harbour has been closed following a sewage spill. The Orange County Health Care Agency closed the harbor at Sunset Aquatic Marina and Portofino Cove Marina on Saturday after 500 gallons of sewage contaminated the area. The agency kept the area closed through Tuesday, while it took water samples. The spill, which occurred in Westminster, was caused by a blocked sewer line in Midway City Sanitation District's collection system.

We want to express our thanks to the city council for doing the right thing on Monday, Sept. 17. The council voted unanimously to urge the Orange County Sanitation District to upgrade its level of sewage treatment, something everyone in Orange County deserves. Of the seven yes votes, the one cast by Peter Green was even more significant than those of his six council colleagues because Green serves on the board of directors of the sanitation district as the delegate from Huntington Beach.

-- Danette Goulet The Orange County Sanitation District discovered one of its sewer pipes cracked and spewing treated sewage into the marshy area at Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway last week, officials said. The broken line was one of several problems found by district personnel as they began systematically checking all the pipes along the shoreline, said Lisa Murphy, a spokeswoman for the sanitation district. Another possibly damaged and leaking pipe was found at a beach restroom just south of Newland Street, Murphy said.

I was puzzled by Pam Walker's claim in her recent commentary that my initial request to the city attorney's office was for legal ways to stop the building of gymnasiums at middle school sites in the Ocean View School District ("What doesn't have merit is columnist's attack," March 15). The only request I have made to the city attorney's office is to clarify the role the city may play in the planning process for these gymnasiums. I am unsure about the source of the rumor reported as fact by Walker, and find it unfortunate that she chose to publish this rumor in the press without first checking with me. CONNIE BOARDMAN Huntington Beach Connie Boardman is a Huntington Beach City Council member.

Although I read Ron Davis' weekly column faithfully, and agree with a fairly high percentage of his thinking, I have to point out that he has completely missed the mark in his column Jan. 18 ("Does more electricity mean more bacteria?"). Davis hit the nail right on the head in his second paragraph (". . . pumping millions of gallons a day of sewage off the coast . . ."), and then went on for the rest of his column ignoring that second paragraph. He is strongly opposed to allowing the AES Corp.