Council OKs Waiver Application For Federal Sewage Treatment Upgrade

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 20, 2007 at 3:25 PM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The San Diego City Council has approved Mayor Sanders' application for a federal waiver from upgrades to the Point Loma Sewage treatment plant. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Mayor Sanders told the council upgrading the Point Loma sewage treatment plant would cost $1.5 billion and involve moving 1.2 million tons of earth near sensitive habitats. He said scientific studies suggest current treatment is enough, because of the long outfall pipe.

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Sanders : As proven through our extensive ocean monitoring program, these materials are diluted to levels equivalent to secondary treatment just 30 feet from the end of the outfall. This positive environmental information helped me decide to proceed with the waiver information.

Environmentalists say the city is the largest agency in the country that has not yet upgraded its sewage treatment and it is only a matter of time till it will be forced to do so. City councilwoman Donna Frye was the only one to vote “no” to applying for another waiver.

Alison St John KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.