Politics

State Agency Considers Point Loma Sewage Treatment Plant

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published October 7, 2009 at 3:15 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Point Loma Waste Water Treatment Plant Receives Third Exemption

The California Coastal Commission will decide Wednesday whether an exemption for the Point Loma Sewage Treatment Plant is in line with state coastal regulations.

The federal Clean Water Act requires cities to add secondary treatment to sewage before it's discharged into the ocean.

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The city of San Diego hasn't had to upgrade the Point Loma Sewage Treatment Plant because the EPA has granted the city three exemptions from the law, including one this year.

It is the only sewage plant in the country that does not meet federal clean water rules.

San Diego Coastkeeper has fought the waiver in previous years.

But Bruce Reznik with Coastkeeper says reclaiming that water would be a better way to go.

"We'd rather see time and energy focused on really developing a comprehensive plan to divert sewage from Point Loma, reclaim that water and discharge as little from Point Loma into our ocean as possible," says Reznik.

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Other environmental groups are expected to argue that the city should upgrade the plant. That could cost more than $1 billion.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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