The California Coastal Commission (CCC) reversed course last week and turned the spigot on a reprieve for the city’s wastewater facility. The commission voted Oct. 7 to grant a secondary treatment waiver to the Point Loma Waste-water Treatment Plant, reversing a previous vote in August to deny the waiver. The news drew a sigh of relief from city officials. “We’re very happy with what the commission did,” said Alex Roth, spokesperson for Mayor Jerry Sanders. “The commission correctly recognized that the plant is doing absolutely no damage to the environment, and to spend $1 billion or more to fix a problem that doesn’t exist is not a wise expenditure of public resources.” The city made its case in support of the waiver to the CCC during the commission’s meeting in Oceanside. CCC executive director Peter Douglas said the city’s presentation was enough to sway the vote. “There was a more detailed presentation of the monitoring sites,” Douglas said. “There was information that was presented last time [August] that was much more cursory.” Roth said scientific arguments were used in the city’s presentation. “We re-emphasized the point that all the scientific evidence shows that we’re not having any adverse impact on the ocean as it is,” Roth said. In granting the waiver, CCC also requires the city to present in two years the findings of a current two-year study pursuing options to expand water reclamation efforts in the region. If there is no presentation, voting on the waiver will be reopened. “That really holds the city’s institutional feet to the fire to move forward with reclamation to reduce the level of effluent discharge into the ocean,” Douglas said. The city is currently conducting the study in hopes of being able to reclaim more water in the future. Roth said one method of doing that is to build more wastewater treatment plants in the county. “We’re looking at a number of different options in the future and we’re doing a number of different studies,” Roth said. “Certainly one of the things were looking at is the possibility of finding ways to recycle more water in the future. That is a very environmentally sound policy to pursue.” CCC’s original decision to deny the waiver, which had been granted twice previously, came as a surprise. Following the decision, Congressman Bob Filner spearheaded the appeal process by writing a letter to the governor urging him to overturn the decision. Filner was prepared to introduce legislation had the city’s appeal not worked. During the process, Filner was optimistic that the waiver would be granted. “I am very pleased that the California Coastal Commission has reversed its position on the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant,” Filner said in a statement released Oct. 8. “The commission’s actions show that they have accepted the scientific findings of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Coastal Commission’s own experts.” The waiver allows the plant to operate below federal pollution standards. San Diego is the only city in the state allowed to operate below the standard. “We have a unique set of circumstances,” Roth said. “The issue isn’t who does or doesn’t get waivers or who does or doesn’t have secondary treatment facilities. The basic issue is, are we doing any damage to the environment? Are we harming the ocean at all? And the answer is no.” The Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant opened in 1963 and is located at 1902 Gatchell Road. According to the city, the facility treats about 175 million gallons of wastewater per day. The outfall pipe extends 4.5 miles into the ocean.