EDITORIAL

Beginning today, six Huntington Beach city workers are being

questioned by the Orange County Grand Jury about their part in not

reporting leaking sewage pipes to the California Regional Water Control

Quality Board.

City Administrator Ray Silver, Public Works Director Robert Beardsley

and Don Noble, the city’s maintenance manager, and others have all been

subpeonaed to testify.

We hope they have some good answers.

Last month, city officials admitted during a City Council meeting that

there may have been mistakes made in the reporting of the leaks.

In 1996, the city identified the need to repair the sewer system

Downtown and Old Town areas by using video cameras to trace pipelines.

Those findings, however, were not reported to the water board, which

issued a cleanup and abatement order to the city late last month.

The water board insists it should have known of the leaks because of

the possibility that groundwater could be contaminated.

Some council members, however, find the city’s failure to let the

board know perplexing because for about three years, officials have been

working on a large-scale slip-lining plan to seal the broken pipes with a

mix of fabric and epoxy.

Work began last April, and the city has spent about $1 million from

the general fund and $2.6 million in grants on the project.

The council unanimously approved an $89,810 contract with researchers

to drill eight 50-foot wells around Downtown to determine whether there

is contamination present in the ground, how much and the danger it poises

to nearby water sources.

Still, some questions need to be answered.

How certain are city offiicals that the leaks did not have an effect

on the city’s groundwater?

Why did city officials believe they did not need to tell the water

board of the leaks?

Are proper procedures in place to ensure that won’t happen again?

It appears to us the issue is more of a misunderstanding than a case

of negligence, but either way the city is now in the uncomfortable

position of defending itself to a grand jury.

That should never happen.

Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming testimony, we urge city

officials to address the deficiencies and discrepancies in reporting

guidelines and ensure that leaks will be promptly reported to all the

parties that need to know from now on.