Quarles

MEMORANDUM AND. ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

INTRODUCTION

The Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant (Hyperion) is owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles. Each day, Hyperion collects, treats, and disposes of about 350 million gallons of wastewater gathered by a vast underground sewer system serving Los Angeles and adjoining communities. Hyperion currently applies primary treatment to about 250 million gallons of waste-water per day and secondary treatment to the remainder. After treatment the waste-water is separated into effluent and residue, i. e., sludge, and both are discharged into Santa Monica Bay. The effluent is discharged through an underwater pipe or outfall that extends about five miles into the ocean. The sludge is discharged into the mouth of a deep underwater canyon through another ocean outfall that extends about seven miles into the sea.

Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Water Act), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1376 , California water polluters are subject to the joint regulatory control of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). (For convenience future…