Last week, Councilwoman Sharon Barovsky took umbrage with my calling the 30,000 square foot ‘wastewater treatment facility’ proposed on the Chili Cook-off site a ‘sewer.’ This ‘wastewater treatment facility’ (aka sewer) is planned as part of the Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement, Measure M, on which we will vote this November. Perhaps we disagree on semantics? According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a sewer system is the collection of pipes, mains, treatment works, and discharge lines for the wastewater of a community. The ‘wastewater treatment facility’ proposed for the Chili site will supposedly collect the ‘wastewater’ generated from the Colony Plaza, all new developments proposed by the Malibu Bay Company, and the Perenchio golf course. I say supposedly because we have not seen any formal plans.
What Ms. Barovsky and the other councilmembers are not telling us is that there is no formal plan for the facility, no accurate analysis of how much ‘wastewater’ (aka sewage) can be handled. How the treated ‘wastewater’ will be discharged, stored, or sprayed on the surrounding land. Perhaps Ms. Barovsky feels that the term ‘wastewater treatment facility’ is a more palatable term to use when trying to sell it to our community. But if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it is a duck. We are getting the sewers we have fought so hard to prevent. And with these ‘wastewater treatment facilities’ comes the massive commercial and residential development we do not want.
Get the straight answers (if they have them) from your councilmembers. But do not be upset by using the word ‘sewer.’
Efrom Fader