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Ashland may seek court help City wants more time to decide on sewage strategy By WENDY SIPOREN ASHLAND -- Staff members are looking into whether the city can seek a court injunction challenging the Department of Environmental Quality's standards for discharge of treated sewage into Bear Creek. The city has been working on a plan to try to meet those standards since 1990, but it reversed course last month by voting to abandon its plan to spray treated effluent on an 846-acre hillside outside city limits after neighbors and the state health division raised health concerns. Public Works Director Paula Brown is expecting a letter from the DEQ in the next few weeks giving the city 60 days to finalize a plan to meet its standards or face daily fines from $250 to $10,000. Brown and City Administrator Mike Freeman have said the city intends to meet that deadline while fulfilling the City Council's request to study alternatives. DEQ has given the city until the end of the year to actually meet the standards. At a study session Wednesday, City Councilman David Fine asked city attorney Paul Nolte to look into the possibility of a court injunction in order to buy the city more time to come up with the optimum solution for the city and the creek. Fine made it clear he isn't advocating a lawsuit. "I just think it's something we need to look into," he said. He asked Nolte to look into whether the city could bring suit asking for an injunction against any fines assessed by the DEQ, whether a suit could be successful, and whether it would allow the city sufficient time to come up with a solution to its effluent problem. Fine points to the 0.08 maximum daily discharge level for phosphates as being the potential basis of a suit. "People in Ashland, scientists have been saying for years ... that the rules for phosphates are irrational, arbitrary and that they do not serve environmental health," said Fine. At issue is whether the city is being asked to make the water cleaner than it naturally occurs in the watershed. Ashland residents Ron Roth and Richard Hart have been providing data to the city on the background levels of phosphates already in Bear and Ashland creeks. Excess phosphates in waterways can harm fish populations by promoting large amounts of plant growth, which deprives the fish of oxygen. The city is evaluating three main alternatives: piping treated or raw sewage to Medford, additionally treating the effluent in order to discharge directly to Bear Creek or applying effluent on the hillside with smaller sprinklers, drip or flood irrigation. Brown plans to keep the council and public informed of her progress at the beginning of each regular council meeting. Fine also asked about the possibility of staging a public forum in May. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA