A new flaring system at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant should help the facility move further along the path to fixing issues that led to a catastrophic sewage spill there two years ago.
But it’ll take nearly a decade to be put in place — and cost at least $100 million.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District held recently approved a modified order of abatement for Hyperion that includes an updated implementation plan for the plant’s infrastructure and equipment improvements — and requires it to replace all of the facility’s flares.
El Segundo residents surrounding the plant say that hydrogen sulfide and potential other odors from the July 2021 spill continue to plague them. When the incident happened, Hyperion’s headworks facility became overwhelmed and the plant started to flood; plant officials chose to release 17-million gallons of untreated sewage into the ocean instead of risking the sludge backing up into people’s homes and onto surrounding streets — and potentially having the entire facility go offline.
But more than 50% of the plant flooded that day anyway, causing equipment failure and a massive cleanup effort while sewers kept sending waste to Hyperion.
The flares, meanwhile, burn off and release excess gases that could otherwise cause safety and environmental problems at sites like Hyperion when an operating system shuts down.
AQMD initially issued the order of abatement in September, demanding odor-mitigating fixes at the plant, and added some conditions to the list in January.
Now, “flare replacement is the best path forward to compliance,” said Erika Chavez, deputy district counsel for AQMD. “These flares have been tested multiple times since March 2022 and have still been out of compliance, so there’s no reason to hold off at this point.”
During the last year, Hyperion has completed the order’s original conditions, Chavez said, including source testing — or analyzing the flares’ emissions —…
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