system currently employs 4 trains to move 397.5 tons of sludge per day into the system. This system has the potential for expansion should the city start producing more sludge. Before 1987 all of this sludge would have been dumped into the bay. (EPA V1 II 45)After treatment, everything that is not sent back into the activated sludge process or the H.E.R.S facility is sent through a pipe, known as an outfall, into the ocean. The Hyperion plant currently has three such ocean outfalls. The first was constructed in 1950. This outfall reaches one mile into the ocean and discharges at a depth of 50 feet. This pipe is no longer used as a primary outfall but is maintain as a backup in case of emergency. Discharging sewage only a mile offshore proved to be a pollution problem so in 1961 a five-mile outfall was constructed. This pipe is twelve feet in diameter and releases sewage at a depth of 190 feet. The five-mile outfall is currently the primary outfall for the Hyperion plant. A few years later, a seven-mile outfall was constructed for the purpose of discharging sludge. This 20-inch diameter pipe discharged into a submarine canyon at a depth of 300 feet. The seven-mile outfall was constructed after a failed effort to recycle the sludge the means of a fertilizer plant. This plant was a source of air pollution and uneconomical to run. The plant also discharged solids in excess of its capacity almost directly onto the shore, which was a serious source of water pollution. Fortunately discharge of sludge into the ocean was discontinued in 1987, however, the pipe is maintained in case of emergency. (WFPU II 3)All outfalls from the Hyperion plant discharge into the Southern California Bight. This Bight maintains a wide variety of habitats and marine organisms. The topography is diverse containing a mainland shelf, several offshore islands, and several deep basins. (EPA V1 III-71) The life forms in the Bight have been divided i...
