The Regional Water Quality Control Board will be meeting in Encinitas, California, Wed., Nov. 10, and one of the agenda items is a report (by Charles Fisher of the International Boundary and Water Commission) on the water quality from effluent of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP).

If you are in the Southern California area, please attend and ask questions if possible- the item probably won't come up until late in the morning or, more likely, after lunch. (It is not time certain.) The meeting location is:  City of Encinitas Council Chambers, 505 South Vulcan, Encinitas, California

If you cannot attend, please submit questions or comments ahead of time that you would like to have answered. You need to submit questions by one week before the meeting- Nov. 3.

The plant has been failing toxicity tests since it began operations 1-1/2 years ago. Some possible questions to ask include:

What are the impacts of the toxics on marine life near the outfall?
Are fish being tested for toxics, and if so, is there any indication toxins are accumulating in their tissue?
If they are not being tested-- why not?
What changes are being seen in nearby kelp beds?
Are there signs of bacteria in the kelp beds near the outfall?
Have tests determined the reasons for the toxicity?

To see the agenda visit:
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/~rwqcb9/News/BoardMeeting/boardmeeting.html

Send your comments/questions via email to:
<robej@rb9.swrcb.ca.gov>

To call, fax or mail questions in:
California Regional Water Quality Control Board - San Diego Region
9771 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.,  Suite A
San Diego, California 92124
Phone: (858) 467-2952
Fax No.: (858) 571-6972

Finally, if you can't do the above, please send your questions/comments to Ed Kimura from the Sierra Club's Water Committee. He is planning to attend the meeting and will (hopefully) have the chance to ask questions after the
report.

His email address is  <emkimr@cts.com>

Thanks for your help on this-- it's important that we find out what's happening in the ocean as the result of this discharge. The more informed questions we ask, and the more persistent we are, the more likely we are to find out what is happening out there.