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View Winners → News Jan 11, 2022
The Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant. | Photo by Doc Searls via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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Multiple additional plaintiffs living in or near El Segundo are suing the city of Los Angeles, alleging people as well as many of their pets were exposed to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas and other dangerous toxins in the Hyperion Treatment Plant’s 2021 sewage spill.
The city’s L.A. Sanitation and Environment plant suffered a failure on July 11, when all debris-filtering machines, also known as bar screens, became clogged and inoperable, causing some 72 acres to be flooded with raw sewage, according to the 21 plaintiffs who brought the Los Angeles Superior Court suit on Monday.
According to the suit, the plaintiffs suffered dizziness; eye, nose, and throat irritation; respiratory distress; anxiety; nausea; and at times, vomiting. In addition, many of their cats and dogs have experienced rashes and nausea and as well as “other distress,” the new complaint states.
The suit lists causes of action for dangerous condition of public property and inverse condemnation. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages.
Another group of El Segundo residents filed a similar suit against the city on Jan. 4. At that time, Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office, said the complaint would be reviewed by his office, but that he had no further comment.
The new suit alleges the city has known since 2019 that the plant system, designed to protect the integrity of sewage operations and prevent flooding, was on the contrary unreliable and prone to flooding.
If the plant had an automatic control system, ultrasonic sensors could have been programmed to maintain safe levels of sewage while avoiding any flooding, the plaintiffs in the new suit state.
