Tell Morro Bay and Cayucos to stop dragging their feet and upgrade their outdated sewage plant as fully and as quickly as possible.

Morro Bay and Cayucos are home to the threatened California sea otter, whose statewide population numbers only 2,700. For more than two decades the Morro Bay/Cayucos sewage plant has dumped sewage containing high levels of bacteria and other pollutants into the ocean, and the bay’s surrounding waters have become a hotspot for sea otter deaths.

The sewage treatment plant submitted an application for yet another waiver from basic federal standards in July 2003. The plant knows it must upgrade its facilities, and even though the necessary construction time is less than two and a half years, the plant proposes to complete the project and improve water quality by March 31, 2014. However, the plant’s own documents show that a faster, more efficient upgrade is not only possible, but would be less expensive as well. In fact, the average upgrade for larger plants along the Central Coast is just five years--over three years less than the time Morro Bay and Cayucos are requesting. The Central Coast, the ocean, and otters deserve an upgrade that is completed as fully and as soon as possible.