A foul problem: Fire survivors with cesspools and septic tanks face unique rebuilding challenges

Morgan Whirledge, a musician and recently minted Altadena Town Council member, lived with his wife and two small children on a culdesac at the top of Lake Avenue, nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.

“We spent nearly every day out in our front yard,” Whirledge said. “Neighbors would walk by, walk their dogs. We knew everybody in the whole community.”

Like most of Altadena, Whirledge’s neighborhood had its own special charm and piece of history. In the early 1900s, this neighborhood was a wellness retreat named after Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health.

“It kind of goes right along with the wild spirit of Altadena, and the connection to nature and the connection to wellness,” Whirledge said.

A century later, Whirledge, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and his wife, a painter, were drawn to this area for many of the same reasons as the health-seekers before them. But about three years after buying their dream home, the Eaton Fire reduced it and all 29 houses in the neighborhood to ash.

Now, not only is Whirledge trying to rebuild, but he’s also facing a challenge left over from last century: his house used a cesspool for its sewage. All of his neighbors used cesspools or septic tanks too — meaning they aren’t connected to the pipes of the county sewer system.

Morgan Whirledge stands at the edge of his property. All of the houses in his neighborhood burned in the Eaton Fire.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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From the cost of undergrounding power lines to upgrading water and, now, some sewer systems, rebuilding with better infrastructure after a disaster is proving to be a complex and expensive challenge, with the costs largely borne by people who lost their homes, are underinsured or not insured at all, and simply trying to put their lives back together.

In turn, some residents, including Whirledge, are being forced to become experts in infrastructure they once rarely gave thought to.

A particularly foul problem

On a recent drizzly morning, Whirledge pointed to a small, unassuming black cap sticking out of the dirt on the lot where his home stood.

“Underneath that, there's like a five foot diameter hole that goes down 16 feet, and that's essentially our waste system for this property,” he explained, describing his home’s cesspool.

Whirledge has spent countless hours figuring out ways to rebuild with a sewer system instead of an outdated cesspool.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Six-hundred properties in Altadena — or about 1 in 10 residents— rely on outdated cesspools or septic systems, and more than 60% of those residents lost their homes, according to the L.A. County Public Works Department.

California no longer allows cesspools in new construction and has strict rules for septic systems. That’s because they can pollute groundwater with raw sewage. But renovating sewer systems is not cheap or simple, with upgrades potentially costing tens of thousands of dollars.

In response to cost concerns from residents, the county is allowing fire survivors to keep their existing systems, as long as they pass health and safety evaluations by the Department of Public Health.

Such required testing has cost Whirledge about $5,000, he said. It’s another unexpected cost beyond rebuilding the house itself.

“The real hurdle here is that no one really knows how much money it's going to take to rebuild their house, and you kind of discover that as you go along,” Whirledge said.

He hopes his lawsuit against Southern California Edison, which has acknowledged publicly their equipment may have sparked the Eaton Fire, and an SBA disaster loan will help recoup such additional costs.

Cesspools aren't allowed in new construction in California, but in Eaton Fire burn zones, old systems that pass safety evaluations can remain.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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'Chicken and egg'

To Whirledge, the fire presented an opportunity to build back his community without old cesspools and septic systems.

“Is it better to put in these systems that are functional, but outdated? Or is it better to try and modernize our community and put in a sewer?” he said.

His work to answer that question has made Whirledge a de facto sewer expert — “the guru of doo doo” has become his new nickname.

To hook up to the modern sewer system in L.A. County, residents have two options.

They can hire an engineer to design the project, then get a permit from the county to build it. That’s the more expensive option.

Otherwise, they can petition the county to become what’s called a “county improvement district.” In that case, the county designs and builds the sewer system, funding it through municipal bonds that are paid back by the property owners via tax assessments over 30 years.

Whirledge has become known as the "guru of doo doo."

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Whirledge and his neighbors went with the latter. So have 11 other Altadena neighborhoods representing about 300 properties that aren’t connected to the municipal sewer. The projects range from connecting 4 houses to more than 20, each with their own unique geographies and needs, said Yonah Halpern, an assistant deputy director at the county Public Works Department.

The problem is, this process can be a long one, though Halpern said the county is working to expedite it.

Time is of the essence: Whirledge and his neighbors are largely underinsured and trying to rebuild quickly in the face of dwindling temporary housing insurance and mortgage assistance.

“ It's kind of like a chicken and egg scenario,” Whirledge said.

A funding challenge

The county allocated a little over $1 million, plus another $1 million in federal funding has been approved, to complete initial plans for all of the Altadena sewer petition projects, Halpern said. Now they have to find a way to actually do the work.

“Those funds from both the county and from this federal earmark are really just to do the preliminary engineering,” he said.

Much of the infrastructure rebuild requires blocks of neighbors to coordinate. Whirledge, who is also a block captain for his street, said the system and friendships forged before the fire has helped facilitate much of that.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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With the tax base largely wiped out, there’s little funding to go around. The county’s recently established Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District will help rebuild sewer and other infrastructure in the longer term, as will the county improvement district designation.

Meanwhile, Halpern said, the county has sought grants and low-interest loans from the state and federal government, but he said they’ve been told those are largely geared toward designated disadvantaged communities, which Altadena is not. Privately-owned sewer upgrades are also not eligible for certain federal funds.

And the federal government has still not released some $34 billion in disaster aid, first requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom a month after the fires last year, to help finance these long-term aspects of rebuilding.

For Whirledge's rebuild, he's decided to reconnect to the cesspool but also leave open the option to connect to a future modern sewer system.

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Erin Stone

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LAist

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Whirledge and the rest of the Altadena Town Council sent a letter to their federal representatives urging dedicated funding for Altadena sewer projects. In response, Rep. Judy Chu has requested $2.4 million to go toward a sewer system for 11 of Whirledge's neighbors for fiscal year 2027.

Whirledge also hopes the county can get creative. He pointed to Sonoma County. After the 2017 Tubbs Fire, it offered one neighborhood of homes that burned and were connected to septic tanks low-interest loans and a 10-year interest-free payment grace period. Sonoma County is structured differently, so it's not exactly a one-to-one comparison, but Whirledge suggested it could be something of a model.

“We're sitting here with an opportunity to build a community that's more resilient and environmentally sound,” Whirledge said. “We just don't have the funding mechanisms to do it.”

So the reluctant "guru of doo doo" is moving ahead with plans to connect his new home to the old cesspool — and make the connections needed for a potential future sewer.

“We have to … hope that by the time we're finished with our build that we can find the financing to give us the opportunity to bring sewer in,” he said.