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<\/p>\nMorgan 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent nearly every day out in our front yard,\u201d Whirledge said. \u201cNeighbors would walk by, walk their dogs. We knew everybody in the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like most of Altadena, Whirledge\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of goes right along with the wild spirit of Altadena, and the connection to nature and the connection to wellness,\u201d Whirledge said.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
Now, not only is Whirledge trying to rebuild, but he\u2019s 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 \u2014 meaning they aren\u2019t connected to the pipes of the county sewer system.<\/p>\n
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Morgan Whirledge stands at the edge of his property. All of the houses in his neighborhood burned in the Eaton Fire. <\/p>\n
From the cost of<\/a> undergrounding power lines<\/a> to upgrading<\/a> water<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n In turn, some residents, including Whirledge, are being forced to become experts in infrastructure they once rarely gave thought to.<\/p>\n A particularly foul problem<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderneath that, there’s like a five foot diameter hole that goes down 16 feet, and that’s essentially our waste system for this property,\u201d he explained, describing his home\u2019s cesspool.<\/p>\n Whirledge has spent countless hours figuring out ways to rebuild with a sewer system instead of an outdated cesspool. <\/p>\n Six-hundred properties in Altadena 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.<\/p>\n California no longer allows cesspools in new construction and has strict rules for septic systems. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Resources for residents with cesspools or septic<\/p>\n Visit the L.A. County Recovers website<\/a> for an FAQ. Or you can email the Department of Public Works with questions at altadenasewer@dpw.lacounty.gov<\/a>.\u00a0 Such required testing has cost Whirledge about $5,000, he said. It\u2019s another unexpected cost beyond rebuilding the house itself.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Whirledge said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Cesspools aren’t allowed in new construction in California, but in Eaton Fire burn zones, old systems that pass safety evaluations can remain.<\/p>\n ‘Chicken and egg’<\/p>\n To Whirledge, the fire presented an opportunity to build back his community without old cesspools and septic systems.<\/p>\n \u201cIs 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?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His work to answer that question has made Whirledge a de facto sewer expert \u2014 \u201cthe guru of doo doo\u201d has become his new nickname.<\/p>\n To hook up to the modern sewer system in L.A. County, residents have two options.<\/p>\n They can hire an engineer to design the project, then get a permit from the county to build it. That\u2019s the more expensive option.<\/p>\n Otherwise, they can petition the county to become what\u2019s called a \u201ccounty improvement district.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Whirledge has become known as the “guru of doo doo.”<\/p>\n Whirledge and his neighbors went with the latter. So have 11 other Altadena neighborhoods representing about 300 properties that aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n The problem is, this process can be a long one, though Halpern said the county is working to expedite it. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt’s kind of like a chicken and egg scenario,\u201d Whirledge said.<\/p>\n A funding challenge<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThose funds from both the county and from this federal earmark are really just to do the preliminary engineering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n With the tax base largely wiped out, there\u2019s little funding to go around. The county\u2019s recently established<\/a> Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District will help rebuild sewer and other infrastructure in the longer term, as will the county improvement district designation.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Halpern said, the county has sought grants from the state and federal government, but he said they\u2019ve 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. The state water board told LAist that the county could be eligible for low-interest loans through its revolving<\/a> funds<\/a>. <\/p>\n And the federal government has still not released<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Whirledge and the rest of the Altadena Town Council sent a letter<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775482267_465_.jpeg\")
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Altadena Town Councilmember Morgan Whirledge established the Sewer, Septic and Cesspool Group of Altadena, which you can check out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775482268_148_.jpeg\")
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