[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 2/6/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

February 6, 2008

 

4. Water Quality

 

SEWAGE SPILL ISSUES:

State EPA demands probe of sewage spills - San Francisco Chronicle

 

SEWAGE ISSUES:

Sewage penalties reduced for Vista, Carlsbad - San Diego Union Tribune

 

 

SEWAGE SPILL ISSUES:

State EPA demands probe of sewage spills

San Francisco Chronicle – 2/6/08

By Marisa Lagos, staff writer

 

(02-06) 08:17 PST SACRAMENTO -- The chief of California's Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday asked for an independent investigation into the regional state agency charged with regulating the Bay Area's water quality.

 

The request came the same day that the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board announced that two sewage spills occurred in Marin County between Jan. 25 and Jan 31 - not just one, as the agency previously had reported. In announcing the second spill Tuesday, the board's executive director said it would ask for an independent review, and blamed the sewage treatment agency where the spill occurred for the delay. In a statement, Bruce Wolf said the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin used an incorrect date when it told the regional board of the first spill, and did not estimate the amount of sewage spilled in its initial report.

 

The sewage agency has been under scrutiny since Friday, when authorities told the public that the agency's Mill Valley facility had released nearly 3 million gallons of treated and untreated sewage into Richardson Bay 20 hours prior. The delayed announcement angered many Bay Area residents and some local officials, and several days later, State Sen. Carol Migden announced she would investigate incident.

 

Then, on Monday, the Water Quality Control Board, which regulates these types of incidents, said there had been another spill of 2.5 million gallons of sewage on Jan. 25. The board blamed the sewage agency for an inaccurate initial report and said staff at the regulating board didn't immediately notice when the report was corrected a few days later.

 

In an letter to the Wolfe dated Tuesday, EPA secretary Linda Adams said the delay is "disturbing because of the potential environmental effects to the Bay through the lack of aggressive action."

 

Adams said it appears that the sewage agency is at fault for its failure to accurately report the Jan. 25 incident but that the water board was also remiss in failing to immediately investigate the incident.

 

"This is, in my opinion, a disservice to the citizens of the Bay Area and, therefore, unacceptable," Adams wrote.

 

She asked for a "thorough and independent investigation," to be completed within 60 days in addition to the investigation into the sewage agency, which is to be conducted by the regional water board. #

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/06/MNRJUT6RE.DTL&hw=water&sn=001&sc=599

 

 

SEWAGE ISSUES:

Sewage penalties reduced for Vista, Carlsbad

San Diego Union Tribune – 2/5/08

By Michael Barge, staff writer

 

Vista and Carlsbad will pay $700,000 in penalties for a pipe break that spewed 7.3 million gallons of raw sewage last year into Buena Vista Lagoon, under terms of a proposed settlement.

 

They also will install a parallel pipe at the site of the massive spill to prevent any future break from contaminating the 200-acre lagoon on the boundary of Carlsbad and Oceanside.

 

The settlement, worked out between the two cities and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, reduces the original penalty from $1.1 million to $700,000.

 

“Some of the penalty ($400,000) is suspended provided they ... upgrade the force main,” said Eric Becker, a water quality control board engineer.

 

The spill occurred March 31 when a 24-inch pressurized main on the lagoon's eastern edge ruptured, pouring raw sewage into the lagoon in one of the worst spills in the county in years. The contamination killed 1,700 fish and four birds.

 

Of the $700,000 in penalties, $200,000 would go to a state fund for enforcing water quality laws, and $500,000 to an environmental program that enhances the lagoon.

 

“That ($500,000) would be part of a larger project that deals with the ultimate restoration of the lagoon,” Vista City Attorney Darold Pieper said Tuesday.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, and California Coastal Conservancy have undertaken an environmental impact report on restoring the lagoon and preventing it from filling with silt.

 

If Carlsbad and Vista fail to prove they are working on a new pipe and pump station, the water quality control board could make them pay the full $1.1 million.

 

The Carlsbad City Council approved $500,000 last month to design a new pump station at the site of the spill, at Jefferson Street and Marron Road near the Interstate 5-state Route 78 interchange.

 

Vista owns nearly 90 percent of the sewer line and will pay that portion of any penalty and cost; Carlsbad owns the rest and will pay 10 percent.

 

The project will be two-pronged.

 

“The upgrade includes the lining of the existing pipe with a new impervious and structural lining such that if the entire thing rusted out it still works,” Pieper said. “The other part ... is to put in a second line.”

 

After the spill, it was noted that there was no fallback system to divert raw sewage in the event of a break. The proposal addresses that.

 

“We looked at it and thought it was a fair settlement,” Michael McCann, the board's assistant executive director, said Tuesday.

 

The settlement is subject to approval by the water quality control board, which has the plan on its March 12 agenda.  #

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080205-2237-bn05fines.html

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