Autumn’s draining task

Mary A. Castillo

There are some telltale signs of one season giving way to another.

In Laguna fall is signified by the swift departure of the arts

festivals, classrooms full of students and city crews getting down

and dirty as they clean the vast network of storm drains.

“We have 910 inlets, catch basins, outlets and spillways in the

system that collect surface run-off and eventually spill out into the

ocean,” said Bill Liebel, deputy director of city public works.

For six weeks street division crews devote 100% of their time to

cleaning and inspecting the storm drain system. Last year they

collected 100 cubic yards of mud and leaves. But because of the

city’s twice-weekly street sweeping schedule, they’re finding 50%

percent debris in the system, said Al Ornelas, a supervisor of the

division who has worked with the city for 17 years.

“I live in Dana Point and I’m always swimming in the ocean,” he

said. “I don’t want any of that stuff in our water.”

Ornelas and his partner, Tony Sanchez, worked on a catch basin on

the corner of Center and Carmelita streets using an 800-gallon

slurry/vactor collection unit. After pulling the grates up, Sanchez

used a high-pressure sprayer to blast away pesticide or oil residue

that gets absorbed into the concrete. Ornelas positioned a vacuum

tube that collected the water and debris before it entered the

drainage pipe.

Last February, the city bought the collection unit from Pacific

Tech in Huntington Beach for $53,180. The street division crews use

it to contain and clean up oil or hazardous materials spills. The

high pressure sprayer uses water so that no additional residue from

detergents or cleaning solvents is left behind.

“You can’t get it any cleaner than that,” Ornelas said.

After the basin and grating were cleaned, Ornelas inspected the

pipe using a mirror and high-powered light. Clogged or broken pipes

are noted and after the crews complete the cleaning project city

crews will come back to make all necessary repairs.

Occasionally they get complaints from people about the no parking

signs and the noise. But the vector unit is designed so that it stays

within the municipal code governing noise. Also, because the crews

have had so much practice cleaning the system, it takes about 40

minutes from the time they set out the no parking signs to the time

they drive off to the next location.

If the city didn’t clean the system on an annual basis, there’d be

an infestation of mosquitoes not to mention the smell, Liebel said.

“We jump on this and we don’t take it lightly,” Ornelas said of

the project. “We treat it just as if this winter is going to be as

bad as the last El Nino.”

* MARY A. CASTILLO is a news assistant for the Coastline Pilot.

She covers education, public safety and City Hall.