Sewage spill far worse than first reported
Alicia Robinson
Orange County Sanitation District officials vastly underestimated the
size of a Labor Day weekend sewage spill, which released about
1.6-million gallons of treated wastewater rather than the original
estimate of 13,000 gallons, officials said Thursday.
Beaches from 52nd Street in Newport Beach to Magnolia Street in
Huntington Beach were closed Sept. 4 after a power failure caused the
spill from a Huntington Beach pump station.
The spill is being investigated by the Santa Ana Regional Water
Quality Control Board, a normal follow-up procedure that could result
in a penalty for whomever caused the spill.
“Our investigation is not yet complete, so we have not yet
determined what further action to take in that case,” regional water
board spokesman Kurt Berchtold said.
An interruption in the pump station’s electrical power and a
subsequent problem with two backup generators caused the wastewater
to back up and spill into the ocean. The spilled water had been
treated and did not contain any raw sewage.
The sanitation district underestimated the size of the spill
because it had a limited time to report the spill to the water board,
but officials have since taken a closer look and hired an outside
consultant to study it, said Bob Ghirelli, the sanitation district’s
director of technical services.
“We knew very shortly after we made that estimate that it was
probably an error, and our own staff here at the sanitation district
did an estimate and went back and reviewed all the records,” he said.
“It’s a different number, but in terms of impact on the environment,
there’s no difference.”
A more detailed report on the spill should be ready next week. In
the past five years, the district has been fined for spills into
storm drains caused by blocked sewer lines, but the last spill from a
treatment plant into the Santa Ana River was 30 years ago, Ghirelli
said.
The regional water board can assign penalties for spills based on
factors such as the nature of the discharge and whether it was
preventable, Berchtold said. The maximum penalty is $10,000 per day
for the length of the violation plus $10 per gallon of sewage
spilled.
City tourism promoters from Huntington Beach and Newport Beach
asked sanitation district board members Wednesday to fund a
public-relations campaign to improve the image of Orange County’s
beaches and their water quality. Their request was in part because of
the spill.
Orange County’s beaches have gotten a bad rap recently, and it’s
largely undeserved, said Garry Brown, a member of the Huntington
Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau.
“[The Labor Day weekend spill] was on television 66 times,” he
said. “It’s just one more negative thing about people coming to North
Orange County beaches.... Yes, there’s a small area by the Santa Ana
River mouth and the Talbert Marsh that’s a problem, but the rest of
the beaches are in great shape.”
The sanitation district probably has some degree of responsibility
in repairing the beaches’ public image, but it’s hard to say how
much, said Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway, a member of the
sanitation district board.
The board was asked to fund a $350,000 advertising campaign. A
board subcommittee will hammer out a proposal to bring to the full
board of directors, Ridgeway said.
“I think we’ll work out a mutual public-relations effort that will
satisfy both the hotels and the conference and visitors bureaus as it
relates to tourism in their area,” he said.
* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be
reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.
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