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.