Monitoring Plan Could Aid in Averting Future Spills
It could have been worse.
Officials from the Regional Water Quality Control Board assessed San Diego’s Metropolitan Wastewater Department almost $3.5 million in fines and penalties for its weeklong sewage spill, which started Feb. 21.
The fine is the highest penalty ever assessed for sewage pollution in the state of California. It is also the largest administrative civil liability ever issued in the state, said John Norton, chief of the state’s Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Unit.
Although the fine was much smaller than the maximum $360 million the district could have been penalized, MWD director Dave Schlesinger was not happy with the results.
“The city’s disappointed the board found it necessary to fine us,” he said.
The Environmental Health Coalition had a different view of the $3,469,900 fine.
“It means, we hope, that the city will take this seriously and invest in the infrastructure we need to have a sewer system that works properly,” said Nicole Capretz, an EHC spokeswoman. “We will no longer tolerate spills; we will no longer tolerate closed beaches and bays.”
John Robertus, executive officer of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, said the board was not swayed by any specific issue in making its decision. The report to the board brought up a number of issues, any or all of which the six-member board may have considered as it made its decision.
Not A Done Deal
Robertus also noted the board’s decision was not final and could change at an Aug. 9 meeting. The board only decided on a dollar figure for the fine; some or all of that amount may be suspended if the wastewater department takes on “credit projects,” or supplemental work to improve local water quality, he said.
It would be similar to what happened in 1995, when the department was assessed a $1.35 million fine to be paid into the state’s abatement fund. Instead, the department paid only $300,000 into the fund, in exchange for financing local credit projects, Robertus said.
Schlesinger agreed to look into investing in local infrastructure, and will meet June 20 with the San Diego City Council in closed session to discuss several such projects. One of them is adding remote sensor capability to the sewer system to help detect future leaks. The $500,000 project would be the first of its kind in any city in the country, Schlesinger said.
Schlesinger briefed Robertus on the system. The project is already under way, with testing of the computer software and installation of additional monitors currently taking place. It should be up and running by August, Schlesinger said.
“That is their top priority, and our top priority. So that one’s a done deal,” Schlesinger said.
Another project that’s high on the city’s priority list would be to continue bacterial monitoring along the coast. Originally a credit project stemming from an earlier fine, the monitoring is scheduled to end in two months, Schlesinger said.
Valuable Data
Bacterial monitoring has provided information on water quality between Dog Beach and Pe & #324;asquitos Lagoon , areas for which no other agency is collecting data. This is a valuable resource for both the city and the county, Schlesinger said.
Schlesinger declined to mention any further plans, citing the fact these items will be discussed in closed session.
Once the district gets direction from the city on these and other projects, the district will return before the Regional Water Quality Control Board on Aug. 9, Schlesinger said.
In order for a project to be approved, it has to be feasible, have clear goals, clear costs and clear directions. It must also show a direct improvement to local water quality, he said.
Schlesinger also noted on Sept. 1, the wastewater department hopes to complete another project to help prevent future spills , laying new pipe to divert the sewage flow out of the upper part of Alvarado Canyon. But it’s unlikely that the water quality board will count this as a credit project, since it was already under way at the time the sewage spill occurred in February.
The pipe through Alvarado Canyon was the site of two earlier spills in 1991 and 1980. But Schlesinger denied the implication that the area was prone to sewage spills, as there have been only three spills there in the past 32 years.
