San Diego to Spend $1 Billion for Sewage System Upgrades

Environmental News Service
07/31/2007

The city of San Diego will spend $1 billion over the next six years to upgrade its sewer system under a comprehensive settlement filed in federal court today by the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The consent decree settles a lawsuit over sewer spills filed in 2001 by The Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper. The EPA joined the lawsuit in 2003.

This is the third and final settlement that addresses current violations. San Diego entered into two partial consent decrees with the environmental groups and EPA in 2005 and 2006, but due to fiscal constraints, a long-term settlement was not signed.

With the recent increase in wastewater rates, the city is now able to enter into an agreement that will allow continued investment in sewage infrastructure.

"San Diego will spend over $1 billion to improve its aging sewer system and prevent future spills of raw, untreated sewage into local streams, the ocean, and city streets," said Granta Nakayama, EPA assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance.

"When this suit was initiated, the city was averaging a sewage spill a day and gaining national notoriety for massive spills like the 34 million gallon spill into Adobe Creek and the San Diego River," said Coastkeeper Executive Director Bruce Reznik.

Sewage spills, which contain bacteria, viruses and parasites, pose a serious public health threat. The elderly, children, and people with compromised immune systems are the most at risk.

Sewage spills also pose an environmental threat to San Diego waters by releasing large quantities of nutrients which feed algae growth and reduce oxygen levels, causing fish kills.

San Diego's Municipal Wastewater Collection System serves 1.2 million residents over 330 square miles. The system has 2,800 miles of sewer lines and 84 pumping stations.

The settlement, which will be submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California for approval, will require the city to repair, replace or rehabilitate 250 miles of pipeline by 2013.

It has already repaired or replaced 200 miles of pipeline under the earlier settlements.

The city will upgrade and repair pump stations, secure all 5,800 manhole covers throughout the city, implement a sewer pipeline cleaning program, conduct a sewer capacity assessment. and reduce sewer spills caused by cooking oil and grease.

On February 26, the San Diego City Council voted to increase wastewater rates by 8.75 percent beginning May 1, 2007. A further increase of 8.75 percent will be charged May 1, 2008, while increases of seven percent will become effective on May 1 in 2009 and again in 2010.

The revenue generated by the increases is being used for the upgrades that will settle this lawsuit.

The Metropolitan Wastewater Department says there has been a 77 percent reduction in wastewater spills since 2000 when there was an average of one wastewater spill per day. In 2006, there were 84 spills with 10 spills reaching public waters.