Sewage spill shuts Arroyo Burro Beach
Colby Frazier
Daily Sound
12/09/2009
The beach closure was the second of its kind this year, and according to city of Santa Barbara officials, was caused by a clogged sewer main, not Monday’s storm.
Manuel Romero, a wastewater superintendent with the city’s Public Works Department, said the spill was reported at 8:15 a.m. He said about 100 gallons of sewage was recovered by a vacuum truck, but the remainder flowed into a storm drain, which emptied into Arroyo Burro Creek and made its way into the ocean.
The spill was reported to the Santa Barbara County Health Department and, according to Willie Burnett, an environmental health specialist with the county, a closed sign was posted on the beach at around noon
“That’s a pretty minimal amount,” he said of the spill’s size. “The probability of it affecting anybody is small, but of course, we want to err on the side of caution.”
A news release was sent to the media yesterday announcing the spill, though it did not state when it occurred. An Environmental Health Department official said the media is typically only notified about larger sewage spills. The official also said the news release, which came two days after the spill, was sent at the request of county supervisor Janet Wolf.
Burnett said the city of Santa Barbara took another water sample yesterday morning and would know by today if conditions had improved.
The closed signs didn’t keep surfers from flocking to the beach to take advantage of high surf, the result of a swell that is expected to continue pounding the coast through tomorrow.
With the season’s first large rainstorm on Monday, unsafe water conditions at local beaches were to be expected. According to water quality testing results conducted by the organization Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, unhealthy levels of bacteria were detected at six other beaches. At these beaches, which included Butterfly Beach, Carpinteria State Beach, East Beach at Mission Creek, Goleta Beach, Rincon Beach and Summerland Beach, warning signs were posted.
Burnett said it was the first time in his 10-year career with the county that two beaches had to be closed because of sewage spills in the same year. A sewage spill closed a portion of East Beach earlier this year.
But city officials say the sewage overflows are not the result of neglect or age.
Romero said Monday’s spill was caused by private sewage cleanings, which are encouraged through a city-sponsored rebate system. More often than not, he said plumbers will clear tree roots from around private sewage lines, and flush them through the public system, which causes problems down the line when pipes make sharp turns.
After Monday’s spill, Romero said the pipes were inspected with cameras and no structural damage was found, leading him to believe the spill was caused by roots.
“Our data shows that we’ve never had a blockage or overflow on this particular section of sewer drain,” he said.
On the day of the spill, Arroyo Burro Creek was flowing — a rare winter occurrence that almost guarantees ocean water in the area will be polluted. Because the water there would have likely been dirty enough even without the spill to prompt a warning, it’s difficult to know how much impact the sewage spill had on water quality.
Ben Pitterle, watershed programs director with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, said all of the beaches that posted high bacteria levels on Monday had creeks flowing nearby.
