Wastewater accidentally discharged into Carmel Bay
Larry Parsons
The Monterey Herald
03/01/2011
A chain of equipment and alarm failures sent about 300,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater into Carmel Bay for about four hours Sunday.
The wastewater had gone through all treatment stages at the Carmel Area Wastewater District's plant except for the final disinfection step of chlorine injection, said district manager Barbara Buikema.
District and county health officials took water samples Monday for coliform bacteria levels.
"We don't think the impacts will be major," Buikema said.
The wastewater already was treated "to a very good quality," and it would be greatly diluted by the ocean water, she said.
John Ramirez, county environmental health director, said because of where the treated wastewater is discharged, "the levels, if any, would be ... negligible."
The district contacted county, state and federal officials about the incident and expected to be fined for the unauthorized discharge by state water quality officials.
"We know that is going to happen," Buikema said. "We think we have taken all the steps to prevent it from happening again."
The incident started about 4:30 p.m. Sunday when the plant's primary disinfection system failed because the equipment pulled away from a wall to which it was bolted.
