Emergency Aid Sought in S.D. Spill : Sewage: Mayor asks Gov. Wilson to declare a state of emergency as treated sewage spill continues to foul beaches and the city’s image.
SAN DIEGO — San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor Wednesday asked Gov. Pete Wilson to declare a state of emergency here, as up to 180 million gallons a day of partially treated sewage continued to spew into the ocean less than three-quarters of a mile offshore in what experts called one of the worst such spills in the nation.
Sources in the governor’s office said Wilson is expected to sign the declaration by today. The City Council met in emergency session Wednesday, during which O’Connor said she plans to ask state officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay for the estimated $10 million in repairs that may take two months to complete.
To reduce the flow through the damaged 9-foot-diameter pipeline, city officials are urging San Diego residents to conserve indoor water use. The 10-point conservation plan includes a plea for 3-minute showers, limited toilet flushing and washing machine use, recycling bath and sink water and not using garbage disposals.
The voluntary conservation program will be in effect for five to seven days and is not expected to continue while the broken pipe is being repaired, O’Connor said, adding only half-jokingly that residents should consider “taking showers with a friend.â€
O’Connor said late Wednesday that five to seven days of less water use should enable repair teams to patch the pipe just enough to reduce the flow of effluent until more permanent measures can be completed.
The spill comes during the America’s Cup sailing regatta and on the eve of a visit by President Bush, who arrives today to tour a health clinic in Barrio Logan to introduce an immunization program for children.
The contamination has forced the closure of about 4.5 miles of the city’s coastline, from the tip of Point Loma to Ladera Street at the western edge of Sunset Cliffs Park. And although numerous signs warn surfers, swimmers and boaters, dozens of surfers were still spotted in the waters Wednesday.
Contact with the fecal coliform bacteria in such contaminated water can result in a variety of waterborne diseases ranging from gastrointestinal disorders to dysentery, hepatitis and typhoid. City Manager Jack McGrory said Wednesday that “high counts of bacteria†were detected at the tip of Point Loma.
The spill, which began late Sunday, reached crisis proportions Tuesday, when engineers discovered ruptures in 19 sections of the huge reinforced concrete pipe that carries most of San Diego County’s effluent to a point 2.2 miles out to sea, at a depth of 220 feet. The city’s sewage system serves 1.7 million people.
Health authorities said all the effluent--from which 75% to 80% of solids have been removed--is being deposited 3,150 feet from the rocky cliffs of Point Loma, at a depth of 35 feet.
County health officials said Wednesday that the spill is flowing south, but because of high tides, it has begun to penetrate San Diego Bay and move toward the North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado. Pending test results, however, levels of bacteria there have not been determined.
David Skelly, a coastal engineer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, called the spill an “environmental disaster,†and other officials labeled the break in the massive pipe a rupture of “catastrophic†proportions.
Dan Avera, assistant deputy director for the San Diego County Department of Health Services, said experts are checking test samples “round the clock,†and he warned consumers to avoid eating sushi or other raw fish, and in particular, clams, mussels and scallops.
Federal and local officials said that, although the waste is 80% free of solids, the spill remains one of the worst in the nation’s history and constitutes what EPA spokesman Bill Glenn said is “a serious, emergency condition we’re working quickly to address.â€
Glenn said the prospect of federal funds being dispatched to San Diego is “being looked at. . . . We just don’t know yet.â€
Despite being largely free of solids, the effluent is laden with disease-causing bacteria and viruses because San Diego, unlike many other cities, does not disinfect sewage before discharging it, for fear of what the chemicals might do to marine life.
Roger Frauenfelder, a deputy city manager, said a repair crew will begin work today at a “start-up†cost of $1 million. Frauenfelder said it was premature to estimate the total repair cost but he put the “ballpark†figure at $10 million.
McGrory, the city manager, said the 11,000 feet of pipe was inspected last year and “everything checked out fine.†The line is made of 25-foot sections that weigh 30 tons each. McGrory said the pipe was installed in 1963 and had “performed perfectly--it had never ruptured.â€
City officials admitted, however, that no contingency plan exists in the event of such a spill. They said the outfall can be shut off, but for no more than two hours a day. The pipe extends due west from the E.W. Blom Wastewater Treatment Plant on Point Loma.
Officials claimed nothing could have been done to prevent the rupture, which was detected by the Coast Guard Sunday night and confirmed Monday afternoon. They blamed the leak on “external†forces, saying the settling of the ocean floor, combined with the pressure of onrushing effluent, dislodged joints in 19 sections of pipe.
“The most likely guess is settlement on the ocean floor,†McGrory said. “ . . . There was settlement under one section of pipe, and the pipe began to sag,†creating what he called “a progressive failure.â€
McGrory said inspections had detected minor corrosion “but nothing out of the ordinary. This was not caused by some internal burst outward. It was triggered by external forces, natural forces.†Experts discounted the possibility that a seismic disturbance caused the break.
Two companies hired to repair the broken pipe estimated that the work will take six to eight weeks. McGrory said Morrison-Knudsen, a Boise, Idaho, company, and Manson Construction of Long Beach will do the repairs.
He added that Manson officials expect to have a 600-ton construction barge in place over the broken pipe by noon today. According to McGrory, the two companies repaired a similar break in a sewage pipeline extending from Hilo, Hawaii, into the Pacific Ocean in 1987.
The biggest concern voiced Wednesday was over a winter storm expected to hit San Diego sometime today. O’Connor said officials fear further damage to the pipe if the storm generates strong waves.
If that happens, officials fear treated sewage could be sent flowing north toward Ocean, Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar and Carlsbad. Repair work could also be curtailed, depending on the strength of the storm.
In Sacramento Wednesday, Gov. Wilson stopped short of signing the state of emergency declaration, though sources indicated he would do so today.
“Obviously, he knows quite a bit about the sewage issue,†said press secretary Bill Livingstone. “It seems that San Diego has had more than its share of problems dealing with sewage. He worked year after year to finally get funding to take care of the Tijuana sewage problem, and now this comes forward.â€
Livingstone and officials for the newly formed Cal-EPA said they were checking to see if the state could arrange some kind of financing to help the city repair the pipe.
“It (repairing the pipe) is a pretty massive undertaking,†said Bob Borzelleri, Cal-EPA spokesman. “It’s a massive event and it’s going to take a lot of cooperation between everybody who has the technical ability and resources to address the problem.â€
Meanwhile, the regional office of the state Department of Fish and Game dispatched a biologist to the San Diego shoreline to determine what effect the sewage might have on wildlife. And an official from the Regional Water Quality Control Board has been helping to monitor concentrations of sewage in the water.
John Passerello, assistant director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services, said his agency is also poised to help.
“We’re checking with the city of San Diego and the county of San Diego to see what actions they are taking and what assistance they need for the state,†he said.
Charles Warren, executive officer of the State Lands Commission, said he has given the city permission to take “whatever steps are necessary†to fix the broken pipe. The state agency controls all land extending three miles into the ocean from the shore, and had leased a tract off Point Loma to the city for construction of the pipeline.
McGrory and others say the accident underscores the need to expedite plans to extend the pipe another 12,000 feet--beyond its current 2.2 miles from shore--and to place it in a tunnel beneath the ocean floor to eliminate contaminated leaks.
But at Wednesday’s emergency meeting, City Councilman Tom Behr expressed concern about a far more immediate problem: Damage control to the city’s image, after nationally televised America’s Cup races show a side of San Diego promoters had never envisioned.
Tom Ehman, executive vice president of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, conceded that the spill poses a “major PR problem†for San Diego, which sought sailing’s premier event partly to bolster tourism during the recession.
“No, it doesn’t help the city’s image--you can forget about the America’s Cup for the moment,†Ehman said. “The international press corps is already here for the Cup, and the presidential press corps will be here (today and Friday) with Bush, so it won’t be easy to deter attention from the spill.
“Any way you look at it, it isn’t good for San Diego.â€
Times staff writers H.G. Reza, Ralph Frammolino and Jonathan Gaw contributed to this report.
S.D. Water Conservation Urged
Mayor Maureen O’Connor asked San Diego residents to participate for five to seven days in a voluntary water conservation program while work crews begin repairing the broken sewage pipeline.
* Shorten time in the shower to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off. (Limit of three minutes.)
* Check for leaks in toilets, faucets and pipes. Make needed repairs.
* Flush toilet only when necessary.
* Turn off water while brushing teeth or shaving.
* Capture warm-up water from bathtub, shower and sink with a bucket, and use it to flush the toilet.
* Use a bowl of water to rinse fruits or vegetables. Don’t let the water run.
* When hand-washing dishes, use one full basin to rinse rather than running water.
* Fully load the automatic dishwasher and washing machine before using.
* Turn off or disconnect reverse osmosis water treatment units and water softeners that discharge water.
* Don’t use the garbage disposal. Instead, place food waste in the trash.
For more information, call the city’s water conservation hot line, 239-0132.
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