Worker’s Error Results in Sewage Spill

A worker at the Hyperion sewage treatment plant near Playa del Rey accidentally opened the wrong valve Thursday and sent 10,000 gallons of “over-chlorinated, fully treated, secondary” sewage toward ocean waters a mile off Dockweiler State Beach, Los Angeles City officials said.

Del Biagi, director of the city’s Bureau of Sanitation, said the accidental discharge posed no danger to swimmers although the over-chlorinated effluent could affect fish and other marine life.

“However, I think it’s a very remote possibility that there would be any (serious) impact,” he said, adding that the 10,000 gallons were mixed with 5 million gallons of seawater in the pipeline.

Biagi said that the accident occurred during the standard daily testing of the chlorinator, which adds chlorine to sewage. The effluent normally would be pumped along a pipe five miles into Santa Monica Bay.

Instead, it was sent through a pipe that carries waste water only a mile out to sea.

Biagi said workers were hoping to pump some of the sewage still in the outflow pipe back to the plant and divert it to its normal pipeline. He said it was unclear how much extra chlorine had been added to the waste water.

Biagi said an employee mistakenly turned a wrong valve, causing the sewage to flow into the shorter pipe. He said the accident showed a need for more training of plant operators. A massive training program for the 600 employees at Hyperion was announced this week by Mayor Tom Bradley after a series of embarrassing sewage spills at the facility.

Since May 25, troubles at Hyperion have resulted in the diversion of between 18 million and 24 million gallons of waste water--some only partially treated--into the wrong pipeline.