$105-Million Plan for Sewers OKd : Approval Gives City 6 Years to Cut Number of Spills Into Mission Bay

Regional water quality officials on Monday put their mark of approval on a six-year, $105-million capital improvement plan offered by the City of San Diego to cut down on the number of sewage spills into Mission Bay.

The ambitious plan, which would replace miles of corroding concrete pipes and call for inspection of troublesome manholes, was approved unanimously by the Regional Water Quality Board with a minimum of discussion.

Approval of the plan comes more than three months after the board issued a cease-and-desist order against the city for its failure to stop years of sewage spills into the popular aquatic spot. The board ordered the city to come up with a construction schedule to halt the leaks or face potential fines.

State regulators have criticized the city’s water department for not maintaining or replacing the cement pipes and manholes that lead to the bay.

Corroded and Pitted

The pipes, some of which are 60 years old, have become corroded and pitted by sewer gases, making them more susceptible to backups or cracks that allow raw sewage to run into the water. City officials have also said that they have discovered some concrete manholes corroded away.

Since 1980, sewage spills have forced health officials to quarantine all or part of the bay for more than 700 days--more than 25% of the time.

Milon Mills, the city’s assistant water utilities director, told water board members that the city is prepared to spend $105 million by 1993 to correct the problem. He said $92 million would come from the city’s capital improvements budget, and an additional $13 million will be furnished through a bond issue that will be put before voters in November.

As outlined by the city, the required improvements--many of which are already under way--include:

- Inspecting all manholes near Mission Bay and along the San Diego River. The city will replace manholes that are found deficient, and will seal others by 1988 to prevent vandalism.

- Replacing 24 miles of corroded pipes in the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach areas. Deadlines for the replacements range from 1990 to 1993. The city has already replaced another 13 miles of pipe in the area.

- Completing an interceptor drain around the bay that will catch sewage and other contaminants being carried in storm run-off. A $1 million interceptor has already been constructed along the east bank of the bay, and the city is proposing a $5 million expansion that will involve the laying of pipe on the north and west banks of the bay. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in June, 1993.

- The construction of berms around several sludge pits at Fiesta Island. The berms will prevent sludge--the gooey byproduct of sewage treatment--from running into the bay.

- Building backup pumps at three sewage pumping stations around Mission Bay. In addition, the city will study the possibility of installing permanent backup power supplies at 11 pump stations around the bay.

The timetable, as approved by the regional board, calls for the city to have made all of its improvements around Mission Bay by July 1993.

Board members expressed pleasure Monday with the city’s cooperation in undertaking the massive project.

“That’s easy,” Mary Jane Forster, the board chairman, said after water officials quickly approved the construction schedule. “I expected you to say ‘But . . . .’ ”

Imposed Deadlines

Monday’s action marks yet another instance in which the board has imposed deadlines on the city to make improvements to the sewage system, which has been the subject of running controversy.

The board has imposed fines on the city and set deadlines for the multimillion-dollar refurbishing of Pump Station 64, the Sorrento Valley facility with a history of failing and spewing raw sewage into Los Penasquitos Lagoon and the ocean.

Last month, the board enacted deadlines for the city to begin planning and constructing a $1.5 billion secondary sewage treatment plant, the city’s largest public works project ever.

Until recently, city officials resisted building the secondary plant, pegging their hopes instead on obtaining a waiver from the project from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Argued for Waiver

The city had argued that the waiver was justified by claiming there is no environmental damage from ejecting primary treated sewage more than two miles out into the ocean.

But the EPA disagreed and denied the request, leaving city officials with a monumental planning and construction job and little time to meet state and federal deadlines. Thus, the board enacted a series of new deadlines.

EPA officials have also announced they would seek a consent decree against the city to solidify their own deadlines set for the secondary treatment plant. A meeting between federal regulators and city officials to discuss the decree will be held Wednesday, Forster said at the board meeting.

Forster took exception to a staff report that said the water board would join as party to the consent decree, which must be approved and overseen by a judge.

Questioned Court Action

She openly questioned the value of such court-ordered action, saying consent decrees lack “flexibility” and call for fines that would “far surpass” those suggested by the board.

“I just have hesitations when you bring in a judge,” said Forster. “A judge? What kind of judge? He’s not a water judge.”

Forster also added that her own research had shown there was dissatisfaction with progress under a consent decree forcing secondary sewage treatment in the City of Los Angeles. She said environmentalists in the Sierra Club were upset with the slow-pace of planning and construction of the plant there under the court order.