A Rash of Sewage Spills Plagues Old Oxnard Line : Health: City and county officials investigating 31 releases since May say one cause of the problem is the system lacks any inclines to help move the effluent.

In the last four months, the Oxnard sewer system has released more than 10,700 gallons of sewage, some of it raw and untreated, onto city streets.

The number of spills is far higher than any other city in the county and worries both city and county officials, who blame an aging sewer system that was built on flat terrain with no inclines to help move the sewage.

County officials recently investigated the Oxnard system after receiving reports of eight sewage releases during August. However, the investigation found no link among the spills.

Between May 21 and Sept. 9, there were 31 sewage spills in Oxnard--from one gallon to 3,000 gallons--according to county reports.

During the same period, there was only one other sewage spill in the county: a 2,000-gallon spill in Ojai.

Because industries sometimes dump hazardous wastes into the city’s sewage system, the spills are a potential health danger, county officials said.

The number of spills in Oxnard worries the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, board spokesman John Lewis said. However, the board will only assess fines on a city if a spill larger than 1,000 gallons pollutes a river, lake or ocean, Lewis said.

The water quality control board can levy fines of up to $5,000 a day for such spills, he said.

Although the city has had four spills of more than 1,000 gallons since May, none have gone directly into a river, lake or ocean.

“True, the number of occasions is a concern to us, but we realize they are working with an old system,” Lewis said.

Parts of the Oxnard system are almost 90 years old, city officials said.

Bob Williamson, a supervisor for the county Environmental Health Department, said the August spills prompted his department to investigate the city’s system, but all the releases appeared to be “separate and isolated.”

Part of the problem is that Oxnard sits in the middle of a flat plain, and sewer pipes tend to back up because the system does not have hills and valleys to move the sewage to the city’s treatment plant on 6001 S. Perkins Road, said Tim Nanson, Oxnard’s acting public works director.

Most other cities in the county were built on hills or inclines, and without the help of gravity, “it’s going to be difficult to keep the sewer line going,” said Terry Gilday, a technical supervisor for the county Environmental Health Department.

Nanson pointed out that Oxnard’s system also serves Point Mugu and Port Hueneme and processes about 17 million gallons of sewage a day.

“Because of the size of the city and nature of the situation, some type of spill is always likely to happen,” he said.

Despite the high number of spills, most complaints to the city about the sewers are from businesses or apartment complexes where a stoppage begins, said Robert Montgomery, a city environmental health supervisor.

He said few residents complain because they don’t recognize a sewage spill when they see it. “The average citizen may see water along the side of the street, and they think it’s just storm water or something,” he said.

John Manion, who lives in the 5200 block of Whitecap Street, had no problem recognizing a 50-gallon spill near his home earlier this month.

“It was just oozing water, and it really smelled,” he said. “It was definitely sewage.”

Manion said he called the city to complain and within 25 minutes the mess was cleaned up.

“The city did a good job,” he said.

According to county records, 3,000 gallons of sewage spilled last month in front of the Channel Islands Village Apartments.

Hans Lange, the general manager of the apartment complex, saw that spill immediately.

He said the city cleaned up the mess quickly, but he complained that soon afterward he received a bill of almost $700 from the city.

“If something happens like that, the city is responsible,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to pay.”

Lange said the problem was in the city’s sewer system. However, the city said it bills residents if they were responsible for the backup.

On May 22, about 1,000 gallons of raw sewage seeped out of a manhole and onto the streets in the 3000 block of Via Marina Avenue. The sewage was treated with chlorine and washed into a storm drain that empties into Mandalay Bay. Tests of the water revealed bacteria counts 160 times the state’s standard for safe water for swimming, but no warning notices were posted because the bay is usually not used for swimming, county officials said.

The bacteria dissipated within 24 hours.

The county Environmental Health Department drafts weekly reports on all “illegal discharges of hazardous waste that are likely to cause substantial injury to public health and safety.”

According to those reports, most of the spills in the last four months were less than 100 gallons and occurred in residential and commercial neighborhoods.

Although the number of spills is high, Nanson said, there were far more three years ago before the city automated the 23 pumps that keep the sewage moving through the pipes.

Before that, city workers drove from pump to pump to make sure they were operating correctly, Nanson said. The city is working on a project to replace three of those pumps with one large pump near the treatment plant, he said.

But even with this improvement, spills are unavoidable, he said.

The city of Oxnard is responsible for cleanup, and the county checks to make sure the job is done properly, Gilday said. “So far, the city has done a fairly good job,” he said.