Faulty Radio Equipment Delayed Report of Big Sewage Spill, Water Officials Say

A reported sewage spill in Del Cerro went unchecked for two days, eventually spewing over 5 million gallons of effluent into the San Diego River, because of problems with radio equipment the city uses to relay messages, water officials said Monday.

A Del Cerro resident called the 24-hour emergency sewer repair number March 27 to report the spill. But the city did not send someone out until the resident called back again two days later.

The dispatcher who took the first call radioed the message to a worker in the field, said Charles Yackly, assistant deputy director of the city Water Utilities Department’s systems division. Sometime during the transmission, however, communication was cut off, and the dispatcher continued talking to dead air.

“Initial contact was made,” Yackly said. “But the transmission was not received by the unit in the field. It was only partly heard and not picked up on again.”

The field worker may have been driving into a canyon, thereby blocking his ability to receive radio messages, Yackly said.

“We’ve had lots of communication problems with the radios,” he said, “but usually people call back within a short period of time and say, ‘What happened? Why hasn’t anyone come out?’ ”

Because of the Del Cerro spill, dispatchers and field workers will start comparing notes at the end of each shift to ensure that all dispatched calls were received. The new procedure will begin immediately and will become part of department policy in the near future.

Dog Beach in Ocean Beach was still closed to bathers and fishing Monday evening, as were the lower 8 miles of the San Diego River up to where the sewage spill occurred, according to the city Lifeguard Service.