Sewage Soils Arm of Chollas Creek

About 1,800 gallons of sewage spilled into a Chollas Creek tributary in East San Diego Wednesday evening, officials said.

About 5 p.m., someone reported that sewage was flowing from a manhole in the 4400 block of Revillo Drive, said Ruth Covill, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Health Services.

Tree roots had blocked a sewer line, which caused the manhole to overflow, Covill said. The sewage flowed down the street and entered a storm drain that empties into a Chollas Creek tributary south of University Avenue and Rolando Boulevard.

Workers from the city’s Water Utilities Department removed the blockage by 8 p.m., sanitized the manhole and the street to the storm drain, and posted contamination signs on the east and west sides of the Rolando bridge, which is over the Chollas Creek tributary, Covill said.

The sewage ran into a “very small branch of Chollas Creek,” Covill said. “That creek runs very, very slow. The sewage is being absorbed into the soil, it’s not making it to the bay.”

“The lines are old in that area of town,” Covill said. “The tree roots get in there looking for water.”

The lines in that area of town are at least 20 years old and are being gradually replaced, said Gary Hogue, a senior systems engineer with the Water Utilities Department.

Covill said the last sewage spill in the city occurred June 28, when about 5,400 gallons spilled into Sail Bay.