FILLMORE : City Begins Work on New Storm Drain

A hole was cut in the Sespe Creek levee over the weekend so workers can install a storm drain for the North Fillmore Industrial Park and surrounding neighborhoods.

Fillmore City Engineer Bert Rapp said last month that the 8-year-old levee should be repaired by October.

The drain will carry runoff into Sespe Creek near Old Telegraph Road, city officials said. “The main thing will be for the drain to carry runoff from streets and parking lots,” said Community Development Director Mary Ann Krause.

Krause said the danger of a toxic spill in north Fillmore was no greater than in commercial or residential areas elsewhere in the city. “No commercial operation could function without some toxics,” she said. “We even have some in our homes. We can’t rule out everything, but we can regulate the quantity.”

In most of the city, rainfall is channeled into the Santa Clara River through three storm drains, city officials said. The new drain should correct chronic flooding in most of residential north Fillmore and permit development of the industrial park, they said.