Raw Sewage Spews From Pump, Heads for Ocean

About 50,000 gallons of raw sewage spewed from an underground water-pump system into the street Wednesday night and into the storm drain system flowing toward the ocean, authorities said.

The spill apparently occurred when a pump malfunctioned at the Cypress Villa Apartments at 201 N. East St. at 9:30 p.m., Fire Department dispatcher Jonathan Wilkes said.

Richard Boon, supervisor of the storm water section of the Enviromental Management Agency, said that the spill probably would not pose a health threat when it reaches the ocean because it would be diluted.

“By the time it reaches the ocean, it will be so dissipated, it won’t present a health problem.”

Boon said the sewage was hearding west to Coyote Creek and then on to the ocean.

Apparently, the level of raw sewage at the 63-unit apartment complex rose to a level that triggered the pump, which is supposed to activate only when rainwater rises, Wilkes said.

“The system is suppose to pump rainwater into the street, but instead it pumped sewage,” he said. “We’re trying to determine if the spill is from a private or a public system.”

Batallion Chief Ron Hamric cq said city crews had been working on a sewage back-up problem at the apartment since Monday. Apparently that cleaning process may have knocked lose the grease in the system, causing the system to clog again, he said.

“We don’t know for sure if that’s actually what had happened, but it’s just an assumption and a possibility.” The pump apparently stopped spewing the sewage, but not before about 50,000 gallons had flowed into the Santa Ana River, Wilkes said.

However a trench between two buildings, 30 to 40 feet long, remained filled with sewage 6 to 10 inches deep.

The state Department of Fish and Game, the Orange County Health Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and the County Fire Department all sent emergency workers to the scene.

At midnight, pump trucks from Anaheim’s sanitation department also arrived to begin pumping up the sewage that remained on Cypress Street and part of Northeast Street. City workers then planned to wash down the streets later on.