Pollution Levels Fall; Repair Deadline Set

Dwindling levels of bacteria off the San Diego coast heartened city and health officials Tuesday but 20 miles of beach remained under quarantine as choppy seas continued to thwart repair crews.

Work is scheduled to begin Friday, and engineers and city administrators said repairs on the broken treated-sewage outfall pipe will be complete by April 4, if the weather holds.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday ordered the city to develop a plan for increased treatment of 170 to 180 million gallons of sewage per day leaking from a ruptured pipe 3,150 feet from shore in Point Loma.

Although the order specifies only that the city develop a plan for upgrading waste water treatment, wary city officials wondered whether it soon would be followed by a demand that San Diego chlorinate its effluent, which San Diego consistently has refused to do.

“The issue of chlorinating is controversial and to date, we are not convinced that the benefits outweigh the potential negative side effects (to the ocean),” said Roger Fraunfelder, a deputy city manager. “But the final adjudicator is the EPA and they can order us to do it. If they do, we might very well end up in court.”

Following a federal judge’s ruling last year that the city develop a plan for upgrading treatment of its sewage, the EPA asked that the city use chlorine as an interim disinfecting measure. The city refused.

The agency’s statement Tuesday quotes a U.S. Department of Fish and Game official endorsing a low level of chlorine treatment for San Diego’s effluent.

The city and county have long argued that, while chlorine confined to a sewage treatment plant is safe, a break in the system could kill a substantial amount of marine life. In addition, hauling the chemical through Point Loma also poses a risk for homeowners and schools, they say.

Nevertheless, within seven days, the city must come up with a plan to improve its waste water treatment, describe how it is monitoring the environmental impact of the spill and prohibit surfing, diving and sport fishing off Point Loma.

Symbolic of local opposition, the county Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to fight any chlorination effort.

Meanwhile, 20 miles of beach between the Mexican border and the mouth of the San Diego River in Ocean Beach remained quarantined. The outlook for reopening several stretches brightened Tuesday as city officials announced that bacterial levels had decreased at seven of nine monitoring stations from Imperial Beach to Ocean Beach.

“I think overall we’re seeing a fairly dramatic reduction in levels along the coast,” Fraunfelder said.

At all but two locations--Ladera Street in Point Loma and in Imperial Beach--bacteria counts fell below levels county health officials consider acceptable for body contact.

The coliform problem had been compounded by heavy rainfall that caused the Tijuana sewage system to overflow and clogged a pump station that normally would pump 13 million gallons of raw sewage a day from Tijuana to the Point Loma treatment plant.

At the Imperial Beach Pier, official registered bacteria counts 16 times the legal limit, due to the Tijuana sewage. Further north at Ladera Street in Point Loma, close to San Diego’s broken sewage outfall pipe, the counts were five times higher than acceptable.

But at the Ocean Beach Pier and at points in Coronado, officials measured bacteria levels far below the danger level.

City officials attributed the decrease to the characteristics of the ocean, which naturally break down the bacteria and strong tides, which have been pulling the effluent out to sea.

The tests were taken Sunday and Monday, and take 48 hours before they can be confirmed.

But with shifting currents, officials have had trouble determining which areas of the ocean had too-high bacteria levels and which did not.

The counts “change from morning to afternoon,” said Dan Avera, assistant deputy director for the county Department of Health Services. “All of these tests fluctuate.”

The sewage crisis began Feb. 2, when the reinforced concrete pipe ruptured, causing effluent from the Point Loma treatment plant to spill into the ocean almost three-quarters of a mile offshore instead of the 2.2 miles the sewage usually travels before it is dumped.

San Diego removes 80% of solids from its effluent, called an “advanced primary” system, and has been under federal orders to build a multibillion dollar secondary treatment system.

In all, some 21 sections of the pipe need to be repaired. City officials said the breaks were caused by the settlement of the ocean floor. County officials pointed to earlier engineering studies warning the city as recently as two years ago that the pipe was corroding and that growth was pushing it beyond its capacity. City officials maintain pipe corrosion had nothing to do with the pipe rupturing.

Engineers hired by the city are still trying to determine whether steel or concrete piping should be used in the repairs. A barge that is to be used to complete the work was still docked Tuesday in San Diego Bay, as workers waited for large waves to subside.

In all, about 150 people are working on the $10 million repair project, which is being paid through state and federal emergency grants.

The Spill at a Glance

Days: 11

Amount: Daily, an estimated 180 million gallons of partially treated sewage.

Cumulative: 1.98 billion gallons.

Tijuana spill: Since Thursday, 12 million to 13 million gallons a day of raw sewage.

Coastline closed: 20 miles, from the mouth of the Tijuana River, near the international border, to the mouth of the San Diego River in Ocean Beach.

Status of repairs: A deadline of April 4 for completion of repairs was set Tuesday. The massive repair barge is docked on Navy property until Friday after heavy surf Sunday night forced it to shore. When repairs resume, divers will continue photographing the 21 sections of pipe that have come apart. Ballast rock from Santa Catalina Island will be used to stabilize undamaged sections of pipe.

A pumping station in Tijuana might be fixed by the end of the week. It will then send the raw sewage to the Point Loma plant for treatment.

Pipeline repair cost estimate: $10 million.