Firm to Investigate Pipeline Rupture : Sewage: Failure Analysis Associates, which looked at Challenger explosion and Exxon Valdez spill, is called ‘best in the business.’
The firm that investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the collapse of a hotel walkway in Kansas City and the wreck of the Exxon Valdez has been hired to determine why a massive sewage outfall pipe ruptured off the coast of Point Loma early last month.
City officials announced Wednesday that Failure Analysis Associates was chosen from a field of six to ferret out the cause of the break, which continues to spew 180 million gallons a day of partly treated waste into the ocean, 3,150 feet offshore.
Tom Bromfield, chief deputy city attorney in San Diego, said he picked the Menlo Park firm because “they’re the best in the business” but also for their ability as expert witnesses in legal proceedings.
Bromfield said the city faces a clailm by 38 fishermen who say the sewage rupture has done lasting harm to marine life in the fertile waters off the coast of Point Loma and potential claims from state and federal agencies.
Despite its high-profile track record and the moniker “masters of disaster,” the firm founded in 1967 by five engineers has been criticized by some as pro-industry and anti-consumer.
“They’re fairly predictable witnesses for their corporate clients,” consumer advocate Ralph Nader said Wednesday in an interview with The Times. “They do what they’re paid to do--reflect the policy and philosophy of their clients.
“I would not describe them in any way as detached. It’s not a ‘let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may’ kind of analysis. They’re big and have a lot of equipment, but the question is the extent to which they’ve been politicized by clients.”
Reached at the company’s headquarters Wednesday, spokeswoman Jo Minola declined comment. Minola said that, in this case, Bromfield, the chief deputy city attorney in San Diego, would act as spokesman for the company on all matters regarding the outfall.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board recently asked the city to conduct an independent investigation of the break, which was first detected by the Coast Guard in the late afternoon of Feb. 2. Officials say it will take $10 million to repair the pipe by early April.
The city received $10 million from state and federal sources, but with the stipulations that an independent expert be hired and that a plan be put in place for disinfecting the effluent with chlorine.
Environmentalists are adamantly opposed to the use of chlorine, citing its toxic effects on marine life and the ocean itself. The city has shared the same concern. Officials say they are considering the use of sodium hypochlorite, which is thought to be less harmful.
Bromfield said the city made an initial payment of $100,000 to Failure Analysis Associates, which lists fees ranging from $85 to $550 an hour. Deputy City Manager Roger Frauenfelder said the company has been asked to complete its work in 60 days.
Nader said Failure Analysis Associates has long been involved in auto safety issues “but always on the side of the auto industry. They represent one side of the aisle only--the corporate side. They’re like lawyers. You hire a lawyer, they fight for your side. They’re the technical equivalent of attorneys.”
Asked about the firm’s reputation as being pro-industry, Bromfield said, “I’m concerned only about the expertise they bring to the team. I did not discern any bias. They’re quality people, a quality firm throughout.
“But obviously, one of the factors I considered was their ability to testify in court. We have to be very pro-active in defending the city against any claims, either from private business or regulatory agencies.
“And secondly, we want to make sure we understand the cause of the break so that the design of the replacement is done so that the pipe won’t ever again break.”
Bromfield said he did not “wish to speculate on the ultimate cost” of uncovering the cause of the break, “but such costs really pale against probable claims the city could face in regulatory fines.”
Probable causes of the outfall rupture have been listed as:
* External forces. Settlement of the ocean floor, combined with heavy wave action. A theory cited most often by city officials.
* Human error. Five workers at the Point Loma treatment plant told The Times last month that the inappropriate opening of a diversion gate and throttling valve trapped air in the outfall pipe, creating what an operator called a “water hammer.” Workers say the ensuing air bubble may have damaged the pipe as early as Jan. 31.
In a federal court hearing last week, James J. Dragna, a Los Angeles attorney representing the city of San Diego in the lawsuit against it over the sewage system, said the independent expert “may conclude it was an anchor. Or, he may conclude it was a water hammer.”
* Ship’s anchor. Deep gouges on more than 200 feet of pipe, some as far as a mile offshore, have fed speculation that an anchor, or a heavy object being towed by a ship, may have creased the pipe and triggered the spill. More than 750 feet of pipe now bear some sort of damage.
Frauenfelder, the deputy city manager, said Wednesday the ruptured pipe continues to cause toxic bacterial counts in the wake of storms, such as Monday’s record rainfall.
He said toxic bacterial counts taken at sampling stations Tuesday morning, after 36 hours of steady rain, were far above the legal limit in areas south and north of the spill. County health authorities continue to quarantine 19 1/2 miles of coast.
The legal limit for determining such counts is 1,000 coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters of water. Frauenfelder said Tuesday’s readings revealed counts of 47,000 at the treatment plant--47 times the safe standard--and were as high as 60,000 at U.S. Navy property just north of the plant.
The overflow of 12 million gallons a day of raw sewage from Tijuana mixing with 111 million gallons of contaminated rain runoff sent bacterial readings in the South Bay soaring, Frauenfelder said.
Imperial Beach, Coronado and the Silver Strand all posted counts at least 16 times the legal limit in readings released Wednesday. County health authorities said the counts were probably much greater--they simply stopped counting after 16,000.
Other high areas were Ladera Street, at the southern end of Sunset Cliffs Park (23,000); the north end of Sunset Cliffs (17,000), and Ocean Beach (5,100).
Frauenfelder said high readings again Wednesday in Mission Beach and Mission Bay were believed to be caused by storm-water runoff and not the Point Loma spill.
