LAKE FOREST : Water District Gets Warning by State
After an investigation sparked by a whistle-blower, the Los Alisos Water District has been warned by the state to improve its reporting of sewage spills, use of trained workers and maintenance of flow meters.
The water district, which serves Lake Forest, has presented a plan to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board on how it will accurately report sewage spills, allow only qualified personnel to oversee treatment plants and properly calibrate all water flow meters.
The plan, sent to the regional board on Wednesday, has not been made public.
A former Los Alisos employee had complained to the regional board about irregularities in maintenance, spill reporting and employee training.
In an inspection July 27, the board found that the district had failed to report two instances where sewage seeped through manholes. The first spill occurred on Nov. 31, 1990. The second spill, of 12,500 gallons of raw sewage, happened on March 14, 1993.
“We’ve been trying really hard here,” said Los Alisos general manager Tom McFadden. “Our crews went out and cleaned up after the spills. The failure is that we don’t have a record of reporting them, even though our people thought we had notified the board.”
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