So Far, L.A. Is Spared Sewage Spills Caused by Season’s Storms

The streets of Los Angeles have been soaked by storms, but, so far this year, they have been free of something else often associated with rain--sewage.

Two months ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued Los Angeles for violations of the Clean Water Act, saying its past rate of sewage spills, averaging 50 per month, was inordinately high.

Since then, the city has weathered this winter’s storms with no sewage overflows. Almost 14 inches of rain has fallen in Los Angeles since Jan. 1, including two inches on Sunday.

The city has not had a storm-related spill since March 5, 2000--nearly a year ago. Apparently, recent rains have not fallen hard enough to overwhelm the sewer lines.

“We have not had one sewage spill related to wet weather this year, despite all the rainfall,” said Barry Berggren, waste water collections manager at the city’s Bureau of Sanitation.

EPA officials said they did not have enough information to comment on the city’s experience over the last couple of months.

Los Angeles, however, is still plagued by hundreds of small sewage spills every year from another routine problem: blocked lines, mostly by restaurant grease.

Serving 3.7 million people, Los Angeles maintains more than 6,500 miles of sewer lines--the largest system in the nation.

In the past, rain has caused the city’s biggest spills. It leaks into underground sewer lines, triggering overflows in areas prone to bottlenecks. The raw sewage spills into streets and much of it flows into Santa Monica Bay, contaminating beach waters.

By far, the worst year was 1998, when a record 44 million gallons of raw sewage spilled in Los Angeles during El Nino storms, mostly in the South-Central, Eagle Rock and El Sereno areas. That year was considered extraordinary because more rain fell than at any time during the previous 15 years.

Within a few years, after $650 million in improvements, the city’s system will be capable of handling even the most powerful storms on record, Berggren said. The projects--relief sewers designed to eliminate bottlenecks--are required under an order issued by a state agency, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

This month, the city will begin fixing its worst bottleneck with a $250-million project along the East Central sewer, which runs from East Los Angeles to Rodeo Road and La Cienega Boulevard.

The construction--which includes a large tunnel--is expected to be finished in late 2003. It is the city’s most expensive public works project, Berggren said.

Several other projects are underway in other spill-prone areas, including Silver Lake, Boyle Heights, the Eagle Rock area and North Hollywood. Two projects have been completed.

When calculating spills per mile of sewer lines, Los Angeles’ spill rate already is 30% lower than the national average, according to an EPA report. But EPA officials say the frequency of spills poses a serious public health threat.

In addition to the EPA, the regional water board joined the lawsuit, which was originally filed in 1998 by the environmental group Santa Monica BayKeeper.

The EPA and the state board want the city to commit to a schedule for construction projects and to better maintain the sewers to prevent routine blockages from grease and other debris.

City officials have drafted a controversial proposed ordinance that would require restaurants to filter grease rather than dump it down drains.