UPDATED: $1.7 Million Fine From Water Quality Control Board For 2008 Sewage Spill To Be Paid By Property Owners

The City of Pacifica announced today a close to negotiations with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board over an impending fine for a partially-treated sewage spill that occured during a storm in January of 2008.

Originally, the fine was set at $2.3 million, but through "strong negotiations", it has been reduced to $1.7 million.

"It's a fairly large fine," said Dave Clegern, spokesman for the board. "But it's hard to assess what's an average fine because different facilities have different issues. In Pacifica's case, they have had repeated issues. I believe that this amount reflects that."

The city claims that during the storm, a defect in a part at the Celera Creek Wastewater Tertiary Treatment Plant, which typically treats 3 to 4 million gallons of water a day, caused the plant to operate a 20 percent reduced capacity. This led to the discharge of partially-treated water into the environment, which the city claims led to no detectable biological impact.

"Pacifica with limited resources has been working diligently to improve performance of its aging wastewater collection system and believes that a huge penalty is not warranted given the unusual circumstances of the January 2008 storm event and the lack of biological damage," wrote city staff in a press release.

The city also negotiated for part of that fine--$820,000--to be spent on environmental projects in town, including a grant program whereby homeowners can update leaky sewer laterals (one of the main causes of the sewage treatment plant being overwhelmed) and improvements to the Rockaway Creek west of HIghway 1.

Update, 4:30pm

"We got the fine reduced fairly early," said Councilwoman Mary Ann Nihart. "The big battle was over who was going to get the SEP money (to be used on environmental projects). We wanted all of that money to come back to Pacifica and there were other suggestions that would have taken it out of town. We wanted that to come back because we wanted to help solve the problem in town, which is all the leaking lateral lines, the old Greenburg pipes. When you go from 3 to 4 million gallons (processed at the treatment plant) a day to 20 million gallons a day, you know we have a lot of infiltrates (or water entering the system that is not sewage."

The $1.7 million comes out of the Sewer Enterprise Fund, which is seperate from any other city fund and is fed from sewer fees that property owners pay as part of their property taxes, said Nihart. 

According to the 2009 Pacifica Comprehensive Annual Financial Review (CAFR), the Sewer Enterprise Fund gained nearly $12 million in revenue and lost about $9 million in expenses that year, leaving about $3 million. The 2010 CAFR has not yet been released by city staff.

An agreement to stockpile spare parts for the water treatment plant was not in the settlement with the Water Quality Control Board and no part of the $820,000 for environmental projects will be used to purchase additional parts. 

More details are available in the attached press release from the city.