Dirty money: Sacramento sewer district to pay $225,000 after spills

The Sacramento Area Sewer District will pay the state $223,539 in fines for 80 sewage spills in creeks and waters leading to the Sacramento River over three and a half years.

The largest spill occurred in October 2015, when a temporary pipe that contractor Weston Construction Co. installed over Arden Creek ruptured, dumping 188,000 gallons of raw sewage into the water—nearly a third of the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

According to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, the contractor didn’t inspect the pipe prior to the weekend, when heavy rains swelled the creek and the pipe burst. By Monday, district representatives had learned of the spill and were at the Citrus Heights location trying to limit the damage.

While the district contended that it was able to retrieve all of the sewage, state water officials deemed the district’s efforts unsuccessful.

“As the permittee, they were responsible, even if they didn’t technically perform the spill,” said CVRWQ Assistant Executive Officer Andrew Altevogt.

The other 79 spills were caused by “operational and structural failures” that put 300,000 gallons of sewer water into the Sacramento River between March 2012 and November 2015, a CVRWQ release states.

Arcade Creek, the largest spill site, runs from Orangevale to the American River. Minnows, green sunfish and California roach fish live in preservation spaces along the waterway between housing and commercial developments.

The settlement announcement states that the district increased its monitoring during storms to prevent further spills.

The Sacramento Bee reports more fines may be coming: 400,000 gallons spilled over January and February due to storm surges that also affected sewage lines in Placerville, Folsom and other areas, more than the prior three-and-a-half-year period combined.

No other fines were leveled over the previous five years. The district is the region’s largest, serving 1.2 million people across Sacramento County.

“These sewage spills have the potential to impact aquatic life and human health,” Altevogt said in a previous statement. “This settlement acknowledges the serious nature of the spills, as well as efforts that SASD will take to reduce future spills.”

Half of the fines will go to helping public agencies, nonprofits and tribal governments clean up spills in cases where there is no clearly responsible polluter. The other half will connect private residences dependent on contaminated wells for drinking water to a public water supply, near Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard.