Treated Sewage Discharge
Friday 18 September 2015 04:00:00 PM
Location: 3304-3370 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94124, USA
Category: Water
Description:
Treated sewage from the PUC Wastewater Enterprise was discharged over a two day period into the Islis Creek. The amount of discharge was about-one hundred million gallons. This discharge took place while the WWE maintenance division and private contracted divers were attempting to repair a discharge force main leak coming from the Islis Creek pump station. It is said a sleeve was being installed on the discharge piping which has been plagued with historic leaks. It appears the Bayview Hunters Point community and general public were not informed of the specifics concerning the sewage discharge while the repair work was taking place. It also appears that those who use the Islis Creek for recreation such as boating and fishing were not informed. Once again, the leaders of the PUC WWE have miss lead the public while these repairs were being made. The particular discharge is known as Secondary Effluent and is still known to possess fecal matter solids, coliform discharge, even after treatment. In addition, wastewater employee's indicate the Southeast treatment plant was not able to meet it's State discharge requirements for solids discharge during the month of August, and discharged levels of solids far exceeding it's state permit. Again, the ineptness of the WWE management is revealed along with it's incompetence, lack of respect for the general public, and Bayview Hunters Point community. It is reported that while this emergency work was taking place, the Assistant General Manager was hosting a golf tournament. It is also reported that he was hosting a Bar B Q during the last Islis Creek emergency repair work, in which millions of gallons of sewage were discharged. This disaster and damage to the eco system could have been avoided long ago, as the WWE Engineering Department recommended far back that the Islis Creek Pump Station discharge piping be replaced. The management ignored it.
Comments
Author: Jen Metes
Email: jmmetes@ucdavis.edu
Description:
Complaint has been submitted to the Water Board Spill and Complaint Hotline, as well as specifically to Gita Kapahi at the Water Board. Currently waiting to be sent spill report information from Water Board case manager, Jessica Watkins. Will update this complaint as information comes in.
Author: Jen Metes
Email: jmmetes@ucdavis.edu
Description:
Jessica Watkins, Water Resource Control Engineer from SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board responded to my inquiry about this complaint with the following information on 9/25/2015: We are aware of the fully-treated wastewater discharge to Islais Creek that took place from September 17-19, 2015, during critical maintenance to the 36-inch force main pipe. All permit effluent limitations (including fecal coliform and enterococcus effluent limitations) were met during the discharge and the discharge to Islais Creek was approved as a bypass in accordance with its permit (specifically, Order R2-2013-0029, Attachment D, Section I.G.2). It is true that the Southeast Plant violated its monthly average total suspended solids effluent limitation for the month of August 2015, but did not violate its weekly average effluent limitations during the month of August 2015. An acute toxicity test result on August 24, 2015, of 45% survival led to a violation of the 11-sample 90th percentile effluent limitation. For these reasons, on August 25, 2015, we denied the request to bypass the deep water outfall as scheduled on September 2, 2015, (i.e., discharge temporarily to Islais Creek) and recommended SFPUC reschedule their repairs of the force main until after the effluent quality of the plant had recovered. These violations will be entered into CIWQS, tracked, and taken under consideration for enforcement. Earlier this month, plant effluent quality recovered; an acute toxicity test started on August 31, 2015, showed 100% survival and total suspended solids concentrations recovered to below weekly and monthly effluent limitations since late August. For these reasons, we approved bypass on September 11 and September 17-19 so SFPUC could perform critical repairs to the force main pipe. This type of discharge is allowed by their permit and does not require our approval as long as effluent limitations are met. I would also like to address the concern that, “The particular discharge is known as Secondary Effluent and is still known to possess fecal matter solids, coliform discharge, even after treatment.” This is true. The discharge is secondary effluent and it has also gone through a disinfection process at the plant. For this reason, the permit has effluent limitations for bacteria, such as fecal coliform and enterococcus. The effluent limitations set by the permit are intended to protect beneficial uses.