City staff reports Bionna Creek pump-plant spill; council adopts improved notification and contractor requirements

City Bureau of Sanitation officials briefed the City Council on Dec. 14 about a wastewater spill tied to a failure during construction at the Bionna Creek Pumping Plant on Nov. 3. Assistant director Jim Langley told the council the plant—one of the city's larger pump stations—was undergoing upgrades and a bypass was in place during construction.

Langley said an off-site power outage caused by a vehicle striking a power pole cut primary power at roughly 6:05 a.m.; the contractor had deactivated a bypass breaker while testing, and the plant’s backup generator did not start. The combination left the pump station out of service and led to overflows in the upstream system. Field crews later found breakers that had been left open and restored pumping.

Sanitation staff reported they captured approximately 47,000 gallons directly and estimated a larger total of roughly 251,000 gallons were released to the storm drain system; monitoring data showed bacterial levels did not rise at sampled beaches in the days following the event. Staff notified county health authorities and said communications and public-notification workflows needed improvement.

Bureau officials described steps already implemented or planned: contractor testing of backup power systems on Fridays and before holidays, daily checks while plants are under construction, updated call-out and notification lists, scheduled workshops with county health officials and media coordination, and the adoption of an improved beach closure sign that explicitly references sewage.

The council adopted the staff report and requested a follow-up to the Environmental Quality and Solid Waste Management Committee on the new notification procedures and additional contractor requirements. The recorded vote on the report was 11 ayes.