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County explains sewer-spill accounting and seeks funds for Southeast collection upgrades
Summary
Special Districts Administrator Robin Borre described recent sewer-spill reporting practices, said a major incident’s certified report listed ~3,900 gallons actually discharged after pumpbacks, and asked the Board to support grant applications and CIP projects for line cleaning, CCTV and headworks realignment.
Robin Borre, Lake County’s Special Districts Administrator, used the governance workshop to explain how the county estimates sewer-spill volumes and to describe work underway to reduce chronic collection-system failures. "When we respond ... we are able to deduct [what we recover] from the total that's actually spilled," Borre said, explaining the difference between initial incident estimates and the certified report submitted to the state.
Borre discussed a recent large incident at Southeast where early system estimates reported up to 2.9 million gallons in an extreme theoretical calculation; after accounting for pumpbacks and measured recoveries the certified report to the state recorded about 3,900 gallons lost to the environment. "So despite we have ... a huge spill, we actually only spilled 3,900 gallons, as when we report it to the state," she said. She walked the board through the multi-stage reporting process used by Cal OES and internal tracking practices.
Borre highlighted operational improvements that helped reduce category-1 spills (those reaching waterways) including a responsive crew, immediate dispatch of Vactor and pumper trucks, a newly operational CCTV van, and a database for FOG (fats, oils, grease) inspections. She described manhole-level inspections, smoke testing and the SLRAT (sewer line rapid assessment tool) that have focused cleaning and reduced spills in several zones.
To prevent repeat incidents, Borre said the county will seek grant funding for Southeast headworks realignment and CCTV/line cleaning of the Southeast collection system and is preparing CDBG and other grant applications for the Middletown plant upgrade. She also said the county plans rate studies for Southeast and other systems and that some CIP projects in the rate studies will require higher customer rates where systems are underfunded.
Supervisor questions focused on project timing and funding; Borre said recent incidents have strained available resources and that some planned CIP projects were delayed to respond to emergencies, underlining the need for state or federal aid.
Next steps: staff will pursue grant applications, complete CCTV/cleaning plans if funded, and return with more specific rate-study results and CIP schedules.
