Millbrae disputes claims of sewage infractions

By Julia Scott
San Mateo County Times

MILLBRAE — City officials have come out swinging against a legal action by an environmental group accusing the city of sewage spills and other infractions in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Millbrae Public Works Director Ron Popp issued a press release Friday answering to a notice of intent to file suit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The potential lawsuit was initiated in early October by San Francisco Baykeeper, a nonprofit that has used similar tactics to force other Peninsula cities to improve their sewage systems and stop dumping sewage into the Bay.

Baykeeper's letter outlined more than 6,500 violations of various types between September 2004 and July 2009, including sewage overflows that entered the storm-drain system during storms and many effluent violations at the city's sewage treatment plant, where many sewage byproducts were allegedly released into the Bay 490 times. Most of the other alleged infractions also took place at the sewage plant and point to a failure to test outgoing treated sewage and report problems when they occurred.

Millbrae officials claim that more than 90 percent of the violations chronicled by Baykeeper are "unfounded." They hired an outside firm to review the list of breaches, a process that continues. But Popp said he already knows that 5,000 of the 6,500 alleged infractions were mischaracterized and he has the documents to prove it in court if necessary.

"I believe we do as good a job as we can," he said. "We report everything to the state that we can. Nothing is swept under the rug. We do our best to report as accurately as we can, every time."

Daniel Cooper of Lawyers for Clean Water, a firm representing Baykeeper, revealed on Monday that Baykeeper has also sent notices of intent to file suit to the city of San Carlos and the West Bay Sanitary District, which serves areas of Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, East Palo Alto and Woodside. Both districts have a history of illegal sewage spills, according to Cooper, although the volume and frequency of spills does not rise to the level of overflows Millbrae has encountered.

"We are prioritizing our enforcement actions based on spills per 100 miles of sewer system per year," said Cooper. "On that basis, Millbrae is at the top of the list. They have very poor system performance. They spill a lot, especially as compared with other systems throughout California."

Cooper said Baykeeper based its findings on a public information request of the city's own records and a thorough review of records from various state agencies. He claims the city has underreported sewage spills and other problems for years. Baykeeper's records show sewage overflows from the collection system into streets, lawns, basements or sewers 360 times in the past five years. That's an average rate of 124 spills per 100 miles each year.

The problems were evident as recently as Oct. 13, when a major rainstorm forced 4,800 gallons of sewage out of the collection system and into the streets in three different locations in Millbrae, state records show. Most of the sewage went into San Francisco Bay, according to the city's own estimates.

Popp acknowledged Millbrae's long-standing problem with sewage spills, many of which are due to pipe blockages, tree root intrusions and too much rainwater getting into the collection system. "When the rain comes, a lot of water gets into the sewer system and there can be a lot of overflows," Popp said. "There was never storage capacity, for example, designed into the system."

Some of the city's problems will be resolved with the completion of a $30 million sewage treatment plant renovation project that will add a large underground storage tank to retain some of the overflow during heavy rain storms, according to Popp. The renovation project will break ground later this week.

After that project is complete, the city will turn its attention to repairing or replacing key sewer mains that have been a problem for years. Baykeeper's legal action will likely try to speed that process up.

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