Arroyo Burro Beach was closed Monday due to a 700 gallon sewage spill. Photo by Victor Maccharoli.
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Sewage spill shuts Arroyo Burro Beach
A 700-gallon sewage spill bubbled up from a manhole at the intersection of Mesa Lane and Cliff Drive on Monday, flowing to the ocean and shutting Arroyo Burro Beach.
The beach closure was the second of its kind this year, and according to city of Santa Barbara officials, was caused by a clogged sewer main, not Monday’s storm.
Manuel Romero, a wastewater superintendent with the city’s Public Works Department, said the spill was reported at 8:15 a.m. He said about 100 gallons of sewage was recovered by a vacuum truck, but the remainder flowed into a storm drain, which emptied into Arroyo Burro Creek and made its way into the ocean.
The spill was reported to the Santa Barbara County Health Department and, according to Willie Burnett, an environmental health specialist with the county, a closed sign was posted on the beach at around noon
“That’s a pretty minimal amount,” he said of the spill’s size. “The probability of it affecting anybody is small, but of course, we want to err on the side of caution.”
A news release was sent to the media yesterday announcing the spill, though it did not state when it occurred. An Environmental Health Department official said the media is typically only notified about larger sewage spills. The official also said the news release, which came two days after the spill, was sent at the request of county supervisor Janet Wolf.
Burnett said the city of Santa Barbara took another water sample yesterday morning and would know by today if conditions had improved.
The closed signs didn’t keep surfers from flocking to the beach to take advantage of high surf, the result of a swell that is expected to continue pounding the coast through tomorrow.
With the season’s first large rainstorm on Monday, unsafe water conditions at local beaches were to be expected. According to water quality testing results conducted by the organization Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, unhealthy levels of bacteria were detected at six other beaches. At these beaches, which included Butterfly Beach, Carpinteria State Beach, East Beach at Mission Creek, Goleta Beach, Rincon Beach and Summerland Beach, warning signs were posted.
Burnett said it was the first time in his 10-year career with the county that two beaches had to be closed because of sewage spills in the same year. A sewage spill closed a portion of East Beach earlier this year.
But city officials say the sewage overflows are not the result of neglect or age.
Romero said Monday’s spill was caused by private sewage cleanings, which are encouraged through a city-sponsored rebate system. More often than not, he said plumbers will clear tree roots from around private sewage lines, and flush them through the public system, which causes problems down the line when pipes make sharp turns.
After Monday’s spill, Romero said the pipes were inspected with cameras and no structural damage was found, leading him to believe the spill was caused by roots.
“Our data shows that we’ve never had a blockage or overflow on this particular section of sewer drain,” he said.
On the day of the spill, Arroyo Burro Creek was flowing — a rare winter occurrence that almost guarantees ocean water in the area will be polluted. Because the water there would have likely been dirty enough even without the spill to prompt a warning, it’s difficult to know how much impact the sewage spill had on water quality.
Ben Pitterle, watershed programs director with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, said all of the beaches that posted high bacteria levels on Monday had creeks flowing nearby.
And with more rain in the forecast over the next few days, beach bacteria levels are expected to remain high, though officials hope the situation won’t be exacerbated by sewage spills.
“It’s safe to assume that most of the beaches will likely experience water quality problems,” Pitterle said, noting that authorities recommend steering clear of the water at contaminated beaches for about three days after a storm passes. “You just want to use common sense when you come into contact with any of those waters.”
Comment on this article
Four Hour Delay for Beach Closure : 12/10/2009
Spill reported at 8:15 a.m. and sign for closure wasn't posted until noon? There's no reason the sign should not have been posted immediately. There's plenty of staff to do that. And a county supervisor has to request a news release? The Public Works Department should do better than that.
Where's the City? : 12/10/2009
Since the spill happened in the City, what responsibility do they take---other than to say they "encourage" the kind of do-it-yourself effort that caused this? So close to the ocean, one would think permits and some sort of monitoring should be required. 700 gallons is not insignificant
safe or not?
Two Days to Notify the Public? : 12/10/2009
Good Grief - the beach wasn't even posted for several hours, and it takes two days to notify the general public? Thank goodness Janet Wolf pushed them to do it. I'm looking forward to her as Chair of the Board next year, and with Mike Brown leaving, maybe something positive can get done!
Annie Maus
YUCK! : 12/10/2009
It happens : 12/10/2009
The foul feces fumes wafting on the nightly land breeze from the adjacent human biowaste plant coat the UCSB mafia campus in a thin brown fecal film emphasizing its absolute criminal uselessness and symbolizing its low worth to a society it only presumes to serve. Full of overpaid, underachieving academic whores, the UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and UCSB School of Marine Science ivory towers appropriately overlook the ocean area of their most obvious and most criminal negligence. Less than a mile away at about ninety feet deep, a big pipe constantly conveys chlorine-poisoned kelp-killing sewage effluent into Goleta Bay. It’s a disgrace that, well within the 21st Century, the alleged best engineering solution of the preexisting powerful is to unethically dump foul effluent into the ocean. Everyone at UCSB should resign and the university should close its doors with an admission of their worthlessness. With about 400,000 people occupying Santa Barbara County producing about 400,000 pounds of human feces per day, 73,000 tons per year, it’s a problem that will only get worse. With a growing world population of about 7 billion producing 7 billion pounds of scat per day, about 1.3 billion tons per year, it’s easy to fall into a state of absolute despair for the condition of the environment. Please be reminded that part of my 2003 Governor’s Recall Election platform was to complete the toilet-training of all humans endowed with new territory in New California. The colon of the human body is too short. Flush and forget is not a responsible solution. Part of the areas of each quarter-acre New California island territory for each individual human being must serve as an extension of the inhabitant’s colon with maximum responsibility imposed upon the individual for its maintenance. Human waste must not be concentrated, superficially treated and dumped. It must be recycled after composting for one to two years and the end of the cycle must be a non-food bearing plant like a Rose or Camellia bush. Civilizations are measured by many things. There is human greatness in how responsibly we process our waste. Unfortunately, currently this civilization is a disgrace.
Neil Baker
mismanagement : 12/10/2009
The Citys sewer pipes are a mess. They always claim it is something else to deflect their poor rate of replacement. Measure B was supposed to pay for new sewer lines. Sounds like the money got hijacked before it made it to the City's public works.
700 gallons of bull&$%#
: 12/10/2009
Hey, that guy's not taking his meds again.
Sewer Laterals & the overflow problem at Arroyo Burro : 12/12/2009
A bit if a correction on this story; I'm certain Manuel Romero's comment on "private sewage cleanings" got a little miscontrued. The City of Santa Barbara has a rebate program for homeowners to INSPECT and REPAIR and REPLACE (if necessary) their sewer laterals - the rebate program is not for cleaning. Homeowners need to know if they're calling Roto-Rooter type plumbing services during a rain because of a backup problem, they have roots in their lateral - which means their lateral is not intact, and taking in water from the rain (saturated ground and/or groundwater). This water intrusion in itself floods the sewer system, and then to send down a clump of roots that has been drilled out in the middle of all this WILL clog the sewer main and cause backup.
THEREFORE, those who have called a roto-rooter during this storm, need to get a lateral inspection as soon as the rain subsides, and take advantage of the city's rebate system for the inspection cost, and the subsequent repair, if any, to eliminate one's personal contribution to this problem.
Thanks for opportunity to clarify,
Hillary Hauser
Heal the Ocean
Hillary Hauser, Heal the Ocean
Sewage Spills : 12/14/2009
It's about time someone got it right here. The City sewer mains are not falling apart. The rebate system works for both the City and the homeowners. The notification at the beach that was affected was within a normal timeline. In that area, there has to be about a million gallons of raw sewage flowing throughout the day. I believe the City was doing what they always do, their best.
Hillary Hauser from Heal the Ocean has a great interest when it comes to these sewage spills. I believe he understands and came closer than anyone here to understand what it takes to run a sewage system.
Janet Wolf had to set in to notify the public? Is it re-election time again? If you want to know what really happens in cases like this, make an appointment with someone in the sewage collection system, they will inform the public how the system is set up and what to do in case of these types of spills.
No, I don't work for the sewage collection system. I am a daily beach goer to Hendry's (dogs).
Concerned Citizen
Men in G-strings : 12/16/2009
Has anyone noticed the many tan, buff men wearing thongs and g-strings on Hendry's beach lately? What's the deal...are these legal to wear in public?
Mary QT
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