Pipe Break Leads to 500,000 Gallon Sewage Spill in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco is totally full of shit. At least, the bay is – now that half a million gallons of sewage have escaped from a Sausalito sanitary plant. A broken pipe caused the partially treated sewage to gush into the water, and officials have been scrambling to contain it. The spill was first spotted around 1pm on Tuesday at the Sausalito-Marin district’s treatment plant in the Golden Gate national recreation area.

From The Guardian:

Bob Simmons, general manager of the Sausalito-Marin city sanitary district, said shortly after 2pm that the spill was 99% contained.

Workers in wetsuits were trying to seal up a metal ‘’saddle” placed around the 24-inch-wide pressure pipeline resting along the shore below the Fort Baker treatment plant to redirect wastewater back into the plant.

After several hours of unsuccessful attempts to plug the 2-inch hole before the pipe was submerged in tide water, the leak was allowed to continue until work could continue on Wednesday morning.

”This situation is unfortunate,” said Simmons, noting the district’s largest previous spill was 63,000 gallons in January 2008.

The Sausalito-Marin district was one of nine southern Marin sewage agencies ordered to submit improvement plans to the EPA last year after the agency ordered them to fix chronic problems like spills, sewer maintenance and a network of aging pipes. This spill was likely caused by corrosion of a 23-year-old pipe constantly exposed to tide water.

Anyone for a swim? Don’t worry, the water always smells like that.

Link [The Guardian]
Photo credit: LA Times

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