Wastewater authority receives report on Laguna Beach Thanksgiving sewage spill

The South Orange County Wastewater Authority received details Thursday of a 1.4-million-gallon sewage spill that closed about 16 miles of Orange County coastal waters over Thanksgiving weekend.

The spill — originally estimated at 4 million gallons — began at about 11:30 a.m. Nov. 27. The leak, from the Laguna Beach city sewage system, occurred about 3,600 feet from Coast Highway, near Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, city staff said in a report in December.

City staff learned of the spill about 2½ hours later, and a repair crew was mobilized by 3:30 p.m. and worked to discern the cause of the problem through Thanksgiving Day, according to a timeline included in the staff presentation. The cause was later determined to be a corroded 3-inch valve stem on a sewage pipe.

“That facility was deemed viable ... when we replaced the existing facilities back in ... 2010,” said David Shissler, director of water quality for the city.

“[This portion of the pipe] is always under pressure. Our hope was that we could catch up with that pressure — at least for enough time to actually identify the problem, but we never got down far enough before we could get it,” he said.

The system later needed to be de-watered — “you need to get the tub empty,” Shissler said — for contractors to access the pipe. Repair teams installed a bulkhead over the hole by 11:30 a.m. Nov. 29.

All ocean and bay water closures were lifted by Dec. 2.

All valves have been inspected following the sewage spill and additional replacements will be made, according to the staff presentation. The city also will join with an engineering firm to review the analysis conducted by the city and look to improve bypass capabilities and maintenance.

Laguna Beach Councilwoman Toni Iseman requested in December that city staff investigate alternatives to traditional ways of dealing with sewage.

“To just put it back together, it’s like fixing an old Mercedes,” Iseman said. “It will be a problem again, and I would like to take advantage of one of the worst disasters that this community has had as an opportunity for a real hard look at change.”

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