The recent, highly publicized sewage spills in Marin County have focused attention on the aging sewer infrastructure throughout the county. San Leandro’s sewer lines are old. Fortunately, the Public Works staff -under the management of Mike Bakadin, Director of Public Works -is on top of the situation. In a report to the City Council in late February, Mr. Bakadin provided a overview of how the recent storms have overwhelmed many local treatment plants -including our own.-and pushed them to the edge of their capacity.

San Leandro’s Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) treats an average of 6 million gallons of waste water each day. Rains can push that total up by three times. In order to manage that flow, the WPCP must ‘blend” rain water with partially processed effluent (wastewater that flows out of a treatment plant). Blending is approved for use during severe storms by the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Blending will not be allowed commencing in 2011. I think we all would agree that is good.
Our system was built over 50 years ago and is composed of 130 miles of pipe, 14 pump stations, and 2,300 manholes. Over the past ten years, the City has invested over $10 million in system repair and rehabilitation. An aggres­sive system maintenance program is also executed by our staff. This is accomplished through camera inspection, cleaning, and prioritizing repairs. The system is managed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by certified city staff. (Didn’t know that, did you?)

Our WPCP is in compliance with regulations and permits. There is no record of the City ever being fined for wastewater violations. In December 2007, the City Council approved a Sewer System Management Plan development schedule. The objective of that plan is to document the City’s program, prac­tices and procedures to manage, operate, and maintain all parts of the sys­tem. The plan is due to be submitted to the Council in early 2009.

A recent break in a pipe at Benedict Drive resulted in a spill that reached San Leandro Creek. Due to an excellent incident reporting and location system, staff identified the source of the leak and were able to initiate repairs promptly. The City’s program is well-funded and proactive, rather than reac­tive, and thus has in place the components to address the concerns generated by the unfortunate incident in Southern Marin.

I hope this has been informative. As always, I remain available for contact via email at bstephens@ci.san-leandro.ca.us or you may leave a voicemail message at 510-577-6000 ext 9005.