City Considers Purchasing Emergency Generators to Prevent Sewage Spills

A plan to purchase emergency generators for wastewater pump systems to prevent spills such as the ones that occurred during last September's region-wide power outage was presented to a San Diego City Council committee on Wednesday.

The city's Public Utilities Department proposed to the Natural Resources and Culture Committee that seven 2,000-kilowatt generators for four pump stations and a water reclamation plant be purchased at an estimated cost of $7.9 million. The pump stations that overflowed during the Sept. 8 outage are among those that would receive the generators.

Installation, which is scheduled for July 2013, would cost an extra $4.6 million. The department also proposes spending $3.8 million in case the generators require emission controls to meet state air quality guidelines.

The wastewater system has 82 pump stations, 60 of which have backup electrical power available on site. The backup systems of the two stations that failed are also tied into San Diego Gas & Electric lines, a concept that failed on the day of the blackout.

The late-afternoon outage began in Arizona but cascaded through the power grid to also affect San Diego County and part of northern Baja California, leaving millions in the dark.

Without power, about 2.6 million gallons of sewage spilled into the Sorrento Valley from one station and eventually flowed to Los Penasquitos Creek. Another 870,000 gallons spilled from the other station into the Sweetwater River.

The committee took no action on the proposal, which will be considered by the full City Council at an upcoming meeting.

–City News Service