Politics & Government
San Bruno CA: UPDATE: Council Candidate Salazar on City Sewer System
Candidate Salazar's comments on the City's aging sewer system.
UPDATED: 17 October 2015
Open Letter to San Bruno Council Candidates:
A citizen has provided the following questions asking that you supply your answers for posting in San Bruno Patch. San Bruno Patch will publish your reply.
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Regarding sewer infrastructure:
1. Council members and city staff have often referred to the sewer infrastructure as “old.” This explains, we are told, why we have sewer overflows and line failures. The City does respond to sewage overflows, but
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Q#1 - Should the City be able to anticipate such overflows? If not, why not?
A1: Some overflows are caused by damaged pipes and can sometimes be anticipated. We are working to address the areas we know about. Other overflows are caused by blockages which are not predictable. These blockages are caused by foreign items and cannot be readily anticipated.
Q# 2 - WHAT WOULD BE YOUR long range plan to modernize the sewer system?
A2: Develop a strategic plan, secure a funding source and start replacing the infrastructure. We have the plan in place and recent fee increases are funding the replacements currently taking place.
3. The City now has a truck equipped with a video camera (with a rotating head) to inspect main sewer lines.
Q# 3 - WHAT WOULD BE YOUR long range plan to perform a complete inspection of all the main sewer lines? (A long range plan can be 5 to 10 years).
A3: A complete inspection has been completed (even before the truck was purchased). The sewer plan calls for re-inspecting each segment every five years.
Q# 4 - In what area would YOU recommend the video inspection begin?
A4: The priority areas have been identified in the Sewer Master Plan. These need to be monitored until they are replaced.
Q# 5 - Will YOU recommend that citizens be informed of the video sequence and the findings? If not, why not?
A5: YES, Interested citizens should have access to this information.
Q# 6 - How long do YOU anticipate it will take to complete the inspection of all sewer main lines?
A6: It will take 5 years to complete each city-wide cycle.
Q# 7 - Will YOU support repair priorities be established based on the severity of the damage observed via video? If not, why not?
A7: Video is only one tool being used to assess the health of the system. Along with identifying problem areas through video we are also prioritizing areas with known capacity issues.
8. Some of the main lines were installed before residential construction took place.
Q# 8 - Will YOU review line capacity based on sewage discharge in each neighborhood? If not, why not. Some present lines have insufficient capacity to drain sewage.
A8: This is true and we have looked at capacity and used that information to prioritize replacement of certain segments.
Q# 9 – What is YOUR long range plan to finance repairs and modernization of the sewer system?
A9: Our current rate increases are expected to fund the repairs and replacements identified in the plan. We are reviewing the rates regularly to make sure they are adequate but not overburdening the rate payers.
Your closing thoughts:
Sewers are not glamorous but they deserve our attention. Together with our other infrastructure components, we must maintain our sewer system or risk catastrophic failures. I believe the City has done more to address these issues in the past two years than had been done in the past two decades. Change is coming.
/s/ Michael Salazar
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Robert Riechel
For San Bruno CA Patch
Photo Credit: San Bruno CA Patch Archives
Source Credit: Michael Salazar
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