$3 Million Fine Proposed for San Mateo Fish Kill

A water company could be facing a penalty of more than $3 million for spilling 8 million gallons of drinking water into a San Mateo creek over three days last year, killing at least 276 fish.

The California Water Quality Control Board on Monday announced the proposed penalty against California Water Service Co., a San Jose-based company serving drinking water to more than 473,000 California residents.

The proposed penalty of $3,060,700 would be the largest the agency had ever handed down.

It took days for Cal Water to detect the spill and even longer for the company to realize the magnitude. The leak in a cracked bell joint went undetected for three days from Oct. 25-28, 2013, leaking an estimated 8,207,560 gallons of water treated with chloramines, a common disinfectant for drinking water that is deadly to fish.

On Oct. 25, a worker at the San Mateo facility noticed a drop in water pressure, but concluded it was from algae blooms that had been clogging filters controlled by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, a problem that had been going on for months, according to Cal Water spokeswoman Shannon Dean.

Cal Water did not contact SFPUC about the recorded pressure drop, according to the water board’s civil complaint filed Monday. It wasn’t until four days later that SFPUC biologists noticed dead fish downstream from the facility and alerted the water board.

The board sent investigators who surveyed the creek bed and followed the creek upstream, finding dead fish along the way to the broken joint.

According to the water board, the water was gushing at a rate of 2,280 gallons per minute, nearly seven times more than the usual creek flow, and had caused significant erosion to the streambed and banks.

Dean said the leak happened mostly underground so there was little visible evidence for the full extent of the leak, but the water board report said that while the extent of the damage was difficult to see from a passing vehicle because of thick vegetation and the steep surrounding banks, it was obvious to an observer standing in the creek bed.

When, on Oct. 29, Cal Water did report the leak, the company drastically underestimated the amount of water spilled at only 43,200 gallons, and estimated the leak had gone on for only one day, according to the complaint.

The company became aware of the leak on Oct. 28 and shut off the water and used dechlorination tablets to clean the creek but did not inspect as far downstream as had been damaged.

Dead fish were found more than a mile downstream.

The water board said that Cal Water’s cooperation in the investigation was poor, and that a week after shutting off the valve the company still estimated that only 43,200 gallons had been spilled, a figure that the water board said could not be accurate because of the significant erosion and number of dead fish.

In mid-November, ordered by the water board to review its findings, the company revised its estimate to say that more than 8.2 million gallons had been spilled.

Dean said that the company does not agree with all the facts as described in the water board’s complaint and that staff from Cal Water and the water board will meet over the coming months to discuss their findings.

Whether the company will challenge or seek to lower the penalty at a Feb. 11 hearing in Oakland will depend on what conclusions are reached during those meetings, she said.

“We are very committed to protecting the environment while providing safe water to our customers,” Dean said.

In the meantime, the company is taking steps to revise its processes for dealing with leaks and reporting, establishing new reporting procedures and installing new equipment for automated flow checks to catch leaks sooner, she said.

Cal Water is also seeking CPUC approval to replace some of its aging water mains.

“Every water provider must add a disinfectant, every water provider is going to have main leaks, particularly in areas like this that are seismically active,” Dean said. “The bigger picture is how do water providers deal with this.”

--Bay City News

--File Photo Credit: Citizens Concerned About Chloramine