East Bay MUD Addresses Sewage Release Into Bay

ALAMEDA, CA — East Bay Municipal Utilities District is working to explain the reason for a release of raw sewage directly into the San Francisco Bay during the Dec. 31 winter storm that struck the area with record rainfall.

According to East Bay MUD spokesperson Andrea Pook, less than 2 percent of the overflows from plants it oversees in Oakland and Alameda and manholes in Albany, Berkeley and Alameda was untreated waste.

"East Bay MUD treated 98-99 percent of those discharges," she said.

Pook took the time to explain what happened during the overflow, saying that the storms delivered a lot more rain than was forecast which infiltrated into the system and that, combined with peak flows of over 650 million gallons per day, or more than 10 times the average flow of 50 million gallons a day, created the issue.

East Bay MUD's water treatment plant typically handles the sewage from the communities served by the company from Oakland to Alameda.

"We have storage at our wastewater treatment plant at the base of the bridge, we also have wet weather facilities that add storage," Pook said. "The issue is the system gets overwhelmed with the inflow and infiltration from private sewer laterals or cracked city sewer lines and things like that where you get all that stormwater that infiltrates into the wastewater system."

According to Pook, what overflowed "was not the treatment plant" or the "wet weather facility," but rather the south interceptor pipe (a pipe that runs along the bay shore) which was overwhelmed with the wastewater coming in.

"There are overflow structures that are designed to move the wastewater in the event of an emergency into a water body nearby as opposed to the worst case scenario which is if something were to go into the street," she explained.

"We are trying to prevent a public health issue," Pook continued.

According to Pook, East Bay MUD never wants the wastewater to run into the bay, but that sometimes it is necessary to prevent a public health issue.

"Ideally in the world, we would not run any overflows of any sort, anywhere," she said. "Our role is to protect the bay and to protect public health. ... We are working to minimize the possibility of that occurring. Our cities are working to reduce those inflows and private homeowners are working to reduce the possibility of those inflows."

Pook said that it is a process but since 2011 East Bay MUD has seen a 22 percent reduction of discharge volumes from the waste water system, a fact she said was "significant."

Pook credited the efforts being made by all who utilize the system.

"Is it enough? No, but we're on a path to success," she said, adding that the dilution of the stormwater did help.

For those whose property may have been exposed to the sewage, Pook said those property owners should reach out to their city's Public Works Department to get the area treated.

"It's not like the system is leaking like a sieve and they see wastewater everywhere. They shouldn't see it, but if anyone witness a sewer overflow, they should contact East Bay MUD or most likely, the city they are in," she said.

The best news, Pook said, is that since the New Year's Eve storm, the system has been able to handle the inflows without any further problems.

To report a system overflow to East Bay Municipal Utilities District, call Emergency Dispatch at 1-866-403-2683 anytime, 24/7. Select 1 for English then 1 for Emergency Dispatch to report a water main break, a hit fire hydrant, or situations with heavy water flow.

If you are experiencing a water outage, please go to ebmud.com/alerts to check the status of outages in your area.

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