In a MEMO and Notice of Violation, dated October 9, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board summarized numerous clean water safety violations by the Discovery Bay Community Services District stemming from an investigation of a June 17 sewage spill. Sources say a hefty fine will be imposed on the District but there will be political pressure from local and County electeds on State officials to stall disclosure of the fine until December, after local district elections. Here’s the summary:
The DBCSD’s response to a Category 1 SSO on 17/18 July 2008 violated several provisions
of WDRs Order R5-2003-0067 and General Order 2006-0003-DWQ, as outlined above.
DBCSD failed to properly operate its collection system, which contributed to the spill occurring,
and then it did not properly report or clean up the spill after it became aware of the problem.
In addition, for this incident, DBCSD failed to properly contain the waste by turning off
fountains that were spraying mist.
DBCSD has violated several provisions of General Order 2006-0003-DWQ as revised by Order WQ 2008-0002-EXEC, by failing to submit required information to CIWQS regarding its collection system by the deadlines provided in that Order.
DBCSD is also in violation of Water Code Section 13268 for failing to provide information required pursuant to the Water Code Section 13267 Order, as described in violation 11, above.
General Order 2006-0003-DWQ requires that DBCSD prepare an Overflow Emergency Response Plan by 2 May 2009. However, because of the deficiencies observed in SSO reporting and response, the DBCSD should complete and submit the SSMP Overflow Emergency Response Plan as soon as possible.