Grease plug probable cause of Sunday sewage spill at vacant church
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: August 22, 2008
It’s probable that grease was the culprit that caused an overflow Sunday evening that spilled about 2,500 gallons of sewer water into a vacant church building, a situation that a city official said would be addressed through an upcoming awareness campaign.
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
It’s probable that grease was the culprit that caused an overflow Sunday evening that spilled about 2,500 gallons of sewer water into a vacant church building, a situation that a city official said would be addressed through an upcoming awareness campaign.
Interim Public Works Director Jon Turner said the incident, which occurred August 17 at about 7:22 p.m. at the church building located at 217 N. 10th St., was caused “most likely by a grease plug... we blew it out; it didn’t require the root cutter. We hit with a high-pressure nozzle” to clear the sewage pipe.
Santa Paula Fire first responded to the scene of the spill that overflowed the first floor toilets and flooded the building. According to Assistant Chief Kevin Fildes, the overflow was reported to the property owner who notified the SPFD.
Turner, Santa Paula Public Works and Southwest Water, the operator of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, as well as Ventura County Environmental Health also responded to the scene. “We’re having the line videotaped right now,” Turner said Tuesday morning, “to make sure nothing is structurally wrong in there.”
Turner noted that the overflow inside the building is “really a rare, odd instance of it coming up through the building,” rather than outside the structure or an exterior cleanout. No other residents in the area, he added, were affected by the spill.
Turner estimated the spill at “probably close to 2,500 gallons” before the line was cleared. “We were fortunate that it did not make to a drainage channel or surface water... the city is real proactive on this. If we have a spill we contain it on site and immediately start checking the storm drain system and see if we can catch it, if it’s still contained in the city pipes.”
Such action stems from a new operating procedure developed by Turner and Special Projects Director Cliff Finley. “We take care of the immediate problem, and once that is secure we start checking the storm drain system” to evaluate potential measures to stop the flow that ultimately could wind up and pollute Santa Paula Creek, the destination of city surface water runoff. “It’s just due diligence.”
Turner noted the city’s sewage system is “really old, and grease is an issue for this community” that has prompted the development of an awareness campaign. Residents will likely receive a notice in their monthly city utility bills to “continue to let people know they can’t dump the grease down the drain... it just floats, collects in areas and then hardens. Like in the freezer. With grease, you have to put it in the freezer for later disposal or directly into the trash.”
Disposing of grease down the toilet or the sink “just creates problems downstream.” A 1,000-gallon spill in the vicinity of Walnut and Pleasant streets that occurred about six months ago was also a grease plug.
Turner said Sunday’s much larger spill was due to the main trunk lines that “drain most of Ojai Road and the Oaks, a substantial section of town.”
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