BACKGROUND

In late December 2010, a weather pattern dubbed the “Pineapple Express” resulted in heavy rainfall in Southern California. Many cities in the region received as much rain in a week as normally falls in a year. Not surprisingly, this weather pattern created massive inflow and infiltration and placed enormous pressure on the sewer lines.

Between December 23 and December 28, 2010, a pipe burst near Oceanside, CA and 2.5 million gallons of raw sewage spilled from the Haymar sewage line into Buena Vista Creek, Buena Vista Lagoon, and the Pacific Ocean.

The spill led to a Civil Liability Complaint in February 2012 against the City of Oceanside. The complaint was made by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, an environmental regulator for the State of California. The parties settled on two Enhanced Compliance Actions (see Imposed Liabilities box to the left). The first Compliance Action involved lining 4,200 feet of sewer pipe to prevent rupture. The second Compliance Action was deploying 20 SmartLevel units in priority areas to monitor sewage collection. “The Regional Board was very supportive of using the SmartCover solution for compliance and long-term spill reduction in lieu of a variety of other options.” said Cari Dale, Water Utilities Director for Oceanside.

SUMMARY

The plan signed by the Water Quality Control Board explains:
“The SmartCover is a self-contained, wireless monitoring system with immediate alarming and historical data logging capabilities. One of the primary uses of the SmartCover system is the prevention and advanced notification of SSOs. When the water level rises above the customers predetermined threshold due to a constriction or capacity issues, an alarm is sent directly to emergency response personnel. This enables the Respondent to recieve advanced notice of an issue in the collection system so that corrective action can be taken before an overflow occurs.”

Interested in finding out how our SmartCover solutions can work for you? Reach out to sales@smartcoversystems.com or call (855) 291-1980.