CSPA to sue City and County of Sacramento over sewage spills

CSPA to sue City and County of Sacramento over sewage spills

by Dan Bacher

Corporate agribusiness "Astroturf" groups over the past two years waged a campaign claiming that that ammonia discharges, not water exports from the Delta, were causing the collapse of Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other pelagic (open water) species.

This campaign was orchestrated not to save imperiled fish, but to exonerate the Westlands Water District, Stewart Resnick's Paramount Farms, Southern California water agencies and water exporters from any responsibility in the collapse of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations.

However, the fact is that both water exports and bad water quality, including ammonia discharges, are key factors in fish declines. When more water is diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, there is less dilution of toxic chemicals discharged by agribusiness and sewage discharged by cities.

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) has played a key leadership role in the campaign to curtail exports and improve water quality in California water by filing hundreds of protests against the State Water Resources Control Board and hundreds of lawsuits against diverters and polluters since it was founded in 1983.

In its latest action to defend the public trust on December 29, CSPA gave formal notice, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), of its intent to sue the City of Sacramento, Sacramento Area Sewer District and Sacramento County (Sacramento) for illegal sewage spills, overflows and discharges to various waterways that drain into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Bill Jennings, CSPA chairman/executive director, documented the huge number of sewage spills by city and county of Sacramento in two letters sent to the city and county.

"Since December 2005, the Sacramento County/Sacramento Area Sewer District collection system has experienced at least 6,119 raw sewage spills or 28.05 spills per 100 miles of sewer pipes per year," said Jennings. "During the same period, the City of Sacramento collection system had at least 364 sewage spills, or 12.5 spills per 100 miles of sewer pipe per year."

By comparison, Jennings said a well-run collection system experiences 0 to 3 spills per 100 miles per year and California's median spill rate is about 4 spills per 100 miles.

The sewage collection systems serve a population of more that 1.3 million people and collect and convey sewage from within Sacramento County and the cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, and Citrus Heights to the sewage collection system owned and operated by the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, where it is subsequently delivered to the Sacramento Regional County Wastewater Treatment Plant, explained Jennings.

"Sewage spills and overflows are serious public health and environmental hazards," emphasized Jennings. "They evidence a failure to provide adequate facilities and acceptable levels of maintenance, reflect poor environmental management, indicate an outrageous disregard for the health of Sacramento area residents and pose a clear threat to the integrity and survival of the Delta's fish and wildlife resources."

Because local business and industry discharge into the sewage system, sewage can contain numerous dangerous chemical solvents, heavy metals like lead and mercury and wastes that can cause toxicity and impair immune and reproductive systems of fish and wildlife, noted Jennings.

"Pathogens in untreated sewage can cause a multitude of illnesses in humans," said Jennings. "Sacramento residents may be exposed to these pathogens when swimming, waterskiing, wading, fishing or boating in local waterways and the Delta, as well as when sewage spills into homes, streets, parks, schools and businesses."

Jennings said waterways in and around Sacramento and the Delta are identified as “impaired” under the CWA and are among the most polluted waters in the state.

"Numerous fish species that reside in the Delta or use the Delta as a migratory corridor are protected under state and federal endangered species acts," Jennings continued. "Pollution has been identified as one of the three principle causes of the present catastrophic crash of pelagic species in the Delta and declining salmonid populations in the Central Valley."

Delta pelagic fish species, including Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, young striped bass, threadfin shad and American shad, have plummeted to record low population levels in recent years, due to increased water exports, toxic pollution and invasive species.

The striped bass and Sacramento splittail populations reached record low population levels in this fall’s survey midwater trawl survey by the Department of Fish and Game, while Delta smelt continued their journey towards extinction. Longfin smelt, threadfin shad and American shad populations showed slight increases from last year’s abysmal levels, but continue on the path to oblivion (http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/12/29/).

The CWA requires that citizens enforcing the act must provide a discharger 60 days notice prior to filing the lawsuit. The CSPA letters put Sacramento on notice that its municipal sanitary sewer collection and treatment systems have illegally allowed egregious quantities of raw sewage to overflow into city streets and storm water collection systems.

"CSPA will seek injunctive and declaratory relief, to the extent provide by law, as well as civil penalties," said Jennings. "The CWA provides for civil penalties of up to $32,500 per day for each violation occurring before 12 January 2009 and up to $37,500 per day for each violation occurring after that date."

Layne Friedrich and Drevet Hunt of Lawyers for Clean Water, Inc., and Michael Lozeau of Lozeau/Drury LLP are representing CSPA in this matter.

CSPA's announcement of the intent to sue took place just three weeks after the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency enforcing the federal Clean Water Act, voted unanimously to impose a strict new pollution control permit on the Sacramento metropolitan area's sewage treatment system.

The Central Valley salmon and Delta fish collapse have occurred in the context of a well-funded campaign by corporate agribusiness, southern California water agencies and outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to build a peripheral canal/tunnel and new dams through the Bay Delta Conservation Plan process. The goal of the canal/tunnel is to facilitate the export of more water to Southern California and unsustainable agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

Fish advocates believe that the peripheral canal, estimated to cost anywhere from $23 to $53.8 billion, would result in the extinction of imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish species. CSPA has been a vigorous opponent of plans to build a peripheral canal/tunnel.

Everybody who cares about the future of Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations should applaud CSPA for its many actions to restore our fisheries and improve water quality throughout the state. This is a great organization to contribute to.

For more information about CSPA, contact: Bill Jennings, Chairman/Executive Director
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
3536 Rainier Avenue
Stockton, CA 95204
p: 209-464-5067
c: 209-938-9053
f: 209-464-1028
e: deltakeep [at] aol.com
http://www.calsport.org