Sewage Spill Reference Guide - Your Responsibility as a Private Property Owner

Sewage Spill Reference Guide

This page has been produced to inform residents, businesses, and homeowners about the causes of, prevention of, and proper response to sewage spills.

What is a Sewage Spill?

Sewage spills occur when the wastewater being transported via underground pipes overflows through a manhole, cleanout, or broken pipe. Sewage spills can cause health hazards, damage to homes and businesses, and threaten the environment, local waterways, and beaches.

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Common Causes of Sewage Spills

Grease builds up inside and eventually blocks sewer pipes. Grease gets into the sewer from food establishments, household drains, as well as from poorly maintained commercial grease traps and interceptors. Grease is the most common cause of pipe blockages.

Structure problems caused by tree roots in the lines, broken/cracked pipes, missing or broken cleanout caps, or undersized sewers can cause blockages.

Infiltration and inflow (I/I) impacts pipe capacity and is caused when groundwater or rainwater enters the sewer system through pipe defects and illegal connections.

You Are Responsible for a Sewage Spill Caused by a Blockage or Break in Your Sewer Lines!

Time is of the essence in dealing with sewage spills. You are required to immediately:

Control and minimize the spill. Keep spills contained on private property and out of gutters, storm drains, and public waterways by shutting off or not using the water.

Use sandbags, dirt and/or plastic sheeting to prevent sewage from entering the storm drain system.

Clear the sewer blockage. Always wear gloves and wash your hands. It is recommended that a plumbing professional be called for clearing blockages and making necessary repairs.

Always notify your city sewer/public works department or public sewer district of sewage spills. If the spill enters the stormdrain also notify the Health Care Agency. In addition, if it exceeds 1,000 gallons notify the Office of Emergency Services. Refer to the numbers listed on this page.

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You Could Be Liable

Allowing sewage from your home, business or property to discharge to a gutter or storm drain may subject you to penalties and/or out-of-pocket costs to reimburse cities or public agencies for clean-up and enforcement efforts. See Regulatory Codes & Fines section for pertinent codes and fines that apply.

What to Look For

Sewage spills can be a very noticeable gushing of water from a manhole or a slow water leak that may take time to be noticed. Don’t dismiss unaccounted-for wet areas.

Look for:

• Drain backups inside the building.
  
• Wet ground and water leaking around manhole lids onto your street.
  
• Leaking water from cleanouts or outside drains.
  
• Unusual odorous wet areas: sidewalks, external walls, ground/landscape around a building.

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Caution

Keep people and pets away from the affected area. Untreated sewage has high levels of disease-causing viruses and bacteria. Call your local health care agency listed on this page for more information.

If You See a Sewage Spill Occurring,
Notify Your City Sewer/Public Works Department
or Public Sewer District
IMMEDIATELY

How a Sewer System Works

A property owner's sewer pipes are called service laterals and are connected to larger local main and regional trunk lines. Service laterals run from the connection at the home to the connection with the public sewer (including the area under the street). These laterals are the responsibility of the property owner and must be maintained by the property owner. Many city agencies have adopted ordinances requiring maintenance of service laterals. Check with your city sewer/local public works department for more information.

Operation and maintenance of local and regional sewer lines are the responsibility of the city sewer/public works departments and public sewer districts.

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Preventing Grease Blockages

Dispose of grease properly! Do not put grease down drains. Scrape off plates, pans, etc., into grease cans for recycling. Homeowners may place small amounts into trash bins for disposal.

Restaurants and large buildings, such as commercial food establishments, may have grease traps or interceptors to keep grease out of sewer pipes.

To work correctly, a grease trap or interceptor must be:

• Sized correctly and designed to handle the expected amount of grease.
  
• Installed properly per local codes.
  
• Maintained properly, cleaned and serviced regularly.

How You Can Prevent Sewage Spills

	Never put grease down garbage disposals, drains, or toilets.
	Perform periodic cleaning to eliminate grease, debris and roots in your service laterals.
	Repair any structural problems in your sewer system and eliminate any rainwater infiltration/inflow leaks into your service laterals.

Sewage spills can cause damage to the environment.
Help prevent them!

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Orange County Agency Responsibilities

• City Sewer/Public Works Departments—
  Responsible for protecting city property and streets, the local storm drain system, sewage collection system and other public areas.
  
• Public Sewer/Sanitation District—
  Responsible for collecting, treating, and disposing of wastewater.
  
• County of Orange Health Care Agency—
  Responsible for protecting public health by closing ocean/bay waters and may close food-service businesses if a spill poses a threat to public health.
  
• Regional Water Quality Control Boards—
  Responsible for protecting State waters.
  
• Orange County Stormwater Program—
  Responsible for preventing harmful pollutants from being discharged or washed by stormwater runoff into the municipal stormdrain system, creeks, bays and the ocean.

You Could Be Liable for Not Protecting the Environment

Local and state agencies have legal jurisdiction and enforcement authority to ensure that sewage spills are remedied.

They may respond and assist with containment, relieving pipe blockages, and/or clean-up of the sewage spill, especially if the spill is flowing into storm drains or onto public property.

A property owner may be charged for costs incurred by these agencies responding to spills from private properties.

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Sewage Spill Regulatory Requirements

Allowing sewage to discharge to a gutter or storm drain may subject you to penalties and/or out-of-pocket costs to reimburse cities or public agencies for clean-up efforts. Here are the pertinent codes, fines, and agency contact information that apply.

Orange County Stormwater Program
24 Hour Water Pollution Reporting Hotline
(714) 567-6363

• County and city water quality ordinances prohibit discharges containing pollutants.

Orange County Health Care Agency
Environmental Health
(714) 433-6000

California Health and Safety Code, Sections 5410-5416

• No person shall discharge raw or treated sewage or other waste in a manner that results in contamination, pollution, or a nuisance.
  
• Any person who causes or permits a sewage discharge to any state waters:
  
  • must immediately notify the local health agency of the discharge.
    
  • shall reimburse the local health agency for services that protect • the public’s health and safety (water-contact receiving waters).
    
  • who fails to provide the required notice to the local health agency is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine (between $500–$1,000) and/or imprisonment for less than one year.

Regional Water Quality Control Board
Santa Ana Region (909) 782-4130
San Diego Region (858) 467-2952

• Requires the prevention, mitigation, response to and reporting of sewage spills.

California Office of Emergency Services
(800) 852-7550

California Water Code, Article 4, Chapter 4, Sections 13268-13271
California Code of Regulations, Title 23, Division 3, Chapter 9.2, Article 2, Sections 2250-2260

• Any person who causes or permits sewage in excess of 1,000 gallons to be discharged to state waters shall immediately notify the Office of Emergency Services.
  
• Any person who fails to provide the notice required by this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine (less than $20,000) and/or imprisonment for not more than one year.

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Report Sewage Spills!

This page has been prepared to inform residents, businesses, and homeowners in Orange County about the causes of, prevention of, and proper response to sewage spills in order to protect the water quality in storm drains, channels, creeks, bays and ocean.

October 2003