Thousands of gallons of sewage spill in SLO

January 23, 2017

SLOSewage burst out of San Luis Obispo pipes twice on Sunday, resulting in 42,000 gallons of effluent spilling into storm drains that flow into the San Luis Obispo Creek and the Pacific Ocean, according to the SLO County Public Health Department.

Early in the afternoon, a sewage line blockage caused about 6,200 gallons of effluent to spill in the 500 block of Mitchell Drive. Then, in the late afternoon, stormwater infiltration caused about 36,000 gallons of sewage to spill between 55 Broad Street and 95 Broad Street.

The latter spill occurred in approximately the same location as a sewage release that happened two days prior. On Friday, sewage spilled around 10 a.m. near Broad Street and Murray Avenue, according to an advisory notice issued by the city of SLO.

County public health officials did not issue a media notification about the spill on Friday. The cause and size of that spill are both unclear.

Public health officials are warning residents to avoid contact with creek and ocean water during and after the storms because of high levels of disease-causing organisms, such as bacteria, viruses and protozoans coming from the watershed and urban areas.


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Again. Time to file charges. There IS legal precedent for holding a community as a whole responsible for these events.


To all my friends in Los Osos; I hope you splurged for the “Anti-back flow valve” when you hooked into the sewer system….Just sayin’.


I have been told that the dilemma is whether to spend big money on the public infrastructure or fund the Water Quality Control State Office via a minimal fine. My guess is that it makes better paycheck sense to fund another agency and defer the problem to someone else’s budget.


i hear the city manager and city attorney are up for another raise so there isn’t any money for such minor concerns such as infrastructure.


The City of San Luis Obispo needs to implement a aggressive Sewer Main Rehabilitation Capital Improvement Plan!!!

The City has roughly 134 miles of sewer lines, most in need of replacement, every time it rains the system and Treatment Plant are over burdened with Infiltration & Intrusion (I&I) of storm water run off. If they replaced a mile of Sewer Mains per year, it would take 13.4 years to have a system in place that would diminish the impact to the Conveyance System and Sewer Plant. These spills seem to happen every time it rains and then it ends up in the creeks and ocean. Plus it would decrease the cost of treating storm water, as well as the year round cost of treating ground water intrusion!!!


The ratepayers in SLO are paying really high rates for the upgrades on the water and sewer plant upgrades for the past 20 plus years with no focus on the mains that transport water and sewer waste from and to the plant. As a native of SLO there are never been a time that SLO doesn’t have a problem with these resources or the debri in the creek from lack of managed prevention. The 1970’s floods on Monterey Street and the Laguna Lake area (plus the Marsh St bridge) where all do to poor management. The City is all for using tax dollars for sidewalks, trees, fire trucks, and parks. They like the visible priorities for business and tourist. All you have to do is ask yourself, what has been done for Laguna Lake. All those homes around the lake have flooded how many times? Thank you I moved out of SLO!


Could this possibly be a result of the overflow from the march that was held in the happiest place?


Friday was the official opening day of Brown trout season in San Luis.