LAKEPORT – A new ordinance that will bring stricter sewer regulations for businesses and residences in Lakeport will likely go before city council in January. Utilities Superintendent Mark Brannigan held the second of three workshops Wednesday informing business owners, real estate agents and the general public about the changes for the future.
Real estate agents are concerned that the ordinance will require homeowners to test their pipes before escrow closes and potentially replace them if they are too old, too worn, have cracks or other problems.
Among the new requirements, restaurants and businesses that pour grease down drains must invest in grease traps, which usually run about $200 to $300, Brannigan said. Fast food chains have trapped grease for years, using industrial traps that likely cost more than $1,000, he added. Grease is corrosive to the underground sewer pipes and can cause clogs.
Travis Engstrom, an advisor for the city of Lakeport, explained to a group of about 15 at the workshop how grease is one of the top problems for sewer systems. “You can”t just use draino to clear out that grease. It might solve your problem, but it creates a problem for the next person down the line,” Engstrom said.
The fats, oils and grease program, also known as FOG, are part of federal requirements spurred by ever increasing deterioration and lack of pipeline capacity.
Another requirement of the new ordinance will be for home owners to test their own private lateral pipes?those pipes on private property that connect to the city?owned pipes. If the pipes are OK, they can receive a certificate of soundness that lasts 10 years. When a home is being sold, pipes must be tested, and if they have problems, must be replaced.
“The overwhelming majority of laterals will pass the test,” Brannigan said. Engstrom added, “In my experience testing the city portion of the lateral with smoke testing (where smoke is poured into the pipes which then rises through sidewalks, grass, and earth in places where there are cracks in the pipes) there have been three or four homes with problems in the area from Fifth to Seventh streets and West to Main streets.”
The new regulations are available on the city”s Web site, www.cityoflakeport.com. The due date for the plans is Nov. 2, 2009. While some cities have regulataions of 15 pages, some are as long as 1,000. The city of Lakeport has settled on 84 pages. It could have been longer if the city had decided to retrofit the sewer system into the environmentally conscious low-flow system. “It”s in the county, but that system was actually scrapped for Lakeport,” Engstom said.
A problem for Lakeport and for many cities is overflow. Called inflow and infiltration, it is a tricky balance for a lakeside city to allow only so much water to pour into pipes without the sewer system overflowing with lake and rain water.
In 2006, an overflow of water in Lakeport”s sewer system occurred resulting in sewage that was being spread on fields near the Hopland Grade making its way into creeks and subsequently into Clear Lake. The problem was the result of a lakeside trailer park?Willopoint?having uncapped sewer pipes where lake water streamed into the city”s system unchecked, causing it to fill beyond capacity.
With Lakeport”s high water table, when there is a pipe that has cracks or holes in it due to age or FOG corrosion, lake and ground water is sucked straight in to the system.
Lakeport for many years has “needlessly processed millions of gallons of lake and rain water that cause overflows,” according to Brannigan.
“The city didn”t get a monetary fine for the cease and desist order, but the changes it required cost the city nearly $3 million dollars. More than eight million gallons of lake water came from only a half-dozen clean-outs, because those were under the lake. The water was flowing directly into the system, we suck it in faster than we can deal with it.”
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com.
