LAKE COUNTY >> As weather breaks, so does stress on sewers
Lake County sewers have finally kept pace with the intense water flow of the past two months, but now water districts must face a flood of other burdens.
“We’re pretty caught up, but it was a huge expense,” said Kirk Cloyd, General Manager of the Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District. He mentioned the current figures of services, upkeep, and estimated repair costs at $224,000 and counting. “We’re still getting some receipts in.”
Hidden Valley lake consists of under 6,000 people, and while it may not have experienced some of the worst flooding in Lake County, it still only makes up a fraction of the population, and a fraction of the total storm expenses.
The numbers are high, but understandable. The pumper trucks used to remove excess sewage cost roughly $12,000 per truck, per day, according to Clearlake Oaks County Water District General Manager Alan Gardner. At the wettest points of Clearlake Oaks’s recent rain-drenched history, Gardner had up to seven pumper trucks working 24-hour shifts.
Lake County Special District’s General Manager Jan Coppinger said the broader Lake County also accrued a hefty bill for upkeep and estimated repairs. Yesterday’s estimate sat at $800,000.
“We’re still utilizing pumpers (trucks),” she said yesterday, “but we’ll likely let them go this afternoon.”
The trucks have allowed Lake County to remove excess sewer water and bringing it to other sewage treatment plants. With no precipitation, the existing systems have proven able to keep up. Cloyd referenced the Guenoc gauge station located on Putah Creek, which monitors water flow. According to the US Geological Survey, that station registered 468 cubic fps of water flow, as opposed to a flow of 22,000 feet per second in January. Likewise, the water level has dropped from a height of 20 feet at the station to just under 7 feet.
With waters at bay, Cloyd said the his district can focus on recovery and prevention. As suggested, upkeep and outside labor made for only part of the county’s tab; districts will now assess damages and plan repairs and replacements. Luckily, these districts will eventually receive some reimbursement from state and federal levels.
“There are a lot of expenses and as the lake drops, we’ll have some more erosion problems to deal with; more damages,” Coppinger said.
As previously reported, most of Lake County’s sewer and water systems have experienced heavy infiltration and intrusion, or “I and I.” This means storm water and lake water trickled into sewer systems through leaks, old manhole covers and storm drains.
Gardner said in early February that contractors put most of Lake County’s sewer systems in during the 1960s; they’ve long passed their expiration date. Lake County, as well as Clearlake Oaks and Hidden Valley Lake has already secured funds to patch up old sewers, and in some cases, replace entire sections. Gardner’s district has accrued nearly $16 million in funding to replace old sewers and help prevent future spillage and “I and I.”
Cloyd said he had similar plans for Hidden Valley Lake. He’s looked into new manhole covers that seal completely, so storm and lake waters cannot enter the sewer systems. He’s also cleared a $40,000 sewer line replacement.
