Nearly two dozen wells in San Martin may have been contaminated with harmful bacteria after two substantial sewage spills occurred during heavy rains this winter. While the City of Morgan Hill is trying to accelerate the necessary upgrades to its system to prevent future spills, San Martin residents are miffed about not having a seat at the table.
The city’s sewer line through San Martin “exceeded its capacity” during this winter’s heavy rains at least twice, resulting in more than 250,000 gallons of sewage spilled into a nearby creek and surrounding properties, according to city staff. Another spill occurred in the city limits during one of the storms that affected San Martin.
At the March 15 city council meeting, the council approved an extension of a contract with Alpha Analytical Laboratories to expand its water testing duties to the private water wells in San Martin surrounding the areas of the spills. City staff estimate this scope of work includes at least 22 wells that might have been exposed to sewage contamination.
The fear among San Martin residents is that harmful bacteria—particularly E. coli—that thrive in raw sewage might make its way into the groundwater, San Martin resident Sara Nicolson told the council.
“How do you take a shower in possibly contaminated water?” Nicolson said. “Imagine raw sewage in your well. This issue is really important to us.”
Meanwhile, a state agency is investigating the sewage spills, and will soon determine what amount of fines and other penalties the city owes.
Others who spoke thanked the city for reaching out to San Martin in response to the spills in January and February, including a March 7 meeting hosted by city staff. But they also criticized Santa Clara County officials for being unresponsive, and urged the city to improve its communication efforts by developing a quick response plan for future spills.
“I ask the city to put together an immediate response when you have issues like this come up,” Nicolson added.
The contract extension with Alpha Analytical was approved at a maximum cost of about $208,000. The existing contract also includes routine testing of the city’s supply of drinking water to ensure it is safe, according to a city staff report.
“Property owners with private wells at risk will be contacted and offered to have their wells tested for bacterial contamination,” read the staff report.
The council also unanimously directed city staff to do what they can to complete a $3 million “secondary (sewer) trunk line” that will “provide the wastewater collection capacity to meet the city’s growth over the current General Plan horizon (until 2035),” says the staff report. The 30-inch line will be built in phases, with the last two phases on schedule for completion by 2019.
The new line will run from Highland Avenue to Las Animas Avenue, and connect to the South County Wastewater Treatment plant in Gilroy.
Morgan Hill Public Works Director Karl Bjarke told the council that the city has already applied for permits from Santa Clara County to complete the trunk line. The project site is in the county’s jurisdiction. Bjarke added that the city is “at 30 percent design” on the next phase of the new trunk line, and he expects to have permits by this fall.
Hefty fines on the horizon?
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is the state agency that regulates incidents like sewage spills. The board is currently in the process of investigating the spills emanating from Morgan Hill’s infrastructure, according to RWQCB Environmental Scientist Jill North.
The city will likely be on the hook for fines and penalties related to the spills, one of which flooded West Little Llagas Creek with about 190,000 of raw sewage during a Jan. 8 storm. That spillage took place on Harding Avenue just north of Highland Avenue in San Martin.
Another spill on Jan. 8 occurred in the city limits, at Monterey Road and Ciolino Avenue, according to Morgan Hill Deputy Director for Utilities Dan Repp. That incident spilled about 62,000 gallons of sewage.
Then on Feb. 20, a third spill of about 70,000 gallons of sewage occurred, during another heavy downpour, also on Harding Avenue. This spill occurred despite the city placing a “mobile pumping and capture system” to enhance capacity after the Jan. 8 storm, Repp added.
“We were able to recover some of that release, so the total (spillage) is about 55,000 gallons,” Repp said.
Repp explained these sewage system failures are due to “infiltration and inflow” of stormwater and groundwater into the existing pipes, which cannot hold the capacity of combined sewage and outside water during significant storms.
Inflow consists of non-wastewater entering the sewer system through manhole covers, while infiltration is groundwater entering through broken pipes, joints and other system components. This combination of factors is directly related to heavy rainfall, said Repp, added that the city has about 169 miles of wastewater pipe in it system, “in various states of repair.”
The maximum total fine that RWQCB could impose on the City of Morgan Hill due to these spills is about $3 million, Repp said.
However, city staff are hoping to negotiate with RWQCB by spending funds on the new trunk line and other system improvements, in an effort to reduce the potential monetary fines.
“The city will work with the RWQCB to invest our resources in projects that permanently resolve the issue for the benefit of all involved, and especially the residents of San Martin,” City Manager Steve Rymer said in a statement. He added that the new trunk line is a “high priority” for the city.
But between now and 2019, when the new sewer line is scheduled to be completed, “we’re still vulnerable to situation,” Repp told the council.
San Martin Neighborhood Association President Trina Hineser was one of three San Martin residents who addressed the council March 15. She said residents feel neglected, particularly by county officials who have been largely unresponsive to requests to place the spillage on a meeting agenda.
“The residents shouldn’t have to be begging for help,” Hineser said. “It’s really important that we communicate as best we can. I ask the council to ask (County Supervisor Mike Wasserman) to put this on the agenda for the next (San Martin Planning Advisory Committee) meeting.”
