Heavy storms during winter 2009/2010 caused multiple sewage spills and treatment facility overflows. As of June 2010, nearly 12 million gallons in sewage spills were reported from cities around the Bay Area, and the City of Richmond alone spilled over 11 million gallons. Meanwhile, 173 million gallons of partially treated sewage were released into the Bay from overflow facilities in the East Bay, including 1 million discharged on April 11 during weekend rains.
Do you know of sewage spills that aren't shown here? Please report them to Baykeeper's pollution hotline at hotline@baykeeper.org or 1-800-KEEP-BAY.
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Baykeeper recently filed suit against the Cities of Millbrae and San Carlos and the West Bay Sanitary District to clean up sewage spills from these communities. We also moved to intervene in EPA action against seven East Bay Municipal Utility District satellites. Read more about our lawsuits to clean up the Bay.
Spills of raw sewage and overflows of partially treated sewage pose a significant threat to the water quality of San Francisco Bay. Read more about the problem of sewage contamination in the Bay.
2009 Winter Sewage Spills
In February 2009, nearly one million gallons of sewage were released from the sewage treatment plant in Richmond when the sewer system was overwhelmed by an influx of rainwater, forcing untreated sewage to spill into waters near the Richmond marina.
A southern Marin County sanitation district spilled 500,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Bay over three days when a pipeline ruptured on February 17. This plant has a history of capacity and compliance issues which have resulted in penalties from the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board. Additionally, last April, the U.S. EPA ordered nine Marin County cities and sanitation districts – including the Fort Baker Plant – to replace and upgrade aging infrastructure.