Years after a massive spill at a Los Angeles water treatment facility dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Pacific, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have ordered several improvements at the plant to help prevent another such disaster, even when facing more intense storms from a changing climate.
The administrative order of consent, issued this month, requires the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey to make significant fixes to its operations and infrastructure, including improving monitoring systems and overflow channels, after the federal agency’s review of the 2021 spill. The agreement, between the EPA and the Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment division, mandates the updates be implemented by the end of 2025, though some are required to be completed as soon as within 30 days, according to the order.
The city “will conduct work to improve the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant high flow capabilities and make the Plant more resilient during large, intense storms that may be the result of climate change,” according to a statement from the EPA released Thursday. As the warming atmosphere has fueled more extreme weather across the globe, including disastrous downpours across Southern California, pounding rains have overwhelmed sewer pipes across Los Angeles and pose increasing challenges for the region’s water infrastructure.
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“When plants of this magnitude fail, it causes ripple effects that impact access to Los Angeles’ beaches and the health of ocean wildlife,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in a statement. “These improvements will help prevent failures and reduce large beach contamination events for Los Angeles residents and visitors.”
Some of these mandated improvements are already in the works, said Tonya Shelton, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works, which includes the L.A. Sanitation and Environment division.
The city’s sanitation team “began taking action immediately after the incident in 2021 and we will continue working closely with our state and federal partners to implement these important improvements,” Shelton said in a statement. “The improvements will receive high priority. We expect to meet the deadlines.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how much the improvements would cost the city or its residents, but Shelton said the city had already increased monitoring and alarms systems at Hyperion, added staff trainings, and started work to make the system more resilient to “respond to extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and unpredictable given climate change.”
Federal officials found that the July 2021 spill at the city’s largest and oldest wastewater treatment facility violated the Clean Water Act in several ways — and continued to do so months after the initial sewage breach — by “discharging 12.5 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Santa Monica Bay,” EPA officials said. Although the majority of the violations came from that initial discharge, the EPA found that flood damage from the sewage spill also affected other water treatment processes, resulting in high levels of oil, grease or solids to be released, which also caused at least 53 other effluent violations from July through October 2021.
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Initial reports estimated the spill discharged 17 million gallons into the ocean after filters at the plant backed up, overwhelming the system, but the EPA’s new order clarified that about 4.5 million gallons that almost went into the sea were “pumped back to the facility for secondary treatment” and discharged through standard measures.
On July 11, 2021, bar screens that filter out larger solids during the initial treatment process at the plant jammed and shut down, causing the untreated sewage to overflow and flood part of the plant, according to the EPA. Eventually, that sewage entered a storm drain system, which flowed through a pipe that discharged the wastewater about a mile offshore.
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The order also requires the plant to update its emergency operations, clean and remove potentially dangerous debris and ensure proper staffing and training. Officials found in 2021 that the spill was worsened by delayed public notifications, including to nearby emergency responders and beachgoers.
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After massive sewage spill, feds order fixes at L.A. water plant to improve resilience. The Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant
Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant
Hyperion sewage plant treats approximately 250 million U.S. gallons (950 million liters) of wastewater on a day-to-day basis. Treating this much water on a daily basis takes a lot of energy. The plant has cut costs with its own power plant that uses methane gas gathered from the waste to fuel the plant, saving money.
The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation operates four treatment plants in the City of Los Angeles—Hyperion Treatment Plant, Donald C.Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant, and the Terminal Island Water Reclamation Plant.
SAN PEDRO, CA — More than 8 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the ocean in San Pedro, shutting down nearby Cabrillo Beach and combining with rain runoff to elevate bacteria levels in the water.
Keep spills contained on private property and out of gutters, storm drains, and public waterways by shutting off or not using the water. 3. Use sandbags, dirt, and/or plastic sheeting to contain the spilled sewage.
The major aim of wastewater treatment is to remove as much of the suspended solids as possible before the remaining water, called effluent, is discharged back to the environment. As solid material decays, it uses up oxygen, which is needed by the plants and animals living in the water.
The treated wastewater (effluent) that is not reclaimed is piped into the Los Angeles River, Santa Monica Bay, or Los Angeles Harbor to name a few. The effluent meets or exceeds stringent state and federal water quality standards for it to be compatible with these aquatic environments.
Wastewater is piped through sanitary sewers to wastewater treatment plants where it progresses through stages of treatment of disinfection. In Los Angeles County, the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County own and operate the largest wastewater recycling program.
In the delta — the heart of the state's vast water system — nearly 95% of incoming water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation data cited by the Los Angeles Times.
No, California is not going to fall into the ocean. California is firmly planted on the top of the earth's crust in a location where it spans two tectonic plates.
The drying out process can take several weeks in an enclosed area such as a basem*nt or crawl space, and growth of microorganisms will continue as long as the humidity remains high.
If sewage is only partially treated before it is disposed of, it can contaminate water and harm huge amounts of wildlife. Alternatively, leaking or flooding can cause completely untreated sewage to enter rivers and other water sources, causing them to become polluted.
After a sewage spill, it usually takes from 48 to 72 hours for a water body to return to a safe condition. Sometimes it can take a week or more. A number of factors will determine when a contaminated water body will return back to a safe condition.
When the wastewater flushed from your toilet or drained from your household sinks, washing machine, or dishwasher leaves your home, it flows through your community's sanitary sewer system to a wastewater treatment facility.
Sewage and wastewater contain bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses that can cause intestinal, lung, and other infections. Bacteria may cause diarrhea, fever, cramps, and sometimes vomiting, headache, weakness, or loss of appetite.
Even after dewatering, sewage sludge has a water content of around 75 to 80 percent. This means the sludge has a cake dryness (solids content) of 20 to 25 percent. The higher the water content in sludge, the higher the disposal and incineration costs.
Public drinking water systems use different water treatment methods to provide safe drinking water for their communities. Public water systems often use a series of water treatment steps that include coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection.
Majorly, four methods of sewage water treatment are followed – physical, biological, chemical, and sludge water treatment. By following these methods, the wastewater is disinfected from all the sewage materials and converted into treated water that is safe for both human usage and the environment.
What is a reclamation facility? Reclaimed water or recycled water, is wastewater (sewage) that is treated to remove solids and certain impurities, and used in many settings for sustainable landscaping irrigation or to recharge groundwater aquifers.
Introduction: My name is Rev. Leonie Wyman, I am a colorful, tasty, splendid, fair, witty, gorgeous, splendid person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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