ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER: UTILITIES DIDN'T TAKE PRECAUTIONS

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 29, 2008 | by PAM ZUBECK

DENVER - An environmental engineer took Colorado Springs Utilities to task Monday for misreporting the causes of sewage spills and for failing to take adequate safeguards.

Bruce Bell of Monroe, N.Y., testified for the Sierra Club in the opening day of trial in a federal lawsuit brought by the environmental group accusing the city-owned utility of violating the Clean Water Act.

The Sierra Club sued in U.S. District Court in 2005 after Utilities had more than 100 sewage spills, many into Fountain Creek and its tributaries, since 2001, 40 of those since 2004.

The lawsuit contends the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment didn't adequately punish the city with fines over the years. Instead of the roughly $270,000 imposed for numerous incidents, the Sierra Club wants U.S. District Court Judge Walker Miller to fine the city $32,500 per day for the spills. Sierra Club attorney Eric Huber also argued the state has failed to impose strict enough improvements, allowing work to span the next 16 years.

Under questioning from Sierra Club co-counsel David Bookbinder, Bell said many overflows were reported to regulators as "upsets," a term used to describe events outside the city's control. He said that some spills caused by grease clogs or tree roots blocking lines were classified as upsets, but that those causes are within the operator's control.

It's important to accurately report, Bell said, because, "If you don't start out with the right information, you're going to miss something, or you're going to misdirect your resources and put money where it's not as important."

While the city asserts it has already spent more than $100 million and plans to spend another $200 million to improve the system, Bell noted the number of releases in 2006 was only slightly lower than in 2001.

He also noted that though the city budgeted $780,000 in 2004 for its small-pipe repair program, for those 8 inches in diameter or smaller that make up 85 percent of the city's system, it spent only $480,000. By 2007, the budget figure was $14 million, but actual spending was $6.1 million.

As for identifying critical weaknesses and fixing them, Bell said the city's program calls for cleaning lines after three or more spills per basin. The city has 28 basins, meaning spills could number 50 or more without cleaning being mandated, Bell testified.

Bell also said the city has been lax in regulating restaurants' installation of grease traps to keep oil, fat and grease out of sewer lines. In one case involving the Sunbird Restaurant, six years passed from the city's first notification that a grease trap or interceptor was needed and its installation, during which there were at least two overflows, he said.

"Does this sort of behavior meet or exceed industry standards?" Bookbinder asked.

Bell replied, "Not in my book."

He said a program in San Diego that required grease traps and periodic inspections resulted in an 80 percent decline in grease- caused overflows in a year.

During opening statements, Springs Utilities attorney John Walsh argued the Sierra Club wants the judge to second guess state regulators, despite the city's obvious commitment to maintaining its sewage system in accord with or above industry standards.

"The evidence will show Colorado Springs is devoting enormous sums of money to these issues," he said, noting the city's expert witnesses will testify the city's program meets or exceeds industry standards and that its improvement program is "having a dramatic effect."

The trial concludes late next week.