Warning on Sewage Spills Ignored by City Council

Asking them to avert an “era of cholera . . . and economic devastation,” San Diego City Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer urged her colleagues Monday to ban any more sewer hookups leading to a Sorrento Valley pump station that has spilled raw sewage into coastal waters 58 times during the last eight years.

“We’ve got to stop, if you’ll excuse the expression, pooh-poohing this issue, because that’s what we’ve been doing,” said Wolfsheimer, whose district includes Sorrento Valley and other areas dependent on the pump.

“Yes, we need parks and we need roads and we need services and we need cultural institutions,” she said about the subjects that fill council discussions. “We need all of those things. But without an adequate sewage system, we’re not going to be around long enough to use and enjoy them.”

Wolfsheimer asked the City Council to declare an emergency and suspend all building permits and sewer hookups in the 100-square mile service area of Pump Station 64. The area includes some of the fastest-growing areas of San Diego, such as Sorrento Valley, North City West, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch.

Future hookups should be permitted only after the city has installed backup pumps and a backup power source at the station, along with other improvements, Wolfsheimer said.

The council, however, decided to postpone further discussion on Wolfsheimer’s request until today, when it will be briefed in closed session about potential state fines for spills from Station 64.

State pollution records show the station has spilled millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Los Penasquitos Lagoon and, ultimately, the Pacific Ocean since 1979. Reasons for the spills range from the lack of capacity in earlier years to mechanical and electrical failures in recent years.

Wolfsheimer seized on that record in trying to persuade her colleagues to go along with the moratorium by looking at the “results” of the spills. “In fact, Sorrento Valley literally stinks,” she said.

As a first step, she asked them to vote against three items pertaining to a sewer assessment district off Via de la Valle and drainage easements in her First District.

Although Wolfsheimer may have been aiming to hit the consciences of her colleagues Monday, she seemed to ding their pride instead with her persistence and her comments.

She was interrupted several times by acting Mayor Ed Struiksma, but she continued with her prepared remarks with vigor. When Struiksma finally stopped her and said the matter should be continued for a day, she resisted.

“Mr. Struiksma, I have sat through . . . meetings for a long time, and I’ve heard a lot of irrelevant comments and things that aren’t of priority to the City of San Diego,” she said. “This is the most important one that we’re going to have.”

Struiksma took strong exception, telling the council freshman she should not “belittle the issues that the rest of the council members” deem important.

Wolfsheimer then said that she wasn’t talking about the items discussed by council members but what they said about them: “It was the grandstanding and the candidacy speech-makings that were not relevant to a particular item.”

Wolfsheimer eventually lost out. The discussion was trailed until later in the day, and, after a stormy hearing about a proposed development at the Mission Beach Plunge, weary council members decided to put off the sewage issue until today.