Thousands of gallons of secondary treated wastewater spilled into the Russian River in the North Bay after a treatment plant failed to completely contain the spill. It is believed to be due to recent storming events that the over flow occurred.
This is not an isolated occurrence of the lack of spill containment processes across the Bay Area.
According to SF chronicle millions of gallons of sewage overflowed into water bodies and streets in the Bay since the atmospheric river first began on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately wastewater systems haven’t been built to withstand repeated storming events. The report also stated that the Bay Area has older sewage systems than any other systems across the state.
These recent events pose the question to the efficacy of wastewater treatment processes within the Bay Area.