English sole fish and other marine life have been collected in the vicinity of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant to determine whether the 17 million gallons of raw sewage discharged in July — and the subsequent release of partially treated wastewater in the months after — will have any long-term impacts on the ocean environment.
However, officials with Los Angeles Sanitation’s Environmental Monitoring Division say it could take a year or more to get the full results back.
LASAN collected the fish through trawling and the other lifeforms through sediment sampling in the Santa Monica Bay in late September, according to Mas Dojiri, the agency’s chief scientist. It will take months to identify and classify each organism before scientists can begin studying the data, Dojiri said.
“That said, we don’t expect that this recent discharge had any adverse impact on either the benthic or trawled communities,” Dojiri said in a statement. “The discharge duration was extremely short (several hours, not even one day) and the dispersion and dilution (mixing) was quick, before the plume could reach the shoreline based on bacteriological sampling results at all 13 sampling sites.”
LASAN had previously asked the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to allow it to delay the sampling, which was supposed to be completed by the end of September, until the fourth quarter of the year. The board granted a extension that required Hyperion to complete all of the testing no later than the end of October, according to a letter sent to LASAN by the board.
Hyperion experienced nearly cataclysmic flooding July 11 when a series of screens designed to filter out debris became clogged. To avoid a worse disaster during the flooding, the plant’s staff discharged about 17 million gallons of raw sewage through an emergency pipeline roughly one mile offshore.
The flooding submerged parts of the plant, shorting electronics and shutting down pumps that separate solids from the fully treated water that is typically released into the ocean. The damage shut down key parts of the facility, causing sludge to pile up for weeks and an overall drop in the effectiveness of the treatment process.
As a result, millions of additional gallons of wastewater released into the ocean five miles offshore failed to meet state standards. The water near the pipeline exceeded the state pollution limits by as much as 1,000% in certain categories.
There has been a sharp decline in the pollutants in the last two months, however. In late September, the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board allowed Hyperion to reduce its sampling of the offshore water from daily to three days per week in response to the improvements.
Test results released by the city show the water near Hyperion’s five-mile outfall is still slightly above the monthly allowable level for solids and oxygen-depleting materials. However, it has remained below the weekly limits (a more forgiving threshold than the monthly limits) since Sept. 1, data showed.
Both the water quality board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District — the local regulators for water and air quality, respectively — are still investigating the July 11 spill. Both agencies say they may issue fines — of up to $25,000 per day — against Hyperion following the completion of their respective investigations.
“Because the investigation is still underway, decisions about appropriate enforcement actions have not been made yet,” said water board spokesperson Ailene Voisin.
So far, the AQMD has issued 37 notices of violations against Hyperion for public nuisance and one for excessive visible emissions since July 11, according to AQMD spokesperson Bradley Whitaker. Overwhelming odors from the backed up sludge at Hyperion led to the city offering hotel vouchers and air conditioner reimbursements to residents in surrounding communities, primarily El Segundo, though the payments have been frustratingly slow for some.