Sewage Spill in Goleta Slough Reaches More Than One Million Gallons

Right now is a good time to stay out of the ocean off Goleta as a hole in a 24-inch sewer main released more than one million gallons of raw sewage into the Goleta Slough and the Pacific Ocean last Saturday — more than double the amount originally believed to have spilled.

The pressurized, or “force,” pipeline runs from the Goleta West Sanitary District at the northern edge of UC Santa Barbara, through the slough for 1.25 miles, and to the Goleta Sanitary District treatment plant on the other side of Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. Just below Runway 33 and not far from Tecolotito Creek, a small hole was found in the pipe on Saturday, February 17, said Brian McCarthy, the general manager for Goleta West.

“Immediately mainline was shut down and cleanup was initiated,” the report made to the state Office of Emergency Services states. The weekend storm soon arrived, with more than an inch of rain along the coast and 10 times more in the watersheds above the slough by Monday.

The area has two sewer agencies — Goleta West and Goleta San — with the separating line of service around Los Carneros Road. When the spill was noticed, the two agencies collaborated on draining the pipe, so that the broken area could be cut out and replaced, and also on the initial cleanup and water quality analysis.

“I was out there all day Saturday during the cleaning,” McCarthy said. “It was a small little hole.” The leak probably started between 8 p.m. last Friday and 7 a.m. on Saturday, McCarthy gave as his best estimate, “but the spill is under investigation,” he said. As yet, there was no indication of what caused the hole to form.

The pipe had been installed in 1978 and “should have had plenty of life in its 60- to 100-year lifespan,” McCarthy observed. As part of their routine preventative maintenance, an engineering firm had assessed Goleta West’s two force mains about a year ago, and Goleta West was in the planning stages of rehabilitation and replacement of the lines, McCarthy said.

The spill was at first described to the state Office of Emergency Services as a 30,000-gallon spill, an amount updated to a half-million gallons on Wednesday, February 21, and to 1,025,000 gallons this Friday morning. Of that amount, about 24,000 gallons were recovered and 51,000 gallons remained on site by this morning, but about 949,000 gallons went into the creek and the ocean. McCarthy stated they were able to calculate the amounts using metering, historical data, pump output, area volume, and so on, and he believes the current number is the most accurate.

Penalties can be assessed for incidents like this, though that’s up to the regional water quality board and would depend on the circumstances.

The Goleta Slough reaches the ocean at the county park known as Goleta Beach Park, where “Beach Closed” signs have been posted since Wednesday. To avoid poop-borne diseases, surfers and swimmers are warned to stay out of the water — which usually heads south or east along the shore — from one mile east of Goleta Beach, or about More Mesa, to a half-mile west, or roughly the border of UC Santa Barbara. The warning stays in effect until test results clear, County Public Health stated.

Correction: The ocean circulation along the shore tends to be to the south or east, SBCC marine biologist Michelle Paddack told us; not in a counter-clockwise direction, which is more typical farther out toward the Channel Islands.