John Upton, The Examiner
2008-02-16 11:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

SAN FRANCISCO -

Unexpected changes in the leadership at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have raised concerns that the rebuild of The City’s dilapidated sewer system may have lost some momentum.

For years, the utility agency has prepared to launch the multi-decade, multibillion-dollar effort to fix the city under The City — the complex system of 1,000 miles of sewer pipes and tunnels that handle San Francisco’s sewage.

Shortly after she was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 to head up the SFPUC, General Manager Susan Leal spearheaded a public awareness campaign to move the sewer rebuild forward, warning that The City’s aging pipes — nearly 70 percent of which are more than 70 years old — were unreliable.

Then, on Jan. 4, Newsom announced that he planned to appoint a new person to Leal’s job — City Controller Ed Harrington — as part of several staff changes for his second term in office. Technically, Leal’s contract would need to be terminated, and under the terms Leal would be paid $400,000 if she is voted out. On Wednesday, a special meeting of the commission is being held to terminate Leal’s contract.

Meanwhile, Harrington is being briefed about SFPUC projects by his future staff, according to PUC spokesman Tyrone Jue.

“He’s been given a bird’s-eye view of the projects,” Jue said. “I suspect when the big decision is made by the commission we’ll have more detailed meetings with him.”

Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said Thursday that Harrington would hire new senior-level staff to “help him run the PUC” when he’s appointed.

Additionally, the five-member governing board of the SFPUC —which also oversees The City’s water and electricity as well as wastewater needs — is short a commissioner, following a decision by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to reject one of Newsom’s appointees.

At the time of the vote, Supervisor Bevan Dufty criticized Newsom’s decision to get rid of Leal, saying it put progress on a number of key projects at risk.

Dufty told The Examiner on Thursday that he was concerned the tumult could delay policy decisions needed to rebuild the sewer network.

“There’s potential to have top-level leaders exit the department and undermine the overall rebuild.” Dufty said.

One element of the project — an expected commission vote needed to move ahead with plans to replace and possibly relocate stench-belching sewage digesters in suburban Bayview — has already been delayed.

Originally slated for January, the decision on the digesters will come before the board in March or April according to lead engineer Jonathan Loiacono. He said the delays were caused by a need to refine cost estimates and “package them in a more logical manner.”

Local clean-water advocate Jennifer Cleary also told The Examiner she was concerned about the progress of the sewer system program.

Although she was hit by a car while walking in January, Leal is working part time, according to Jue, “to keep track of the various projects.”

Neither Leal nor Harrington returned calls for comment.

City’s sewer system an ancient labyrinth of pipes

Below The City’s surface, a labyrinth of sewers conducts approximately 80 million gallons of wastewater on any given day.

Some sewer tunnels date back to the 1800s, and hordes of cockroaches fill the gaps where grout has flaked from between the bricks into the muck below.

On a fine-weathered workday, more than a half-dozen city employees scrunch their muscular frames and creep on haunches through stretches of the brick-lined channels, inspecting the walls and slathering plaster over patches where bricks or grout is missing.

“It’s a good job,” insists Public Utilities Commission supervisor Raymond Mattias, who has been at it for 12 years. “It’s exciting; you’re outdoors.”

Mattias’ work is critical to the motorists driving just mere yards above his head: Collapsed streets and potholes are the hallmarks of sewers that have not been fixed.

The sewers feed a 1,000-mile stream of flowing filth toward 20 pump stations and treatment plants: 80 percent of the waste is pumped to the Southeast Treatment Plant in the Bayview and most of the remainder is processed at the Oceanside plant near the zoo.

But during storms, rainwater flows into the sewers and intermingles with the sewage. When that happens, The City switches on the North Point Wet Weather Treatment Facility at North Beach.

But even that is not enough to cope with the raging rivers of refuse that roar after rainstorms beneath the roads, which sometimes causes raw sewage to run into city streets and into the Bay.

System improvements have reduced the number of sewer discharges from up to 80 a year prior to the 1980s to approximately 10 a year now, according to an agency official.

Infrastructure work done within a proposed 30-year master plan will further reduce the number of discharges, officials with the utility agency promise. The City is also considering an additional approach to reduce the amount of runoff that flows into the sewer system: seeking changes in The City’s landscape that would collect and hold water, instead of sending it down the pipes.

jupton@examiner.com

By the numbers

» 500 million gallons of wastewater/rainwater that run through the sewer system on a rainy day

» 80 million gallons of wastewater daily that usually run through SFPUC treatment plants

» 1 million residents, businesses and visitors using system

» 24,800 manholes

» 20,000 catch basins

» 1,000 miles length of pipelines and tunnels under The City carrying wastewater and storm water

» 66 percent of the sewer system is at least 70 years old

» 20 pump stations

» 3 treatment plants

Source: San Francisco Public Utilities Commision