UPDATE, TUESDAY:

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The biggest of today’s sewage spills — from the Humboldt Community Services District — went into Eureka Slough right about here.

At least four separate sewage spills were reported around Humboldt County this morning — two in Eureka, one in Rio Dell — resulting in the release of at least 10,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Humboldt Bay and the Eel River.

The first and second of these spills were the largest, and they were from sewage systems managed by the Humboldt Community Services District, which serves Cutten, Myrtletown and many of the other unincorporated areas around Eureka.

According to a report filed with the state’s Office of Emergency Services, the spills were discovered at around 7:41 a.m. this morning in the Myrtletown area, just off the banks of Eureka Slough, where the district has sewage treatment facilities. The district estimated that 9,750 gallons of untreated sewage was released into the slough due to mechanical failure. District personnel reported that about 1,000 gallons of the sewage were recovered.

The person who answered phones at the HCSD this afternoon said that only the district’s general manager, David Hull, is authorized by the board to speak to the press, and that Hull would be out of the office until tomorrow afternoon.

HCSD sewage treatment facility at the foot of Hoover Street, on the banks of the slough. Photo: Andrew Goff.

A bit later in the day, a City of Eureka sewer line overflowed near the corner of 15th and Union, sending about 3,600 gallons of sewage into the stormwater system, which empties into the bay. According to the city’s OES report, filed at 10 a.m., the spill has since been stopped.

Brian Issa, the city’s deputy director of public works, told the Outpost that such overflow events are not uncommon in storms like the one currently striking the county, especially considering the city’s aged sewage infrastructure. Groundwater from the area’s saturated soils pour into the clay laterals that still run to old Eureka homes, or into cracks caused by intruding roots, and eventually it becomes more than the main lines can bear.

Issa said that the city would not likely face any penalties for today’s overflow, given that it has been responsible and up-front with regulatory agencies, and has done everything in its power to mitigate the situation.

“For lack of a better term, I believe the state understands that shit happens,” he said.

It was happening down in Rio Dell as well. Earlier today the city reported that 1,000 gallons of sewage had escaped into the Eel River due to overflowing sewers, and city manager Kyle Knopp confirmed to the Outpost this afternoon that though they’re doing everything in their power — including physically trucking the waste from the site of the overflow to the treatment plant — they’ve yet to contain the spill. He’s not sure how much they’ve spilled into the river so far, or how much they will before they get a handle on things.

Though Rio Dell has a relatively nice new sewage treatment plant, Knopp said, it simply cannot handle the capacity that storm events like the current one throw at it. There’s one particular part of the system that ends up functioning as a “choke point,” Knopp said, and the city’s currently applying for grants that would eliminate that point. But for now, the city’s options are limited.

Fortunately, no town downstream from Rio Dell takes its water from the river. 

Sewage spills into the bay usually affect the oyster farms — they generally have to shut down for a time, and their product has to pass safety tests before it goes back on the market, but the Outpost was unable to reach any oyster farmers or anyone at the Harbor District this afternoon. Stay tuned.