At about 2:20 last Wednesday afternoon, City Hall was notified by the city of Los Angeles of a sewer overflow Los Angeles-owned and operated trap maintenance manhole on the hillside southwesterly of the 6100 block of Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles.
Culver City crews immediately mobilized and arrived at the spill location at 2:40 p.m. to provide assistance.
They diverted the flow from Culver City’s pump station and began containment procedures, including creating a containment berm utilizing sandbags and using a sewer vacuum truck to vacuum the sewage and return it to the sewage system.
After diverting Culver City’s flow, the spill continued due to a Los Angeles flow from a 12” sewer main that also connects to the manhole. Culver City continued this containment effort until Los Angeles determined the cause of the spill and restored the flow to normal operation.
Based on information from Los Angeles, debris consisting of rags and a mop head, was lodged in the city of Los Angeles trap in the trap maintenance manhole. Culver City was informed this debris caused a blockage, which interfered with the flow of sewage.
The spill originated from a Los Angeles manhole and flowed down the adjacent unimproved hillside. A substantial portion of the spill infiltrated into the hillside, about 600 feet from the manhole. Beaches were closed by the Los County Dept. of Public Health as a precautionary measure. Culver City Public Works Dept. contacted the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) to verify that the city of Los Angeles had provided sufficient notification of the spill.
CalEMA verified receiving notification and confirmed that all applicable regulatory agencies were also notified. The CalEMA control number for the spill is 10-5872.
