CommentsNEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-When people think infrastructure, they rarely think to look below them on perhaps the most critical piece of a major city’s growth: its sanitary sewer system.
The City of Los Angeles has more than 6,700 miles of public sewers, 6000 miles of which are secondary sewers (sewers 15-inches and smaller that are mostly located in neighborhoods). In addition, there are about 700,000 sewer laterals (typically 4 to 6 inches) that are owned and maintained by private property owners and have an estimated total length of 11,000 miles.
The biggest challenges facing Los Angeles’s sewer system is its old age, unknown condition, and property owners’ privately maintained lines that are in disrepair and full of roots.
In general, the City has many sewer lines nearing the 100-year mark, including the large diameter (42 to 99 inches) outfall sewers. Spanning approximately 59 miles, the majority of the North Outfall Sewer (NOS) was built in the 1920s and 1930s and stretches from the Valley through Downtown, eventually connecting to Hyperion. As documented in the Sewer System Management Plan Version 3, this aging sewer is showing signs of fatigue and failure.
The status of pipes is measured on a scale from “A” being the best, through “D” being the worst, and “E” being an emergency. The City is implementing a Sewer Repair Program to take action on the aging sewers. There is a steady increase in the amount of emergency sewer repairs. Emergency repairs cost more than double the work of the Accelerated Sewer Repair Program and are 4 to 8 times more expensive than planned Capital Improvement Projects (CIP). A delay in repairs winds up costing the City more money.
The last 3 Secondary Sewer Rehabilitation Projects (SSRPs) were delayed, increasing the expense, and had scopes reduced due to budget. The time for project implementation from design to bid and award ranges from 2 years for SSRPs and Difficult Access Reach (DAR) projects to 2.5 to 3 years for outfall sewers. Project costs increase by approximately 3% a year due to deteriorating lines where lines in Condition B may worsen to Conditions C or D in 2 to 5 years.
During fiscal year 2018/2019, 336 miles of sewer were inspected and assessed using Closed Circuit Television (CCTV). 96% percent of these assessed sewers are in fair to excellent condition. This snapshot represents approximately 5% of City’s total sewer miles. If one extrapolates the 4% of sub-fair condition sewers to the full system, there are 268 miles of Los Angeles sewers that are in trouble, especially considering there is a three-year rolling repair average of 48 miles per year.
The problem is, the City does not know where those miles are. According to the Sewer System Management Plan version 3.0 published January 25, 2019, 70% to 80% of the sewers have been televised in the previous 15- to 20-year maintenance cycle. According to figure 3 of the CCTV assessment, 4,268 miles have been assessed since 2009. In other words, we have a 10-year-old snapshot of 63% our sewer system condition, assuming that each mile is not a duplicate mile. The data are troubling considering videos older than 5 years are considered obsolete.
While Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) started declining in 2009, they began climbing again in 2017. 44 out of 97 (45%) of 2019 SSOs were root-related. Most of these sewer spills are root-caused and originate in the lateral connections from private property into the City sewer mains. Property owners are responsible for the line going from their buildings to the City main line connection. The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) created pilot programs to offer incentives for private property owners to repair and inspect their lines. A flaw in the program is that remodels of homes do not require a CCTV inspection prior to obtaining/renewing a Certificate of Occupancy. Knocking down an entire home except for one wall is considered a remodel permit and thus not subject to existing Municipal Code triggering events resulting in a sewer line review.
The good news is that LASAN has become very good at responding quickly to system failures and is one of the departments that consistently has an accurate and well-researched 10-year operations and maintenance plan for upcoming sewer renewals and upgrades.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Sustain:
- Response and maintenance protocol for LA City Sewer with NO budget cuts
- Adequate and ongoing Capital Improvement Projects, restoring the major outfall sewers
- Transparent, well-educated, and receptive staff to City and constituents’ needs
Improve:
- Recommend additional funding earmarked for an accelerated snapshot of our sanitary sewer collection network. Increase or reallocate resources from the City General Fund to accomplish an accurate snapshot of 100% of City sewer infrastructure.
- Transfer/cut projects going to Emergency Sewers (ESR) to either Accelerated SEWERS6 projects (the 6th iteration of the Accelerated SEWERS project) or increased Capital Improvements Projects (CIP). Paying 2 to 12 times a sewer mile cost is extravagant.
- Establish an effective notification, repair window, and fines for non-compliant lateral and secondary sewers with a reporting system for root issues detected, illegal construction/alterations, and other issues affecting sewer line sustainability.
Create:
A Municipal Code change requiring building remodels have a sewer lateral inspection and rehabilitation before a renewal/issuance of a Certification of Occupancy and the closing of permits for properties. . .
- not inspected in the previous 5 years and/or
- where there is a 20% increase in building size as measured in square feet or
- a 30% increase in property value
Reference Documents include the Sewer System Management Plan, Version 3, Clean Water Conveyance System Annual Performance Report, and discussions with dedicated representatives from LASAN.
(Written by the Planning and Public Works Budget Advocate Committee, Chaired by Lee Blumenfeld. All members of the Budget Advocates, are elected, all volunteer, independent advisory body charged with making constructive recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding the Budget, and to City Departments on ways to improve their operations, and with obtaining input, updating and educating all Angelenos on the City's fiscal management.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
