Computer Glitch Causes Sewage Spill

About 6:30 on Christmas night, sewage was diverted to due to a blockage.  A malfunction alarm that should have alerted workers at an offsite control room, but that did not occur.  As much as 2.4 million gallons of sewage was blocked from flowing into the Eastern Municipal Water District plant on Venida Alvarado, eventually making its way into the Murrieta Creek.  Workers vacuumed up about 980,000 gallons of sewage.

As much as 2.4 million gallons of sewage spilled into Murrieta Creek.  A malfunction alarm did not alert off-site workers.  The spill was not discovered for 12 hours.  The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board will determine if Eastern will be fined and if so, how large the fine will be.