Central Coast Water Board approves $1.55M penalty for sewage spill in Santa Barbara County

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Goleta West Sanitary District will pay $1.55 million in connection with a February 2024 sewage spill that discharged more than 1 million gallons of untreated wastewater near Goleta Beach in Santa Barbara County.   

Under the settlement approved Friday by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in a 3-2 vote, the district will resolve the penalty by funding a project that improves drinking water for underrepresented communities in Santa Barbara County. The four-year pilot project will test the water quality of approximately 100 drinking water wells and install treatment systems and provide replacement water supplies for households with impaired wells.

Protecting water quality in drinking water wells is critical as over 90 percent of the Central Coast region’s population depends on groundwater as their only drinking water source.

“Today’s action represents a compromise that both reinforces our commitment to protecting waterbodies from sewage spills and other contaminants and furthers the Human Right to Water by expanding access to safe drinking water,” said Alex Rodriguez, the Central Coast Water Board’s newly elected vice chair. “We hope this pilot program will serve as a model that can be used in other areas of the region.”

On Feb. 16-17, 2024, raw sewage spilled from a 24-inch force main near the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. For approximately 14 hours, over 1 million gallons of wastewater flowed from the district’s broken main into a tributary to Tecolotito Creek, the Goleta Slough State Marine Conservation Area and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. The district used a vacuum truck and other means to prevent an additional 69,000 gallons of sewage from reaching waterbodies.

Following the spill, local authorities issued a health advisory and closed Goleta Beach for 23 days.

The finalized penalty was calculated per the State Water Resources Control Board’s Water Quality Enforcement Policy and takes into account multiple factors such as the volume of sewage spilled, actions taken by the district to clean up the spill and prevent future incidents, the length of the beach closures and the potential for harm to beneficial uses and the environment. The $1.55 million administrative civil liability settlement amount is the largest ever approved by the regional board for a singular discharge event.

More information about the regional board’s water quality enforcement efforts can be found on its website.

The State Water Board’s mission is to preserve, enhance and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper resource allocation and efficient use for present and future generations.