After heavy storms, Santa Barbara water staff to idle desalination and shift supplies; contractor sewer spill closed the beach

Director and staff told the Water Commission that the recent storms substantially changed operational priorities and water supply management for the winter and that crews responded to storm impacts, a sewer spill and coastal-restoration damage.

Supply shift and plant idling: Director reported that Gibraltar began spilling on Dec. 24 and Kachuma began spilling near New Year's Eve; with reservoirs full, staff said they will rely more on those supply sources and will idle the desalination and recycled-water treatment plants on Jan. 31 to allow maintenance work. "We'll be shutting down operations on December or January 31 along with operations of the recycled water treatment plant," the director said, noting staff will ramp up the groundwater ASR injection well as appropriate.

Why it matters: idling desalination reduces immediate operating costs and lets crews perform maintenance, but staff emphasized the city is not abandoning those supplies and will re-activate them when operational circumstances require. The director said the city will update a staff report to council on Feb. 3 to reflect the changed supply strategy.

Sewer spill and beach closure: staff reported a contractor-caused sewer spill during the Vieja La Vina Bridge project when the contractor removed a sewer line and an on-site bypass pump did not meet demand during rain conditions. City crews contained a large portion of the spill and began pumping and trucking impacted material; staff are quantifying the release and will submit a formal investigation and reporting package to state regulators. The director said the beach was closed as part of the response.

Coastal-restoration damage and dredge pipeline: staff reviewed damage to a 1.1-acre dune-restoration site, which the city previously restored as part of mitigation required by a coastal-development permit. Storm surge and high tides exposed and displaced dredge piping and damaged fencing and landscaping; staff said they spent roughly $1,500,000 (including five years of maintenance) on the restoration and that Army Corps dredging and pipeline placement contributed to the recent impacts.

Communications and emergency notifications: the director said staff are prioritizing better emergency notifications to customers during outages and water-quality events. Leveraging the Water Smart AMI enrollment (approaching roughly 70% of customers), staff are evaluating software to send targeted emails and phone messages about outages and restoration estimates.

Next steps: staff will finish the sewer-spill investigation and submit required reports to the state, continue repairs and mitigation on the restoration area, and return to the commission with updates on supply strategy and plant status in May.