WATERSHED IN RECOVERY?

It is darkest before dawn. As a contractor who has worked many graveyard shifts, I can attest to the truthfulness of this statement and would add that its also the coldest right before dawn.

Currently the court mandated Equalization Basin is under construction behind the Crespi Community Center. When the Linda Mar neighborhoods were developed in the 1950s, the infrastructure and construction materials employed did not have the long term in mind and over 50 years later our sewers suffer from a huge amount of storm water intrusion during winter rain events. This increase in flows during storms overwhelms the pump station and previously, the City had to dump this raw sewage into the ocean at Linda Mar beach. To those that have witnessed it - a real travesty. So the Basin is designed to take and temporarily store these peak flows and give time to the pump station to catch up and allow the sewage to be properly treated.

Since the Basin has not been completed by the court mandated date of 1/1/2019, the City of Pacifica has needed to install temporary resevoir in the parking lot of Linda Mar Beach. What went wrong here is undoubtedly a lesson learned that could be construed a number of ways.

There are also other measures we as a community can implement in the future to further alleviate this and related issues. I think these measures are a step in the right direction and although its hard to believe this as you see the mess of a construction site behind Crespi and experience the sulfur smell as you walk Linda Mar Beach - all one needs to do is walk a little farther to where the San Pedro Creek empties into the Pacific Ocean and realize what a corner of paradise still survives!