Sewage Floods Downtown Area, Cleanup Begins

A downtown San Diego excavation was awash with sewage Tuesday after workmen cut into a main, spewing sewage into the construction site and flooding the basements of the downtown YMCA and County Courthouse. Trolley service along seven blocks remains suspended because of the spill.

The break occurred at 5 p.m. Monday when a drill being used by Wagner’s Construction Co. accidentally cut into the 18-inch sewer main at State and C streets, said Sondor Shapery, managing partner of Emerald-Shapery Center. He read from a report released by Dillingham Construction Inc., the project’s general contractor, which will bear the cost of the cleanup and repairs. Wagner is a drilling subcontractor working on the Emerald-Shapery Center, a 30-story office complex tower and 25-story hotel tower.

Break Got Larger

The crack in the sewer line grew overnight, pouring out 300 to 500 gallons per minute during peak periods into the excavation. By Tuesday morning, the excavation was a lake of sewage 10 to 15 feet deep, Shapery said.

The flow from the broken main, which was about 10 to 15 feet below the trolley lines on C Street, eroded dirt and gravel from under some sections of the street, said Yvonne Rehg, spokeswoman for the San Diego Water Utilities Department.

As a result, trolley service had to be stopped at the Civic Center Station at 2nd Avenue and C Street. Passengers continuing to the trolley’s northern terminus at the Santa Fe Depot were taken by bus.

“Because sections of the street have been undermined, the trolley can’t be used to the Santa Fe Station. We have no idea of what the total damage will be, but some sections of the tracks may have to be replaced,” said Pat Hoy, a spokesman for the trolley system.

City and trolley officials said it could take until Friday before repairs are completed on the sewer main and trolley tracks.

“The water department is trying to pump the sewage from the break down to a good section of pipe so that crews can tear up the street to determine how bad the break is. It will be at least Friday before we can determine the extent of the damage and clean up the spill,” Rehg said. “We won’t have any idea of where the break is until the pipes can be exposed.”

The spill also damaged a support pole for the trolley’s electrical line, which must be replaced, Rehg said.

An SDG&E; transformer vault was also washed out and is being held up with a crane, Rehg said.

“It definitely is a major repair job and it has involved a lot of different individuals. It’s very unfortunate that it happened, but the contractor is doing everything possible to fix it,” Rehg said.

Overflowed Into Buildings

She said an attempt by the contractor to reroute the sewage into another main caused it to clog and overflow into the YMCA and courthouse.

The overflow of sewage caused the basement of the YMCA, at 500 W. Broadway, to be filled with 2 to 4 feet of sewage. The basement, which contains a swimming pool, showers and a restaurant, was closed. The upper floors of the YMCA, where an estimated 180 people live, remained open although the building was without electricity, a YMCA spokesman said.

A maintenance worker for the courthouse, at Broadway and Front Street, said that their crews began cleaning sewage from the basement shortly after 6 a.m., and finished around 8 a.m.

A door-to-door check was made of restaurants in the immediate area for possible contamination of the water supply. None was found.

The sewage spill is expected to put the $100-million Emerald-Shapery Center project two weeks behind schedule. When completed, the center will provide 375,000 square feet of office space and 427 hotel rooms. The office tower is scheduled to be completed in December, 1989, and the hotel tower the following May, said Craig Collins, a spokesman for the center.