San Luis Obispo officials shut down water flowing into the city’s drinking water system after a sewage line that runs through Lake Nacimiento broke. SLO drinking water is now coming from the city’s other water sources.
This comes at a unique time for the lake: It’s completely filled for the first time since 1983.
The sewer line broke on March 29, causing thousands of gallons of water to rush into a sewage treatment plant, according to a county press release. County health officials strongly suggest that residents who get their drinking water from the lake “avoid all domestic use of water that is derived from the lake.”
City officials immediately shut down water coming down the pipeline from Lake Nacimiento when they learned there had been a break in the line. The incident “most likely did not impact” city drinking water, according to an internal city memo. The break was nine miles from the Lake Nacimiento pipeline intake facilities, and the sewage treatment plant was designed to deal with contaminated water.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2011.
