Sewer spill occurs in Bonsall

BONSALL — Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) had a sewer spill on January 3 when a pump casing broke in an underground sewage pump station along Old River Road near Little Gopher Canyon.

The broken pump caused the station to flood; as a result, the station shut down.

According to Dave Seymour, general manager of RMWD, “Our crews received an alarm from the station and responded right way. Once the extent of the damage to the pump station was determined, workers arranged for seven 5,000-gallon vacuum trucks to haul sewage from station.

“We tried to keep up with the flow using our own truck and a truck and crew FPUD sent to help out, but it took about an hour for the bigger trucks to arrive, and by that time we had already started to spill.”

In a preliminary report to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the district reported the spill at approximately 14,300 gallons, significantly smaller in size to the 700,000-plus-gallon spill last September.

On Thursday and Friday, January 3 and 4, flagmen had to divert traffic on Old River Road into one lane as the constant parade of pumper trucks filled the other lane.