February 2024 Spill Updates

Last updated: 02 March 2026

At approximately 8:24 a.m. on the morning of February 17, 2024, District staff discovered a significant wastewater spill coming from our force main. District staff were able to shut down the pump station to stop the flow in the pipe by approximately 8:40 a.m and immediately launched an emergency response and cleanup effort. Our response is ongoing and we will keep this webpage updated to keep the public informed on our efforts.

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Timeline: GWS Actions to Assess & Improve Force Mains

FEBRUARY 2024 SPILL OUTCOMES

(updated February 2026)

The Regional Water Quality Control Board “RWQCB” has completed its investigation into Goleta West Sanitary District’s February 2024 spill. RWQCB noticed a proposed Settlement Agreement based on its investigation findings and consistent with standard procedure and similar enforcements under state law. RWQCB regulates and enforces wastewater spills through a progressive enforcement framework and applies an Administrative Civil Liability for violations based on a multi-step penalty calculation.

What were key findings of the investigation?

The Regional Water Quality Control Board determined that the spill of approximately 1.07 million gallons of untreated wastewater impacted beach recreation and posed a potential risk of harm to human and aquatic health.
The cause of the spill was external corrosion on a section of underground pipe that may have been damaged during installation and not readily detectable and the District did not delay maintenance or cause the spill through negligence.
Once it learned of the spill, Goleta West Sanitary District took action to stop and contain the spill, and provided timely, required notification to Santa Barbara County Public Health and appropriate regulatory agencies.
Steps taken since the spill have proactively addressed unforeseen issues that originally led to the spill (see Action Plan below aimed to provide a long-term solution to corrosive soils where the existing pipe runs). Even before the spill, Goleta West had been assessing the condition of its entire collections system to identify potential vulnerabilities and implement proactive maintenance.

What is in the Settlement Agreement?

The Regional Water Quality Control Board regulates and enforces wastewater spills through a progressive enforcement framework and applies an Administrative Civil Liability for violations based on a multi-step penalty calculation. This Settlement Agreement is formal administrative enforcement that the Goleta West Sanitary District and the RWQCB Prosecution Team have stipulated to after the agency’s investigations and the parties’ negotiations.

To determine civil penalty amounts, RWQCB considers a number of factors: potential harm from the spill to the beneficial uses of impacted waterways; degree of toxicity of spilled wastewater; degree of discharger’s culpability; discharger’s voluntary cleanup and post-spill cooperation with the Regional Board; length of spill and volume; and additional factors.

RWQCB’s Prosecution Team recommends a civil penalty of $1.55 million with a Supplemental Environmental Project that will offset this penalty; Goleta West will use the penalty to fund the Santa Barbara County Point of Entry and Point of Use Pilot Project, which will provide well water sampling for drinking water quality with a priority to provide access to safe drinking water in underrepresented and disadvantaged communities within Santa Barbara County.

The project was considered after Goleta West had proposed several other potential environmental restoration ideas that were ineligible. This project is eligible and aligns with the agency’s core value and top priority of “the human right to water,” which prioritizes safe, clean, affordable and accessible water for human consumption, cooking and sanitation.

What Actions has Goleta West taken to prevent future spills?

Since the February 2024 spill, Goleta West Sanitary District has taken significant steps to reduce risk of future incidents in coordination with numerous agencies and stakeholders.

Prior to the spill, in November 2022, the District had proactively engaged an engineering firm to complete an assessment of the District’s force mains as part of its routine infrastructure maintenance efforts. The engineering firm was drafting the final condition assessment report when the February Spill occurred. The condition assessment tentatively concluded the pipe was in “good condition” and the pipe was in its 46th year of an 80-year lifespan. With the failure, Goleta West expanded the scope of the condition assessment, implemented several more assessments, numerous actions have been taken to further findings in light of the spill and deployment of pipe-assessment technologies, and the expanded assessment report has since been adopted.

Since the spill, many more proactive steps have been taken to upgrade and rehabilitate the collections system to reduce the risk of future spills. Additionally, upgraded systems have been put in place to better detect spills and enhance spill readiness in the areas of response and communication. These actions are voluntary and go above and beyond regulatory requirements to respond to the spill.

VOLUNTARY ACTIONS SINCE THE SPILL

Performed updated pressure testing to confirm integrity of repaired force main
Completed Compliance Evaluation Inspection guiding post-spill best practices
Upgraded flowmetering and improved alarm systems for spill detection
Replaced all removed air release valve adapters along force main
Completed expanded force main condition assessments to inform action plan
Engaged engineers for recommended force main rehabilitation
Updated force main maintenance plan to inspect integrity more frequently with state-of-the-art technology
Identified capital improvement funds to support rehabilitation program
Improved coordination of mutual aid assistance for spill mitigation among agency partners
Updated and extended collaborative communication plan with community partners
Engaged industry experts for above standard compliance initiatives and organization support, including climate resiliency

260116 Goleta West FM Summary and Recommendations 24.61 MBNEW

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February 2024 Spill FAQ

What happened?

At approximately 8:24 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2024, District staff discovered a significant spill occurring from its 24” force main.

When discovered, wastewater was flowing from one of the District’s force main pipes, with some wastewater flowing into a tributary that drains the Airport’s stormwater. The tributary flows downstream and connects with Tecolotito Creek just before Tecolotito Creek joins San Pedro Creek, San Jose Creek, and Atascadero Creek and flows through the Goleta Slough Mouth into the Pacific Ocean.

The District immediately turned off the pump station to stop the flow in the force main, and closed both the 24-inch isolation valve in the valve vault as well as the 24-inch isolation valve at the treatment plant to stop wastewater from discharging into the tributary.

The District initially used observational data, wet well data, flow data, and data received from Goleta Sanitary District (who run and operate the Regional Treatment Plan) to estimate and update estimates of the volume spilled. The District then worked with an independent engineer to evaluate additional flow data and currently estimates that approximately 1,140,657 gallons spilled, and approximately 1,071,696 gallons were discharged into the tributary.

How did this happen?

With analysis and investigation support from independent engineers, the District determined in consultation with experts that the Spill was primarily caused by external corrosion of the 24-inch force main. The 24-inch force main is ductile iron with an exterior coating and asphalt lining. The external corrosion was caused by imperfect external corrosion protection, potentially caused by damage during installation, coupled with severely corrosive soils that contain high chloride concentrations.

A few weeks prior to the spill, the 24-inch force main and pump station were taken offline to isolate a different section of pipe that is located to the west of the Goleta Slough for an unrelated repair. The repair was to respond to a leak causing exfiltration that the District voluntarily notified the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board about upon discovery. A bypass operation was used while repairs took place. When the repair was complete, on the evening of February 16th, after 4:00 p.m., the 24-inch force main and pump station were brought back into service with the intent of returning the District to normal operations before the expected severe rainstorm that began on February 18th.

Based on the flow data, it appears that at approximately 7:28 p.m. on February 16th, the 24-inch force main failed at the point of external corrosion and the Spill began. Pressurizing and depressurizing the force main when it was brought back into service may have put stress on the corroded segment of pipe, but based on independent investigation, failure due to the external corrosion was imminent.

After flow to the force main was stopped on the morning of February 17th, the wastewater remaining in the pipe was removed and disposed of at the treatment plant. The portion of the 24-inch force main that failed was excavated, removed, and replaced. Upon removal, it was first observed that the leak was stemming from an area of the pipe showing severe exterior corrosion.

The District takes this spill very seriously. Independent investigation confirmed there were no signs of internal corrosion at the failure point and that the failure was not a result of an issue caused by the District’s operations. The District is now evaluating additional corrective action to determine if other segments of its pipe are vulnerable to external corrosion.

What response actions have been taken?

The District immediately responded once it discovered the spill at approximately 8:24 a.m. Flow in the pipe was stopped by 8:40 a.m., and by 9:15 a.m. on February 17th, District staff had created a barrier with spilled solid material to stop spillage into the tributary. The District used a Vactor truck to vacuum the wastewater at the spill point to further eliminate discharges to the tributary and capture pooling wastewater on the ground at the spill site. A tractor was used on the service road at the spill site to gather solid waste and then that waste was removed using a dump truck supplied by Goleta Sanitary District. The Vactor truck disposed of twelve loads of collected wastewater at the regional treatment facility.

At approximately 3:00 p.m., the District collected water samples above, at, and below the discharge spot in the tributary. District staff also gathered foreign material by hand throughout the spill site, including carefully removing materials by hand from a vegetated area closest to the tributary bank.

Between 5:55 p.m. to 6:05 p.m. that same day, the District was able to notify the appropriate agencies without substantially impeding the spill response.

On Sunday, February 18th, District staff returned to the spill site to continue clean-up efforts until rain commenced. Rain continued through Monday, February 19th, with over 3 inches of rain falling in the area.

On February 20th, a contractor mobilized to repair the force main, and on the 21st the contractor carefully excavated the section of failed pipe. Wastewater remaining in the pipe was pumped out of the pipe with mutual aid from the City of Santa Barbara, Goleta Sanitary District and Marborg Industries. The failed section of the pipe was removed and replaced with new pipe and repair couplings per District Standard Construction Specifications. The contractor backfilled the new pipe on February 22nd.

In March, the District removed an additional 10.35 tons of spill solids using hand tools from the upland area and reseeded the disturbed upland area with professional guidance from environmental consultants and a local ecologist, in coordination with the Santa Barbara Airport. In total, the District recovered and removed approximately 68,961 gallons of spilled wastewater plus additional semi-solid and solid materials in February and March. The District also reseeded the disturbed upland area to restore vegetation. The District also temporarily installed straw wattles between the disturbed upland area and the tributary out of an abundance of caution to prevent any erosion during forecasted rain events.

On March 21st, the District presented an update to the Goleta Slough Management Committee and requested agency involvement in a future inter-agency communications roundtable. The District has updated its communications plans and continues to coordinate with other agencies to ensure it has the most up-to-date contact information.

During the first week of April, the District conducted a successful hydrostatic pressure test on the 24-inch force main. The test was done as a precaution and further investigation into whether the pipe is stable for recommissioning. This test was the culmination of several weeks’ worth of preparations with several independent engineers and professionals. The results of the test indicated that the 24-inch force main meets sound engineering criteria and could be successfully placed back in service. As a result, the District, with support from independent engineers and in coordination with the Santa Barbara Airport, successfully recommissioned the 24-inch force main on May 1st.

The District continued sampling and monitoring water quality in the tributary, Tecolotito Creek, and the Goleta Slough for several months after the spill. The District staff completed updated training on the District’s Spill Emergency Response Plan (SERP) with an independent consultant, which included training on a few updates. And the District expanded the scope of its force main condition assessments, embarking on several more investigations, BAT assessments, infrastructure upgrades and interagency coordinations. This effort has become a “Force Main Action Plan” and the findings are intended to inform improvement projects to avoid future large spills.

When was Goleta Beach closed?

The District has received information that Goleta Beach was intermittently closed on February 8, 13, and 15th for the County’s Flood Control and Water Conservation District’s Beach Nourishment Project (“Beach Project”) preparations. The Beach Project involves dredging Tecolotito Creak upstream of the spill site and mechanically replenishing Goleta Beach with dredged sediment. The County had already planned to close at least part of Goleta Beach on February 20th for the Beach Project to begin.

On February 16th, the County issued a beach advisory in advance of the rain that was forecast to begin on February 18th.

On February 17th, just after 6:00 p.m., the District notified the County Public Health Department of the spill. Throughout the week of February 20th, the District communicated with the County Public Health Department to ensure beach closure. The County noticed closure in response to the spill on February 21st.

The County guidelines are to lift a closure once 2 consecutive water quality results are below certain health-related thresholds. The County has been sampling the water at the Goleta Slough mouth 2 to 3 times a week. The March 1st and March 4th water quality sample results at the Goleta Slough Mouth were below the health-related thresholds and the County Public Health Department would have been able to remove notice of a beach closure related to the spill. However, water samples at a different location at Goleta Beach were still not meeting the thresholds related to the County’s dredging operation and Beach Project, and stormwater runoff contributed separate water quality impacts after March 4th, so Goleta Beach remained closed until Friday March 15th for these other reasons.

It is possible additional beach closures may occur depending on on-going water quality testing for the on-going dredging operations or more rain events creating unrelated polluted stormwater runoff, but Goleta Beach is no longer closed because of the February Spill.