Collection System Maintenance

Taking care of business - Enrique, Adam, Dennis, Fred and the rest of the Stege staff make absolutely sure that, "Everything flows smoothly, everytime...  all the time."

District personnel provide the routine operation and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system and monitor the performance of the system to provide an environmentally safe and reliable service to the customers in the District. Pipeline Replacement and Rehabilitation Projects are included in the District's System Rehabilitation Program which is designed to allow optimum use of system facilities and the cost-effective reconstruction of the sewerage system.

Customer service is available 24 hours a day for any sanitary sewer emergencies; just call (510) 524-4667. Several other utilities operate facilities within the District and can also be reached in an emergency.

Pipeline Replacement and Rehabilitation Projects

Each year the District schedules pipeline replacement and rehabilitation projects throughout the sanitary sewer collection system. Projects are selected based on pipeline condition information obtained from video inspections, field maintenance reports, economic analysis and on the financial resources of the District.

The projects selected for reconstruction each year are those line segments in very poor condition and at the end of their useful life based on the above investigations. Our staff will be happy to provide you with project construction details and proposed scheduling.

System Replacement Program

It was 1995 and the District had completed the major work of the I/I Correction Program. Major overflows of the system during periods of wet weather had been eliminated, primarily by the introduction of new relief sewers and minor sewer rehabilitation, but little had been done to restore a deteriorating infrastructure that is the sewage collection system. The System Replacement Program (SRP) was developed as a result of the need to maintain the collection system in a serviceable condition for the current and future generations of customers of the District. Its emphasis is on optimizing the useful life of the collection system and eliminating costly and environmentally damaging system failures.

The methodology employed first defines the sewer line segments in terms of their vulnerability to failure by assessing various physical, technical and cost rating factors to each line segment and then ranking the lines by their overall rating. Lines most vulnerable to failure are scheduled for video inspection for verification of condition and possible replacement. During 1997, the District televised 133,000 feet of sewer lines; approximately 5% of that amount was found in a "near failure" condition and scheduled for replacement.

For 1998 and beyond, video inspection of the sewer line segments will continue at a rate of approximately 167,000 feet per year until the entire collection system is inspected and rated as to its condition. Each year lines found to be cost-effective for replacement will be scheduled for construction when within the financial resources of the District. Approximately $2M per year is planned for these purposes.

The SRP is planned to continue indefinitely. The District is over 100 years of existence and the majority of the collection system is over 50 years old. Implementation and continuation of the SRP will assure the customers of the District of an economic and reliable sanitary sewer system into the future.

Other Utilities

If you have any questions regarding utilities and services beyond what is maintained by the District as outlined above, please contact the appropriate agency from our Other Utilities page.