RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - An estimated 35,000 gallons of sewage escaped from a failed sewer connection near Rancho Murieta's Yellow Bridge on May 17, triggering a 15-hour emergency response that cost the Rancho Murieta Community Services District $106,189.

Despite the size of the release, district officials say no sewage reached the Cosumnes River or nearby storm drains.

“We did not spill a drop of sewage into the Cosumnes River or into any of the storm drains,” Chief Plant Operator Travis Bohannon told the district’s Board of Directors during a May 27 report on the incident.

The leak occurred along Highway 16 east of the Yellow Bridge, where a 21-year-old saddle connection linked a 2-inch PVC line from the Starter Shack lift station to a larger sewer force main carrying wastewater to the district’s treatment plant. Bohannon said the all-thread hardware securing the saddle rusted through, causing the connection to fail and sewage to surface above ground.

Bohannon said he received a call Sunday morning from resident Leland Schneider, who reported the problem. When he arrived, Utility Supervisor Corey Carskaddon was already on scene with a vactor truck removing sewage and constructing a barrier to prevent contamination from reaching the river.

District crews also blocked nearby storm drains while vacuum trucks removed wastewater from the spill area.

To prevent additional sewage from escaping while repairs were underway, the district shut down pumps at Main Lift North and Lift Station 6B. Six vactor trucks and one larger pumper truck were used to transport sewage that would normally have flowed through those facilities. The collected sewage was hauled to the district’s wastewater treatment plant.

According to Bohannon, most of the trucks were stationed at Main Lift North, the district’s largest wastewater pumping station, while one truck handled flows from Lift Station 6B.

“There is not much storage capacity,” Bohannon said in a written response to questions from the River Valley Times. “That is why we focused most of the trucks at MLN since it is the district’s main sewage station.”

The repair site required the closure of one lane of Highway 16 for approximately 15 hours. Traffic control contractors coordinated the closure with Caltrans while crews excavated the failed connection and completed repairs.

Eight district employees and seven workers from contractor TNT Industrial Services participated in the response. Crews repaired the leak early Monday morning and later returned to backfill the excavation, restore the site and test the system.

Although the final cost came in below initial estimates, Bohannon said the incident highlights the challenges of maintaining aging infrastructure.

“It did come in a lot lower than what we had anticipated,” he told the board. “But it seems like the days of the small, inexpensive repairs are behind us.”

Bohannon also praised district employees and contractor crews who worked through the emergency.

“I want to give my staff kudos for answering their phones and coming out and helping,” he said. “A lot of us were here for 24-plus hours getting this going.”

The board unanimously approved the emergency repair expenditure on May 27.