Welcome to The Office of Enforcement

Penasquitos Creek

There was a regional power outage on September 8, 2011 which caused the City of San Diego to discharge millions of gallons of untreated sewage into Los Penasquitos Creek.

After issuing an investigative order to the City, the Prosecution in the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board entered into settlement negotiations with the City of San Diego to resolve the matter.  As part of the $1.2 million settlement, $622,707 was ordered to be paid into the State’s Cleanup and Abatement Account, and the remaining portion was offset as a result of the City upgrading its power supply to prevent future spills. 
James Smith, the San Diego Regional Board Assistant Executive Officer said in a news release, “The San Diego Water Board is committed to protection and restoration of the extraordinary salt marsh habitat that makes Los Penasquitos Lagoon a jewel of California.  We expect the unacceptable recurrence of sewage spills from Pump Station 64 to come to a close with the installation of backup generators.”