California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year  2019-20 

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

  • Data source: CIWQS. Period July 1,  2019 to June 30,  2020 .
  • Unit of Measure: Average Number of Spills per 100 miles: Measures the number of sewer overflows per 100 miles of sewer lines. Average Volume of Spills per 100 miles: Measures the volume in gallons of sewer overflows per 100 miles of sewer lines.
  • Data Definitions: Sanitary Sewer: A pipe or conduit (sewer) intended to carry wastewater or water-borne wastes from homes, businesses, and industries to the POTW. Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO): Untreated or partially treated sewage overflows from a sanitary sewer collection system.
  • References: Information on the Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction Program
    The Sanitary Sewer Overflows Incident Map
    The Interactive SSO Report

GLOSSARY

Sanitary Sewer Overflow
A sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) is any overflow, spill, release, discharge or diversion of untreated or partially treated wastewater from a sanitary sewer system. SSOs do not include overflows from blockages or other problems within a privately owned lateral.

Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction Program
In May, 2006, the State Water Board adopted a Statewide Sanitary Sewer Order (ORDER NO. 2006-0003-DWQ) to address the issue of SSOs in a consistent and uniform manner statewide. Through the order, California became the first state in the nation to implement a program focused on the regulation of sanitary sewer systems. Sanitary sewer system agencies covered under the order, referred to as Enrollees, are required to report all SSOs for which their agency has responsibility into the State Water Board's SSO database. Enrollees are also able to report sewage discharges from privately owned laterals or collection systems, for which the Enrollee has knowledge of the event but is not responsible, on a voluntary basis.