Lake County Special Districts Deputy Administrator Pete Preciado said Monday that the agency believes as many as 8,000 gallons of sewage was spilled as a result of the crash, which damaged a lift station on the lake between Nice and Lucerne.
California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Tanguay said the crash occurred at 6:45 p.m. Sunday.
He said Nneka Michelle Bonney, 17, of Clearlake Oaks was driving a 1998 Ford Explorer westbound on Highway 20 a miles east of Bartlett Springs Road at an unknown speed she drifted off the side of the road, overcorrected and lost control.
Tanguay said Bonney's vehicle crossed the other lane of traffic and hit the lift station, located on the lake side.
He said Bonney was alone and wasn't injured by the crash, which is being investigated by Officer Josh Dye.
Preciado said CHP reported the crash to the Lake County Office of Emergency Services, which in turn contacted Lake County Environmental Health and Special Districts.
He said Special Districts was notified at approximately 7:16 p.m. Sunday, and was on scene a half-hour later. Environmental Health responded along with Special Districts.
Pumper trucks arrived at the scene and contained the spill, vacuuming up the sewage they encountered. Preciado said he didn't yet have information on how much wastewater they hauled away, although Special Districts staff had estimated that 8,000 gallons were spilled before the containment occurred.
“That's just a preliminary estimate,” he said, noting that they didn't actually see the wastewater going into the lake.
The crash took out a bollard and damaged an 8-inch pipe and valve, which was the source of the lost wastewater, Preciado said.
“Fortunately, they missed the electronic control panel, which is good,” he said.
A contractor responded at about 10 p.m. Sunday and made repairs, which Preciado said were complete by 1:45 a.m. Monday.
He said that by that time everything had been repaired, cleaned and disinfected.
Preciado said Special Districts notified state health officials about the spill.
He added, “Everyone that draws water from the lake in that area was notified.”
That included Nice Mutual Water Co. and California Water Service Co., he said.
Cal Water District Manager Gay Guidotti said the company's water quality department was notified, and it in turn notified the California Department of Public Health.
At the time of the spill, Cal Water's water treatment plant was off, she said.
Now, they're taking two water samples daily, which will continue every day this week, Guidotti said.
The plant also increased its levels of disinfection, turning up the chlorine, “just to be safe.” An ultraviolet system is in constant operation, she added.
“Those were the recommendations made by our water quality department,” and the state Department of Public Health approved, she said.
Preciado said Special Districts also collected samples and took them to a local laboratory for analysis. He said it will take a few days to get the test results.
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