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It happened Tuesday at the Fort Baker treatment plant which is run by the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitary District.
A lot of people are frustrated and the frustration begins with the design of the plant.
The plant was refitted in 1986. The pipe that is now leaking has just one valve in it. If they had put two in it, water or sewage would have been able to flow in both directions and the situation might not be where it is today.
Talk about a dirty job. Wednesday morning crews climbed into the mess trying to stop it.
For much of the day divers raced the tide to clamp the hole in a high-pressure pipe that the Sausalito-Marin City Sanitation District says should not have been broken.
"This spill is our biggest so far," said Bob Simmons, head of the Sausalito-Marin City Water District.
The district discovered the leak around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, although that is only a rough estimate. Officials do not really know when it began. Every hour since then, around 15,000 gallons of sewage spewed into the San Francisco Bay.
Simmons believes the pipe may have been installed incorrectly 23 years ago.
"This pipeline is situated half in the surf and half buried, and that's not a great combination. So, corrosion could have played a factor as well," said Simmons.
Either way, the hole was expected to spew 400,000 gallons of sewage into the Bay before all was said and done. And, that was only if crews can fix the problem by noon Wednesday.
The process of reparing did not even begin until Wednesday morning. Because of high tide the pipe was beneath four feet of water.
The sewage is partially treated which means 60 percent of solids have been removed. But, there is still plenty of bacteria.
"I don't know if you've heard the term 'Dilution is the solution.' Well, that is part of it because you've got to reach a concentration that's safe to be around. I mean there's always background activity, bacteria in the Bay," explained Plant Superintendent Yoshi Uemuera.
Environmental groups see this as a symptomatic problem at plants around the Bay.
Deb Self, Executive Director of Baykeeper says, "It certainly can be avoided by not deferring maintenance."
"Also, a lot of small industries and companies tie into these treatment plants. So, we've got, whether it's the nail salon or the auto body plant, likely, there's some chemicals getting into that system as well," she added.
Warnings are posted along the shoreline at Fort Baker and at Sausalito. They are expected to be in place for at least the next few days.
This leak is the latest in a long line of problems for this plant was already spending $44 million for capital improvements. The Sausalito-Marin City District was already spending $44 million for capital improvements. Last April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued enforcement actions against them after another spill last year.
With this one, board members expect more fines, but they would rather put that money into the plant.
"It's not going to do us any good, to penalize us," said Ray Gergus with the sanitation district.
In the meantime, back in the smelly waters, workmen finally covered the hole in the pipe. But, now the patch is leaking.
For now, their best option is to pump the rest of the sewage back upstairs and hope for better luck on Thursday.
Water flow Wednesday evening was much lower than it was previously. After crews patched the pipe it went from around 300 gallons per minute to maybe 20 or 30 gallons per minute. Crews basically sealed the leak then rerouted water flow to take pressure off that seal.
The Marin County Health Department is looking into water sample quality at Fort Baker, Horseshoe Cove, Rodeo Beach and areas 2000 feet upstream from the spill.
There have been several other spills at Marin County treatment plants recently.
The Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin agreed last week to pay a $1.5 million dollar fine for two spills into Richardson Bay in January of 2008. Three million gallons leaked into the Bay during those spills.
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